The Important 20th Century Decorative Art & Design Sale on June 17 is expected to fetch between $5.2 million to $7.5 million. Top artists from throughout the 20th Century are featured in the sale, ranging from Emile-Jacques Ruhlmann and Claude Lalanne to Tiffany Studios and Jean Prouvé.
The sale will feature a collection of American and European fine art and 20th century decorative art belonging to New York attorney and real estate developer Bernard Goldberg. This collection includes works by Gustav Stickley, famous craftsman of furniture and architect, and George Washington Maher, also an architect.
Sale Highlights
There will be a selection of gilt-bronze sculptures and jewelry by the husband-wife French designer and sculptors François-Xavier and Claude Lalanne. A luminous highlight of the sale is François-Xavier Lalanne’s Chat Polymorph, 1968, with an estimated value $500,000 to $700,000. The 8-foot-long brass bar, with the body of a cat combined with a fish tail, has multiple openings and swiveling bar trays typical of Lalanne’s style. Only two examples were ever executed of the very rare piece. The other Chat Polymorphe is currently on view at Les Musée de Arts Décoratifs in Paris as part of the exhibition “Les Lalannes.”
The sale includes a vast selection of over 30 of Tiffany Studios lamps, glass, ink wells and other works of art. One such important piece is the Pond Lily table lamp, circa 1905, expected to fetch $200,000 to $300,000. In this piece, the leaded glass lampshade depicts a pond theme supported by a bronze base of twisting vines.
The sale also features a strong selection of works from the 1920s and 30s by Emile-Jacques Ruhlmann, Jean Dupas and Alberto and Diego Giacometti.
Jean Dupas’ Group of Thirteen Verre Eglomise Panels, 1934, estimated value $300,000 to $500,000, hails from the “Chariot of Thesis” mural, which once stood in the Grand Lounge of the Ocean Liner S.S. Normandie. The ship, launched in 1935, stood as the pinnacle of luxurious transatlantic travel and its lavish Art Deco style redefined the aesthetic of the ocean liner.
Emile-Jacques Ruhlmann’s Lasalle, A Burl Walnut and Ivory Commode, 1925, $150,000 to $200,000, exhibits bronze hardware and doors flanking the central drawers that open to reveal four small mahogany veneered drawers.
Alberto Giacometti’s patinated (the surface has aged look) bronze floor lamp, “A l’étoile,” 1936, $80,000 to $120,000, is a classic example of this designer’s work.
The sale includes over a dozen George Nakashima works that reflect the designer’s reverence for natural form and the beauty of wood figurations. Standouts are an English Oak Burl and American White Oak Minguren II Dining Table, 1991, $70,000 to $100,000, in which a rough hewn plank of wood is set obliquely onto the table’s legs. A Cherry Chest of Drawers, 1957, worth $6,000 to $8,000, is a sleek chest with six drawers and inset handles.
The auction also features a significant private collection of mid-century design by Jean Prouvé and Alexandre Noll as well as some important ceramics by Ettore Sottsass. Signature Prouvé pieces, such as the Antony chair made of plywood and lacquered steel, $15,000 to $20,000, and a lacquered bent steel and oak cabinet from 1948, $40,000 to $60,000, continue to look modern today. A yellow, green and blue striped vase from 1959, $20,000 to $30,000,, was part of Sottsass’ personal collection.
Christie’s Important 20th Century Decorative Art and Design will be held at 20 Rockefeller Center on June 17, viewing will be from June 12-16.
