Sotheby’s has announced the sale of the Jean and Terry de Gunzburg collection, a two-part auction series scheduled for April and May 2024 with a total estimate of $67 million to $99 million. The offering begins with a dedicated design sale featuring a historic ensemble of 15 Claude Lalanne mirrors commissioned for Yves Saint Laurent, followed by a selection of blue-chip modern and contemporary artworks.
A custom ensemble of 15 mirrors by Claude Lalanne sold for $33.5 million at Sotheby's New York, shattering the artist's previous auction record and setting a new global benchmark for the most expensive design work ever sold at auction. The piece, commissioned in 1974 for Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Bergé's Paris home, far exceeded its $10-15 million estimate.
François-Xavier Lalanne's 1976 'Hippopotame Bar,' a whimsical copper, steel, and wood cabinet shaped like a hippopotamus with hidden compartments, sold for $31.4 million at a Sotheby's auction on December 10, 2025. Originally commissioned by the late oil heiress and philanthropist Anne Schlumberger, the piece sparked a 26-minute bidding war that far exceeded its $7–10 million estimate, making it the most valuable design object ever sold at auction and shattering Lalanne's previous auction record.