Christie’s Paris sale spotlights bronze design from Art Deco to contemporary
A November 24 auction brings together 180 works spanning a century of decorative arts, with François-Xavier Lalanne's Grand Oiseau estimated at up to €1.5 million.
Christie’s Paris will offer approximately 180 works of decorative arts and design on November 24, tracing the evolution of bronze as a creative medium across the twentieth century and into the present day. The sale, titled “Lalanne, Giacometti, Donat: Variations on Bronze,” draws together pieces by leading figures in the field, from the Giacometti brothers and the Lalanne couple to contemporary designers including Ingrid Donat and Maarten Baas.
The auction highlights the material’s versatility across sculpture, furniture, lighting and functional objects. According to Christie’s, bronze “remained throughout the twentieth century a remarkable medium for experimentation,” enabling artists and designers to continually reimagine its application.
The Lalannes take centre stage
The sale’s headline work is the Grand Oiseau de Peter Branché by François-Xavier Lalanne, carrying a pre-sale estimate between €1 million and €1.5 million. The artist built his reputation by converting animal imagery into functional pieces that dissolved conventional boundaries between art and craft. The auction assembles several signature works from the same animal series: a Bélier and an Agneau, each priced at €250,000 to €350,000, plus a Mouton Transhumant valued at €200,000 to €300,000. Claude Lalanne’s pieces in the sale showcase her contrasting approach: chairs and candlesticks fashioned to evoke natural forms with delicate, almost weightless presence, estimated between €13,000 and €150,000 depending on the work.
Art Deco and the Giacometti brothers
The sale encompasses major works from the interwar period, when bronze accompanied the Art Deco flourishing of the 1920s and 1930s. Albert Cheuret’s sculptural lighting includes the Aloe chandelier (€40,000–60,000), while Jacques-Émile Ruhlmann’s Colette chest of drawers features bronze mounts (€70,000–100,000). A segment of the sale draws from the collection of American collectors Marlene and Spencer Hays, assembled with discernment and reflecting their focus on French interwar design.
Alberto Giacometti’s work demonstrates an early exploration of sculpture that merged fine art with functional design. The sale includes a Coupe ovale from 1935 valued at €400,000 to €600,000, and a Lampadaire Figure estimated at €200,000 to €300,000, both revealing his distinctive artistic vision. His brother Diego pursued related territory through bronze works, among them a two-headed horse chandelier carrying an estimate of €120,000 to €180,000.
Contemporary directions
The sale extends into the contemporary era with recent creations, including Ingrid Donat’s Table 360 (€100,000–150,000) from 2015 and Maarten Baas’s Carapace cabinet (€60,000–80,000), both demonstrating bronze’s continued appeal to present-day designers. A sofa by Hubert Le Gall carries an estimate of €40,000 to €60,000. These works demonstrate the persistence of bronze as a material of choice for creators working across generations.
Beyond bronze, the auction offers a broader overview of twentieth-century design, with pieces by Jean Royère, Eileen Gray, Jean Prouvé, and others. A group of Royère’s works includes the Éléphanteau armchair (€160,000–200,000) and a Tour Eiffel coffee table (€150,000–200,000), while Gray’s Tête de lit-bibliothèque murale, created for her Paris apartment, carries an estimate of €100,000–150,000.
The exhibition runs from November 19 to 24, with the auction taking place on November 24. Christie’s will follow the Paris sale with a December 9 auction in New York presenting works by Prouvé, Charlotte Perriand, Lalanne and Ettore Sottsass from a French-American collection assembled over two decades.
This article was compiled by the CityLifeBytes editorial desk from the official announcements and reporting listed under Sources.
