Update (December 12, 2025) – After a 26-minute bidding battle between seven bidders, François-Xavier Lalanne’s Hippopotame Bar, pièce unique achieved a $31.4 million sale, establishing the highest price ever for the artist at auction and the highest price ever achieved for a work of design at auction, climbing over three times its high estimate.
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Collections are often windows into the ways people lived with art, and Sotheby’s is about to reveal one that speaks to both imagination and history. Beginning October 21, the auction house will present The Schlumberger Collection, a multi-century assembly of paintings, design, sculpture, and jewelry shaped by Anne Schlumberger’s independent vision. The series of sales will run through 2026, with highlights shown in Paris, Hong Kong, and New York.
Among the defining works is François-Xavier Lalanne’s Hippopotame Bar, commissioned by Schlumberger in 1976. Estimated at more than $7 million, it is the first and only version Lalanne created entirely in copper, executed by hand before he later produced the form in cast bronze. The bar’s russet and black patina conceals a system of compartments with a bottle rack, hors d’oeuvre tray, glassware storage, and ice bucket. Two preparatory drawings by the artist, also from the family collection, will accompany the sale in December.
Jodi Pollack, Sotheby’s Chairman and Co-Worldwide Head of 20th Century Design, said, “Anne Schlumberger collected with a visionary eye, seeking harmony across art and design and creating provocative dialogues that transcended beyond decoration. Her cross-category approach – linking painting, sculpture, design, and jewelry – anticipated the way collectors think today. Within this vision, her pioneering support of Les Lalannes stands out: the Schlumberger Collection remains one of the greatest assemblages of their work in this country and a lasting testament to her legacy.” Schlumberger was a French heiress and Houston resident who passed away this April.
The family described the collection in personal terms, “Our mother’s collection reflects the breadth of her curiosity and the connections she found across disciplines, bringing together painting, sculpture, design, and jewelry in ways that felt both natural and surprising. For her, collecting was never about decoration but about creating connections and conversations. The Hippopotamus Bar, like so many pieces she lived with, embodied her sense of wonder, humor, and love of life. We are proud to share this collection more widely, and Sotheby’s is the ideal partner to honor her vision.”
The paintings in the collection span Impressionism to Surrealism. Claude Monet’s Vue de Rouen depuis la côte Sainte-Catherine, painted around 1892 during his Rouen Cathedral series, is expected to achieve between $3–4 million at the Modern Evening Auction in New York on November 10. Executed on a broad scale, the canvas captures Rouen’s skyline at sunset, marked by the cathedral’s spires and shifting light.
Another highlight is Eugène Boudin’s Le Havre, La Fête des régates, painted in 1869, which depicts seaside life along the Normandy coast and carries an estimate of $700,000–$1 million.
Surrealist design is represented through Salvador Dalí’s Swirling Sea Necklace, created in 1954 and realized in 1963 by Alemany & Co. in New York. Made of 18k gold with sapphires, emeralds, pearls, and diamonds, the necklace was commissioned by Madame São Schlumberger and is valued at €300,000–€500,000.
Claude Lalanne’s works add another dimension to the offering. Her Les Portes du Jardin gates from 2002, commissioned for Schlumberger’s home in the South of France, incorporate butterflies, lizards, mice, and birds in gold-patinated bronze. A set of nine Anémone balustrade elements, designed for Schlumberger’s Houston residence, will also appear at auction for the first time, estimated at $100,000–$150,000.
Beyond Europe, the collection also includes significant works from African traditions. A Pre-Bembe or Buyu Male Ancestor Statue from the Democratic Republic of Congo, acquired by Anne Schlumberger in the late 1950s, stands as a rare surviving example of its type. Measuring 29 inches high and estimated between $150,000–$250,000, it has not been exhibited or published since.
The full program began with exhibitions in Paris (October 3–6) and Hong Kong (October 14–16), leading into sales in New York including the Modern Evening Auction on November 10 and the inaugural Design sale series on December 10. Additional works from the collection will be offered through 2026.
The timing reflects a surge of interest in Les Lalanne’s work. Recently, pieces from collector Pauline Karpidas realized nearly $18.5 million in London, with some selling at fifteen times their estimates. Against this backdrop, the Schlumberger Collection arrives as both a portrait of Anne Schlumberger’s role as an early supporter of Les Lalanne and a broader demonstration of how she linked different traditions, Impressionist painting, Surrealist jewelry, modern design, and African sculpture, into one living collection.
