A collection of Claude Lalanne mirrors just sold for $33.5 million, obliterating auction records

When it comes to auction prices for works of 20th-century design, the sky has seemed to be the limit. A sale at Sotheby’s global headquarters in New York last night (22 April) catapulted that limit into the firmament.

The 107-lot sale, drawn from the private collection of Jean and Terry de Gunzburg, set a new auction record with a staggering $96 million result, making it the most valuable design auction in United States history.

No surprise, work by the late French design duo, Claude and François-Xavier Lalanne, anchored the sale. The most hotly anticipated lot to hit the block was an ensemble of 15 mirrors designed by Claude Lalanne for Saint Laurent and Pierre Bergé, which fetched a breathtaking $33.5 million, the highest price for a work of design in history. It even smashed the previous Les Lalanne record, achieved just four months ago – $31.4 million for a hippo-shaped bar designed by François-Xavier. In total, 15 works by Les Lalanne brought in $64.7 million.

But it wasn’t just masterworks by Les Lalanne that defined the sale. A cabinet designed by André Groult fetched $2.2 million, a new threshold for the designer. Furnishings by Jean-Michel Frank and Jean Royère, including a two pairs of armchairs and a sofa, exceeded the $1 million mark, indicating strong interest in 20th-century French design titans.

Sotheby’s chairman of 20th-century design, Jodi Pollack, called the evening a ‘watershed moment for the design market’, one that will set the bar for years to come. ‘While the Lalanne Mirrors were the undeniable centrepiece, what was most exciting was the extraordinary depth of bidding across both prewar and postwar design,' she said in a statement. 'It was a resounding affirmation of design’s ascendance within the broader art market.'