The Polignac Donation

When Marie-Blanche de Polignac, Jeanne Lanvin’s daughter and sole heir died in 1958, her estate was shared between the Lanvin and Polignac families. The Lanvin couture house went to Yves Lanvin, Jeanne’s nephew, and her Paris mansion to Prince Louis de Polignac, Marie-Blanche’s cousin by marriage. Before its demolition in 1965, with Yves Lanvins’s consent the prince offered the Musée des Arts Décoratifs the decoration and furnishings of the bathroom, bedroom and boudoir. More furniture, objects and decorations from the mansion were also donated, notably creations by Armand Albert Rateau (the chandelier in the drawing room, the panelling and banisters of the two staircases, the screens in the dining room, the chaise longue and Lotus table on the terrace, the pair of vases by Jean Dunand in the niches in the the dining room, and photographs of Jeanne Lanvin and her daughter by Nadar.