Would You Pay $2.4 Million For These Sheep? Someone Else Did!
It’s been a record-breaking month in the art world, and last week’s 20th Century Design auction at Sotheby’s was no exception. The series ended with their highest ever total for a various-owner design auction.
And while Fran?ois-Xavier and Claude Lalanne‘s series of gilt bronze sheep, “Grands Moutons de Peter,” stole the show at $2.4 million, Lalanne’s “Larger Than Life Figure of a Monkey” followed closely behind at $2.2 million. For those who don't know the backstory, Lalanne and Francios-Xavier, also known as Les Lalanne, became one of the most dynamic husband-and-wife art couples of the 20th Century.
Though the couple counted many successes (Francois-Xavier's first private commission was for Yves Saint Laurent, and Claude later partnered with him for his iconic 1969 Empreintes collection), they rarely collaborated, making this particular flock of sheep quite special. As for the monkey, this was a nod to Francois-Xavier's stint as a guard at the Louvre where he studied Egyptian artifacts and fell in love with the zoological world. And it seems the art world adores them just the same.
Keeping in the realm of animated objects, Mark Newson’s riveted aluminum Pod of Drawers, which entailed anthropomorphic rubberized feet, sold for $1 million.
Paul Evan’s “Sculpture Front” sideboard (shown above) was another metal-based win that brought $536,000, breaking a personal world auction record for the designer. And the “Elaborate Peony” floor lamp by Tiffany Studios was just one elaborate piece from their Masterworks glass series, which sold for a staggering total of $4.1 million. We bet Sotheby’s can sleep soundly to those numbers.
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