The Finest Design Collection in recent Memory
Collection of Jean & Terry de Gunzburg
The landmark design collection of Jean and Terry de Gunzburg is coming up for sale at Sotheby’s on April 22nd, and it is certainly going to shape the current state of the market for collectible design, as well as cement the notion that living with design is an exercise in intellectual taste and curiosity, an art form in its own right.
Their home captures the concetp of the curated interior of the 21st century in the most ultimate way. It is a seminal representation of what interior design is about today, different from anything from the past. It is the artistic ability to create a dialogue between objects while achieving harmonious and creative environments, representing the presonal taste of the dwellers rather than that of the decorator.
“Collecting,” they say, “has been one of the great privileges of our lives, a journey guided entirely by instinct, curiosity, and the pleasure of living with works that moved us deeply.” Their New York home represents the philosophy and life journey that demonstrates how our home is our self-portrait.
This exquisite and dynamic collection is one of the best offered in the market in recent years, and it has been shaped around and within their NY home, decorated by legendary French decorator Jacques Grange. Together, this husband-and-wife team approached collecting with the same intellectual curiosity and instinct for discovery that defined their successful professional lives.
The choice of rare design masterpieces of radical creativity, which will be revealed in the weeks to come, is what made their collection visionary and of the highest quality. The most anticipated of all lots in the collection is certainly the extraordinary ensemble of mirrors by Claude Lalanne, created for the Music Room of Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Bergé (below). When these mirrors fetched €900 thousand in the Saint Laurent’s 2009 benchmark sale at Christie’s Paris, it was a record price for Les Lalanne, who have since become the stars of the collectible design market. They are estimated today at $10 million to $15 million.
