STAIR has announced a three-day single owner sale of the property from River Ranch: The Collection of Carole Harris on June 17, 18, and 19, 2025. The Glam Pad is delighted to share highlights from the exquisite collection along with images from inside The Harrises’ Louis XIV-style chateau in the Central Valley of California. A labor of love, the magnificent home was designed in collaboration with Sister Parish and the esteemed firm Parish-Hadley.
STAIR has a long-standing relationship with the Harrises. Today we also welcome Founder and President Colin Stair for an exclusive interview about his friendship with the family. Mr. Stair met Mrs. Harris in the late 1980s, and their shared passion for fine furniture and decorative arts led to a friendship that spanned more than 30 years.
River Ranch: The Collection of Carole Harris represents over three decades of thoughtful collecting, a passion for interior design and a lifelong pursuit of beauty and self-expression. Raised on a farm in California, Carole Harris had a deep connection to nature which would later influence her style and affinity for fruit forms, animals, and organic motifs across her collection of Furniture, Fine Art and Decorative Arts. Mrs. Harris assembled an extraordinary collection of English, Italian, and French furniture, as well as Fine Art, Porcelain, Silver, and Jewelry, sourcing treasures from notable, world-class collections at auction.
Highlights from the sale include a George I Bottle Green and Gilt-Japanned Bureau Cabinet, attributed to John Belchier, a Louis XIV Ormolu-Mounted Marquetry and Verre Églomisé cabinet, fine giltwood mirrors, porcelain flowers and topiaries by Vladimir and Clare Potter, porcelain fruits and vegetables by Lady Anne Gordon, and themes of flora and fauna across decorative arts categories. Fine Art highlights include a series of dog paintings by artists such as Piet van der Hem and Philip Eustace Stretton, works by Carl Holsoe and George Oakes, a group of Louis XVI–style grisaille paintings, and more.
To learn more, we welcome, Colin Stair!
TGP: Please tell us about your relationship with Carole Harris and how STAIR helped her with
her treasure hunting.
CS: I met Carole Harris when I was in my twenties, working at Sotheby’s Restoration in New York. We
hit it off immediately and developed an easy rapport. It was the 1980s, so we used to spend hours
poring over glossy auction catalogues, talking about design, provenance, and the hunt for great
things. She had an insatiable appetite for beautiful things, and I always tried to keep the focus of
“hunting” on high-quality pieces. One example of this is the ‘George I Bottle Green and Gilt
Japanned Bureau Cabinet’ that was in her yellow drawing room, which she privately acquired from a
firm in DC.
TGP: How would you describe her design aesthetic, and what types of items did she particularly
enjoy collecting?
CS: The house dictated her style. Some rooms had 20-foot ceilings, so the scale was everything. Growing
up on a farm in California, the natural world, was important to Carole, and it dictated much of her
taste in her favorite collecting categories. She loved porcelain flowers, Lady Anne Gordon fruits and
vegetables, silver animal forms, and, of course, dog paintings.
For Carole, provenance was everything. Many of the pieces coming to auction came from legendary
collections, like Pamela Harriman, Coco Chanel, Jayne Wrightsman, and Brooke Astor. She didn’t
just collect things—she collected stories.
TGP: Can you tell us a bit more about her beautiful home and the design process with Parish-Hadley?
CS: Carole and her husband purchased their Sanger, California home in 1984, and began renovating it right away. In many ways, Carole was self-taught, devouring books on design and history, which helped to shape her decisions on everything from rooflines to fabric swatches.
Brian McCarthy, who worked with Sister Parish as a partner at Parish-Hadley, remembered meeting her in New York in 1988 and taking on the River Ranch project. We spoke with him recently, and his words stayed with me: “Her collection is from the heart—and the passion of a true collector.” I couldn’t agree more. (Read more HERE)
TGP: What advice would you give others in terms of the benefits of working with an auction
house?
CS: Develop a relationship with someone you trust. Auction house specialists are deeply passionate and
endlessly curious people. They not only know the details and stories about the property, but they
also know what their clients love and how they live with what they collect. Train your eye. Learn
from great collectors and discover what inspires you. Focus on collecting the best things you can
afford to buy in the categories that you love. Quality never goes out of taste!
TGP: Anything else you would like to add?
CS: I spent over three decades working with Carole, and we developed a friendship that went beyond
your typical client dynamic – she was so kind to me and my family. Preparing for this sale has felt
deeply personal as it is filled with memories of buying trips, restoration projects, and visits to the
River Ranch.
She was a relatively private person, so I am honored to share her collection with the world. I think
she would be proud.
The River Ranch: The Collection of Carole Harris sale is scheduled for June 17-19 at 10 a.m. Click here for additional information and here to pre-register. You can also read about Mrs. Harris’ “Coco Chanel Cabinet”, a tribute from designer Brian McCarthy, and a stunning piece of jewelry from her collection that is in the STAIR Jewelry sale on June 12.
The catalogues can be found below:
You can also follow @stairgalleries on Instagram for ongoing updates and future sales.
I’ve known Colin Stair for over 20 years – since just before he founded Stair Galleries. Some things now in my collection belonged to Brooke Astor and C. Z. Guest – acquired through auctions at Stair. One thing I didn’t get through Colin was a chinoiserie secretary almost identical to the one shown here; only mine has a black lacquer exterior and red lacquer interior. Looking forward to the Harris sale.