A century of ground-breaking decorative arts and design will be celebrated through a collection of historically important pieces curated by the renowned collector and art historian, Roberto Polo, Art Daily said.

The collection tells the story of a period of technical and artistic excellence in design, from the masters of the mid-19th century through to the pioneers of Modernism. Works by visionary artists from across Europe will feature in the sale which takes place on 24th February at Sotheby’s New Bond Street galleries in London.

Highlights include an extraordinary cabinet-en-console designed by Michel Joseph Napoléon Liénard and executed by Auguste-Emile Ringuet-Leprince for the inaugural 1851 World’s Fair at the Crystal Palace in London (est. £80,000–120,000);an exceptional pair of Imperial porcelain vases by the Manufacture Royale de Sèvres, delivered to the Palais de Compiègne in 1860 for Napoléon III (est. £60,000-80 000); and a rare cabinet by the Belgian Modernist pioneer Henry van de Velde (est. £65,000-95,000).

Daniel Alcouffe, Honorary Chief Curator, Musée du Louvre: “Roberto Polo is impassioned by art in all of its forms and periods of expression, as long as it possesses intelligence and quality. These works are a compendium of the history of decorative arts in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Hopefully, their re-appearance and the admiration they arouse will simultaneously stimulate research and give birth to new collectors. Start a collection with a work of art discovered and blessed by Roberto Polo, how can one do better?”