Christie’s closed an unprecedented Design Week with three important auctions throughout the course of the day: Designs By Alberto and Diego Giacometti, Design & Tiffany. In total, the three sales achieved $20,990,052, selling 92% by value and 126% hammer against low estimate.
Together with the recent successful sale of Sculpting Paradise: The Collection of Marie Lalanne, the Design Week total came to $98,033,060. This marks the company’s highest season ever, making Christie’s Design market leader in New York in 2022 for the first time in a decade.
Designs By Alberto And Diego Giacometti | 10 AM
The first sale totalled $6,701,400, it was sold 96% by value, 146% hammer against low estimate. Leading the auction was the ‘Table aux Caryatides’ from the estate of Jerry Ganz, San Francisco, California which sold for $1,680,000 against a low estimate of $800,000. The second highest price was for ‘Console aux deux oiseaux et coupelle’ which achieved $1,380,000.
Superb results were also seen for two ‘Fauteuils tête de lionne’ also from the estate of Jerry Ganz. Each estimated at $200,000-300,000, they sold for $630,000 and $819,000 respectively.
Design | 11 AM
The Giacometti auction was followed by Design, a various-owner sale of more than 150 objects by leading artists in the 20th and 21st centuries. The sale totalled $8,474,930, selling 109% hammer against low estimate. The top lot of the sale was a Center Table by Armand Albert Rateau originally from the private collection of the designer and coming to Christie’s from an Important American Collection. The work sold for more than seven times its low estimate of $756,000.
The second highest lot in the sale was a Rare Chess Table by Isamu Noguchi which realized $655,200, more than double its low estimate, The third highest price in the sale was for a design by Frank Lloyd Wright, the Important Executive Desk Master for S.C. Johnson & Son Administrative Building, Racine, Wisconsin, from the Steelcase Corporate Art Collection which sold for $504,000.
Additional highlights included a Charlotte Perriand’s ‘En Forme’ desk which achieved $365,400 and two important Prouvé ‘Visiteur’ Armchairs from the family of the artist which each sold for $327,600 more than double their low estimate.
Tiffany | 5 PM
The final live auction in the series, Tiffany, totalled $5,814,522, selling 96% by value, 134% hammer against low. The top lot of the sale ‘Wisteria’ table lamp on tree-form base from an Important Private Collection. The lot surpassed its high estimate to achieve $693,000. Another highlight was the praised ‘Magnolia’ floor lamp which sold for $630,000. The Private Collection of a New York Antiquarian also saw exceptional results.
From the group, a superb ‘Elaborate Peony’ table lamp sold for $579,600, an extraordinary ‘Laburnum’ table lamp sold for $327,600 and a ‘Dragonfly’ table lamp sold for $327,600. The rare ‘Pond Dragonfly’ Table Lamp sold for $277,200 against an estimate of $80,000-120,000.
“This was an exceptional season that capped off a banner year for Christie’s New York. Beginning with the record-breaking sale of the Collection of Marie Lalanne through the recent series of three successful various-owner sales, we have been truly thrilled to see strength in the market for Design, as the category continues to grow as a powerful force in our 20th and 21st Century Department. Recentley we have seen that the market for great objects of fine provenance is as strong as ever, drawing in collectors across all generations from around the world.”
Daphné Riou, Senior Specialist and Head of Design, Christie’s Americas
Notable Highlights
DIEGO GIACOMETTI (1902-1985)
‘Fauteuil Tête de lionne’, circa 1975
Price Realized: $819,000
DIEGO GIACOMETTI (1902-1985)
‘Console aux deux oiseaux et coupelle’
circa 1970
Price Realized: $1,380,000
ALBERTO GIACOMETTI (1901-1966)
’Figure’ Floor Lamp, designed circa 1933-1934
Price Realized: $504,000
ISAMU NOGUCHI (1904-1988)
Rare Chess Table, Model No. IN-61
designed circa 1944
Price Realized: $655,200
FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT (1867-1959)
Important Executive Desk Master for S.C. Johnson & Son Administration Building, Racine, Wisconsin, circa 1937-1939
Price Realized: $504,000
CHARLOTTE PERRIAND (1903-1999)
Rare ‘En Forme’ Desk, circa 1949
Price Realized: $365,400
‘Visiteur’ Armchair, variant, model designed circa 1945
Price Realized: $327,600
Rare Wingback Armchair, model designed circa 1952
Price Realized: $201,600
TIFFANY STUDIOS
‘Magnolia’ Floor Lamp, circa 1920
Price Realized: $630,000
