an auction imbued with “the soul and history of the Golden Lion”

It is one of the most famous houses in the city. At 24 rue des Malards. But only those close to Alain Barrat, who died at the beginning of the year, and his wife Colette know the interior and the treasures, closely linked to the Grand Hôtel du Lion d'Or. The couple only had a few steps to take between their home and the symbolic establishment of Romorantin, which they took over in 1951 – when they did not have the money to buy back the business -, thanks to the goodwill of the then owner. They won two stars, before their daughter Marie-Christine and her husband Didier Clément continued the gastronomic saga.

This house of which the decorator of the Lion d'or had also designed the interior, the Romorantinais will be able to discover it on Sunday 1^is and especially Monday December 2, date of the auction which will take place there under the hammer of auctioneer Aymeric Rouillac. Crockery, furniture, decorations… there is a wide range of wonders that will be on offer. A part of the life of Colette and Alain Barrat and, at the same time, as Marie-Christine Clément confides with emotion, “a bit of the soul and history of the Golden Lion”. The two are inseparable.

“A certain vision of the art of living in Sologne”

The passage into the kitchen of the house is unforgettable. On the table, in the cupboards, on the sideboards…, high-quality silverware sits alongside valuable porcelain and sparkling brass. “It’s part of the hotel’s silverware and crockery reserves that will be put up for sale”specifies Marie-Christine Clément. Her parents' house sheltered them like a case protects a jewel: “For them, it was like a sanctuary. » A sanctuary dedicated to table ceremonies, filled with a myriad of Limoges or Nevers porcelain services from the 18^e et 19^e centuries. Or even Gien earthenware.

On the walls of the kitchen, blazes the superb collection of coppers – some of which have silver interiors – by Alain and Colette Barrat, some of which date from the 19th^e century and which Didier Clément was able to use in the kitchens of the Lion d'or. Part of this battery comes from the Normant family – the one which gave its name to the factory which marked the history of Romorantin –, Marie-Christine Clément's great-aunt having been a trusted lady of Edith Normant.

Empire atmosphere in the living room

Right next to it, we discover a series of tools, equipped with agate stones, which were used to restore silverware damaged by use. They belonged to an ancestor of Marie-Christine Clément who worked as butler for the Rothschilds in Ferrières. All these objects offered at auction testify to“a certain vision of the art of living in Sologne and the French art of living”as Marie-Christine Clément points out.

This art of living also permeates the living room of the house. In addition to table lamps and wall lights having adorned, at one time or another, the rooms of the hotel, there is an Empire-style environment: chairs by Jacob, a mahogany desk… Not forgetting a large, full library, among others, books from Martinsart editions, including the complete works of Genevoix. “My parents were very thirsty for knowledge. For them, knowledge came through bookscomments Marie-Christine Clément. This house is also the story of social ascension. »

Public exhibition on site at 24 rue des Malards, in Romorantin, Sunday 1^is December, from 3 to 5 p.m., as well as Monday, December 2, from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. Then auction by designation at 69, rue Georges-Clemenceau in Romorantin, Monday December 2 at 2 p.m.