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Sotheby’s auctioneer Simon Shaw opened the bidding at $10 million for designer Claude Lalanne’s ensemble of 15 mirrors in the auction of the Jean and Terry de Gunzburg collection. After ten minutes of spirited competition between seven bidders, Shaw hammered his gavel down at $28.5 million—$33.5 million with the auction house’s fees—a world record for any design object.
The de Gunzbergs, two of the most storied art and design collectors in the country, initially purchased the suit of mirrors with bronze leaves and branches in 2009 at Christie’s. They paid just €1.9 million, or roughly $3.2 million today. They never ended up finding a place to display the pieces, keeping them in storage all these years.
Pascal Chevallier
Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Bergé’s Salon de Musique with Claude Lalanne’s suite of 15 mirrors.
Last week, the mirrors were the star lot in the landmark de Gunzburg auction, which ended up netting $96 million in sales. Bids for the 107 design objects flew fast and furious: A rare shagreen cabinet by André Groult set an artist record of $2.2 million. A pair of Jean-Michel Frank armchairs once belonging to railroad heir Charles Templeton Crocker sold for $1.2 million. An Armand-Albert Rateau coatrack made $729,600. Jean Royère’s $1.1 million Ours Polaire sofa and complementary $1.4 million pair of armchairs were both sold to the same buyer. Records were also set for designers Alexandre Noll, Marc du Plantier, and Pierre Delbee.
“The vision of the de Gunzburgs alongside the guiding inspiration of [French interior designer] Jacques Grange is quite unique,” London-based art advisor Francis Outred told ELLE Decor after the sale. The couple had a longstanding collaboration with Grange, “who unlocked great treasures for them over the years,” says Jeremy Morrison, another London-based advisor. “His involvement added stardust to the sale.” Both he and Outred traveled to New York for the historic event.
Photo: Annie Schlechter. Courtesy Sotheby’s.
The former Upper East Side home of Jean and Terry de Gunzburg.
With Grange’s help, the de Gunzburgs compiled a collection that filled their Upper East Side apartment, a space they described as “New York on the outside and Paris on the inside.” Their masterpieces of French design mingled with paintings by Calder, Klee, Picasso, Rothko, and Ryman (which will be sold by Sotheby’s next month). Select items in the sale also came from the de Gunzburgs’ other homes in Paris, London, and Provence.
Given the incredible demand for the collection, most bidders came away disappointed. Outred’s client was outbid on the mirrors, which they wanted for a specific spot. “Needless to say, it is back to the drawing board for that particular project!” he tells us.
Photo: Annie Schlechter. Courtesy Sotheby’s.
A rare shagreen cabinet by André Groult achieved a record $2.2 million at Sotheby’s.
He also lost out on a terra cotta table lamp by Alberto Giacometti that sold for $665,600. But, he did win the artist’s “Grande Feuille, Version Fine” bronze floor lamp. New York collector Sascha Bauer vied for a pair of red lacquer Dunand armchairs that sold for $614,400. “People love a design provenance sale because it gives the works credibility,” he says, using the word “incredible” four times in as many sentences to describe the auction. As London-based advisor Simon Andrews summed it up, “This was truly a sumptuous offering to the gods.”