INTRODUCTION David David-Weill（1871–1952）Collection The Bernheimer Collection David Weill was a French-Jewish banker and chairman of Lazard Frères in Paris who collected important works of art. He had moved to the United States a year earlier to escape the Franco-Prussian War. As the family had rooted in Europe, they later returned to France to start a new chapter in their lives in Paris. His passion for art began with a long trip visiting major museums across Europe. He collected a wide range of art, including paintings, sculptures, furniture, gold and silver artworks of the West, and Song Dynasty porcelain, antique jades, bronzes and more from the East. During the World War II, David managed to escape with his family to a village in southwestern France, pretending to be a Christian. However, his artwork collection career has not succeed. At the time, the German army had set up the "ERR" (The Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg), headed by the notorious Alfred Rosenberg, to plunder the cultural property and art collections of hostile nations. The David’s collection was looted by the Nazis and more than 2,000 objects were confiscated. These works of art were later partially acquired by the German art collector and antiquities dealer Otto Bernheimer (1877-1960) and came to the market in the collection of a descendant of a German army officer. The lots from the Bernheimer Collection in this sale retain the Bernheimer Collection label, and the David-Weill Collection logo in painted letters remains on the underside of the objects.