A PAIR OF LOUIS XVI GILT-WALNUT BERGERES

André Meyer (1898-1979) was a self-made financier, whose astounding success led to his sobriquet as "the Picasso of Banking." He was a partner of Lazard Frères and became head of their American operations after the Second World War, where he was responsible for making Lazard the top mergers and acquisitions firm in post war America. Meyer was an avid collector, and his interests encompassed Impressionist paintings by Picasso, Cezanne and Monet as well as important French furniture and musical scores. He donated a Cezanne to the Museum of Modern Art and left his collection of nineteenth century paintings to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.