20th Century Decorative Art + Design Auction at Christie's

CHRISTOPHE CÔME (B. 1965) 'CERCLE': A UNIQUE FOUR-FOLD SCREEN, 2005

20th Century Decorative Art + Design Auction at Christie's

30 October '13

London

30th October London will witness to the annual confrontation between Arts & Crafts, Art Nouveau, Art Deco and Modern and Contemporary design movements, sharing the same stage at Christies' King Street venue. The auction will present an excellent variety of limited-edition pieces through over 120 lots, ideally drawing a continuum in design history from 1860 to our days and ambitiously stretching the estimates from £500-100,000.

The upcoming Autumnal programme will feature works ranging from the best British Post-War design to modernist furniture, with Lucienne and Robin Day at the forefront for the former and Gerrit Rietveld for the latter. Amongst the 10 heterogeneous lots of personal furnishings coming from the couple's London Cheyne Walk and Chichester residences, are a unique dining suite and two Forum settees dating 1965 ca. as well as two prototype lounge chairs and various examples of case furniture and of silk mosaics by Lucienne.

A remarkable highlight of modernist design is the cabinetmaker Gerard van de Groenekan's works, executed under Rietveld's direction and realised purposefully for his family's own use. Lesser known than Rietveld, Groenekan was determinant in the creation of pivotal works that are representative of 20th century modernism. The collection, comprising 11 lots and executed between the 1950-60s, is completed by pieces from the 1920s, significantly representative of the De Stijl movement ideologies of harmony and abstraction.

The Art Nouveau section includes pieces of glass and lighting from iconic Emile Gallé and Hector Guimard, whilst the Art Deco style, at the centre of a growing demand and taste trend in the past ten years, is well represented by Bruno Zach's The Riding Crop and Demetre Chiparus's Miss Kita, both 1925.

Further highlights include Contemporary designs ranging from Marc Newson's Chop Top Table, 2006, (one of twelve pieces) to Ron Arad's Narrow Pappardelle chair, 1992, to Karen Ryan's chairs In the Woods, produced in 2009 and lastly Johnny Swings Quarter Chair produced in 2002.

View the auction catalogue