This is truly the final sale from the Lalannes’ collection – although “we are never finished with the Lalannes, as we can see”, Jeanniard jokes. These will be auctioned at Sotheby’s Paris on 4 October, in a sale titled Trésor Retrouvé: The Collection of Claude & François-Xavier Lalanne. It was only after the inventory was complete and the artworks were ready to send to new homes that the workshop assistants moved the 2m-long Taureau sculptures and found 19 pieces of Lalanne furniture that had never been catalogued. “Nobody knows why they put the bulls in front of this door,” says Jeanniard, though it seems perfectly in character for the Lalannes – the bulls themselves have secret doors in their sides for storing barware.įrançois-Xavier and Claude Lalanne © Courtesy of Lalanne Archives
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What Jeanniard hadn’t seen was that behind François-Xavier’s enormous bronze bulls was a small red wooden door, concealing yet another room full of masterpieces. He had, after all, spent two weeks at the Lalannes’ house in the French village of Ury, combing through photographs, sketches, maquettes and embroidered napkins, down to the small cabinet containing a spoon that Claude Lalanne had fashioned for adding sugar to her coffee. When Florent Jeanniard, chairman and co-worldwide head of design at Sotheby’s Paris, picked up the phone to a Lalanne studio assistant who was wondering if he had missed some pieces from the collection, Jeanniard was dismissive. Williamsburg chair by Claude Lalanne, estimate: €60,000-€80,000 © Courtesy of Sotheby’s
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