grand statement; Christie's showcases the estate of a consummate tastemaker.(Mrs. Charles W. Engelhard, Jane; mother of Annette de la Renta)

Byline: William Norwich

From museum curators to Park Avenue decorators, when the nobles in the world of interiors wonder what their queen is doing with her house tonight, the lady they all have in mind is Annette de la Renta. The woman who never puts a pillow wrong, she is said to have understood wicker by the age of six months. Where did it all begin? With her mother, of course: Mrs. Charles W. Engelhard, or Jane (but never plain) to her friends.

Widow of the billionaire industrialist and sportsman and mother of Annette and her four sisters, Mrs. Engelhard, who died last year at her brick whaling mansion on Nantucket's cobblestoned Main Street, was heralded throughout her life for her taste, her houses, and her philanthropy. Come March 18, furniture and works of art from Mrs. Engelhard's considerable collection will be offered at auction by Christie's. Highlights include a 1723 Regence armoire signed by Louis Guignard; a porphyry-topped Italian Empire giltwood center table, and a pair of Meissen cockatoos. Add the fact that Sister Parish was the family's decorator-Mrs. Parish's decorating partner, Albert Hadley, is writing the introduction to the catalog-and you have the dream stuff that makes connoisseurs take out mortgages. For those whose thing is bling, Mrs. Engelhard's spectacular 34.15-carat rectangular-cut diamond ring by Van Cleef & Arpels, estimated between $600,000 and $800,000, along with other dazzlers, will be sold in Christie's sale of Magnificent Jewels on April 12.

In her later years, this devout Catholic woman sought contemplative refuge from the hectic pace for which she and Mr. Engelhard, who died in 1971, had been known. Although they kept many houses, including one in London and one in Johannesburg, where, rather famously, a mother hippopotamus and her baby wandered from a nearby national park and fell into their pool one night-Mrs. Engelhard simply hired a derrick to lift mama and baby back to safety-the couple spent most ...