Ruth Teschner Costantino papers and Connoisseur Inc. records
name: label: Creator
content: Connoisseur, Inc.
label: Names
content: Ruth Teschner Gallery
label: Names
content: Costantino, Ruth Teschner, 1892-1981
topic: label: Topic
content: Art -- Collectors and collecting
label: Topic
content: Antiques -- United States
label: Topic
content: Women art dealers
label: Topic
content: Furniture, French
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: The collection was donated in two installments by Helen Constantino Fioratti, Ruth Teschner Constantino's daughter. Ruth Costantino's personal and professional papers and several Connoisseur Inc. files were donated in 1983. The bulk of Connoisseur Inc. records were donated in 1984.
creator: label: Creator
content: Connoisseur, Inc.
setName: label: See more items in
content: Ruth Teschner Costantino papers and Connoisseur Inc. records
abstract: label: Summary
content: The Ruth Teschner Costantino papers and Connoisseur Inc. records measure 1.6 linear feet and date from the 1910s to 1981. The collection sheds light on the personal and professional life of fine art and antique dealer Ruth T. Costantino through correspondence, writings, printed material, and identification documents; and on her business Connoisseur Inc. through sales records, inventories, receipts, and scant correspondence.
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: Ruth Teschner Costantino (1892-1981) was a fine art and antique dealer in New York City. 

She began working for a specialist and dealer in Old Master wood engravings and original drawings and several years later founded her first gallery, Teschner Gallery. In 1922, Costantino assisted Carl Robert Lamm, owner of the Swedish castle Nasby Slott, selling an extensive collection of paintings, tapestries, rugs, fabrics, armor, and more. Costantino's work with the Lamm Collection helped establish herself as a highly regarded authority on European antique art and furniture. In 1935, Costantino moved Teschner Gallery uptown and renamed it  Connoisseur Inc. Throughout her career, Costantino advised the private collections of Madame Consuelo Vanderbilt Balsan, Mrs. Henry Ford II, Mr. Stavros Niarchos, Mrs. John D. Rockefeller II, and many more; served as the White House´s principal purveyor of French eighteenth-century furniture during the Kennedy administration; and dealt fine arts, furniture, and other antique items to U.S. museums, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, National Gallery of Art, Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, and J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles, and internationally to the Uffizi in Florence and the Brera Museum in Milan. After Costantino died in 1981, Connoisseur Inc. merged with L'Antiquaire gallery, founded by Constantino's daughter, Helen Costantino Fioratti, in 1965.

Costantino's husband, Arturo Costantino, was an Italian diplomat and banker who had a substantial role in the building of the Italian Pavilion at the 1939 World's Fair.
function: label: Function
content: Art galleries, Commercial -- New York (State)
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 1.6 Linear Feet
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1910s-1981
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives of American Art
identifier: label: Identifier
content: AAA.conninc
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
arrangement: label: Arrangement
content: The collection is arranged as two series.

Series 1: Personal and Professional Papers, 1920s-1981 (Box 1; 11 folders)

Series 2: Connoisseur Inc. Records, 1949-1981 (Box 1-3; 1.4 linear feet)
processinfo: label: Processing Information
content: Two accessions were merged, processed, and a finding aid prepared by Christopher DeMairo in 2021 with funding provided by the Smithsonian Institution's Collections Care and Preservation Fund. Preliminary processing of Ruth Costantino's personal and professional papers and several Connoisseur Inc. files were completed in 1989 by Alanna Heiss and in 2018 by Caroline Donadio.
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: The Ruth Teschner Costantino papers and Connoisseur Inc. records measure 1.6 linear feet and date from the 1910s to 1981. The collection sheds light on the personal and professional life of fine art and antique dealer Ruth T. Costantino through correspondence between Costantino and the American Art Association, collectors, family members, friends, and museum representatives; autobiographical and travel writings; newspaper and magazine clippings on art as well as reviews and advertisements about her book, How to Know French Antiques (1961); and identification documents. Connoisseur Inc. include sales records, inventories, receipts, and some correspondence.