Auction Results: Design Masters at Phillips de Pury & Company

December 15 '10

New York

Yesterday saw the Design Masters auction at Phillips de Pury & Company, New York; a curated evening sale of important avant-garde design from the 20th and 21st centuries. It included works by Carlo Bugatti, Archibald Knox, Emile-Jacques Ruhlmann, Jacques Le Chevallier, Le Corbusier, Charlotte Perriand, Serge Mouille, Philippe Starck, The Campana Brothers, Zaha Hadid, and Marc Newson, among others.

The event was held at their new uptown gallery which was inaugurated November 8th with the company’s most successful ever auction of contemporary art, which included Philippe Segalot’s Carte Blanche sale and totalled $137,028,000.

Of the 57 items, 18 failed to sell or were withdrawn, however the rest of the collection sold comfortably within, or to the higher end of, their estimates; with a significant number going beyond. Of particular interest to buyers appeared to be items from the 1950s, which performed consistently well. Lots from before or after this period, although healthy in prices, were less consistent.

Notably, those far exceeding expected estimates included a Poul Henningsen wall light, one of 26 original double-spiral wall lights designed in 1955 for the Scala cinema and concert hall, one of five performance spaces within the Århus Theater. The estimate price for this was $70,000-80,000, it sold here for $212,500.

A chandelier by Flavio Poli, created in 1954 as part of a commission for Hotel Bristol, Merano, Italy, was originally estimated at $80,000-120,000, here it reached $434,500. It is one of only three chandeliers produced for this commission, only two of which remain in existence, and is now under consideration for inclusion in the forthcoming monograph on Seguso Vetri d’Arte being prepared by Marc Heiremans.

For more information visit Phillips de Pury & Company

Flavio Poli, Chandelier,1954, Estimated at $80,000-120,000, Sold for $434,500

Poul Henningsen, Wall light, 1955, Estimated at $70,000-80,000, Sold for $212,500

Zaha Hadid, 'Black Aqua Table' 2006, Estimated at $90,000-110,000, Sold for $110,500

Philippe Starck, 'Illusion Table' 1992, Estimated at $40,000-60,000, Sold for $50,000

Charlotte Perriand, 'Bahut' sideboard, 1965, Estimated at $220,000-280,000, Sold for $266,500