NEW YORK.-Christie’s International 20th Century Decorative Art & Design Department is delighted to announce the full details of a single-owner collection of outstanding French mid-century design. The sale A Private Collection of French Mid-Century Design will take place on December 7 at Christie’s Rockefeller Center in New York and is comprised of 233 lots. The auction is conservatively estimated to realize in excess of $4 million.

This highly sophisticated private collection has never been photographed or seen before in public, and is an extraordinary coherent survey of design masterworks that was incorporated into a 1780s Connecticut farmhouse. Initially inspired by the Lagerfeld Collection, the collector subsequently put together a group of the best examples of mid-century French design, all in pristine condition and carrying impeccable provenances, judiciously intermixed with a small number of Scandinavian and British works.

The furniture ranges from oak wardrobes by Robert ‘Mouseman’ Thompson, which epitomize the English Arts and Crafts movement, through classic Art Deco pieces such as Albert Cheuret’s wonderfully fanciful Heron console and Serge Roche’s neo-Baroque plaster and mirror centre table from 1932, to mid-century carved wood sculptures by Alexandre Noll. Other extremely important works include a burled walnut coffee table by George Nakashima, a palmwood and iron desk by Eugène Printz and a limed oak and parchment coffee table by Paul Dupré-Lafon.

The collection is particularly strong in outstanding ceramic works, with numerous vases by Jean Besnard and Wilhelm Kage, as well as examples by Ernest Chaplet, and others. Alberto and Diego Giacometti are represented by a variety of highly important works in plaster and bronze, such as the iconic Albatross wall sculpture and a highly whimsical pair of appliques.

A collection of mirrors resides at the core of this collection, with important examples by André Groult and Maxime Old. A group of 21 dreamy and whimsical mirrors by Line Vautrin is augmented by some of what are considered to be the best examples of other works from her oeuvre. Included in this group is a magnificent coral-colored glass chandelier, a resin and mirrored lamp base from her personal collection, as well as a variety of enameled and bronze boxes - a definitive survey of her achievement and a cornerstone of this collection.

Auction: A Private Collection of French Mid-Century Design; December 7, 2005 at 10am. Viewing: Christie’s Galleries at Rockefeller Center, December 3 – 6.

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