François-Xavier Lalanne’s Hippopotame Bar, pièce unique delivered a historic result at Sotheby’s Important Design, Featuring Works from the Schlumberger Collection sale yesterday (Dec. 10), where it sold for $31.4 million over a high estimate of $10 million. The work—commissioned in 1976 by Anne Schlumberger, one of Lalanne’s early patrons—inspired a lively 26-minute bidding battle among seven collectors, underscoring the significant demand for works of this scale and rarity. Notably, the sale established the highest price ever achieved for the artist at auction and the highest price ever realized for a work of design, confirming both the artist’s singular place in the market and the surging global market for functional art.
The piece, which showcases Lalanne’s signature blend of whimsy and technical mastery, marks a pivotal moment in his long fascination with the hippopotamus form. Crafted from hand-wrought copper, maillechort, stainless steel, brass and painted wood, it is the only version of the bar executed in copper. Hidden compartments—including a revolving bottle rack, ice bucket, hors-d’oeuvre tray and glassware storage—reveal Lalanne’s skill in engineering objects that are as practical as they are imaginative. The winning bidder also receives two original design drawings from Anne Schlumberger’s collection that trace the artist’s process from concept to sculpture.
In 2025, the design and decorative arts category has offered a rare bright spot in a cooling global auction market, growing 20.4 percent year-over-year to $172 million in the first half of the year, according to ArtTactic. This surge stands in sharp contrast to declines in other major categories: postwar and contemporary art fell 19.3 percent, impressionist and modern dropped 7.7 percent and luxury remained flat (down just 0.5 percent).
Sales from the £73 million Pauline Karpidas collection in London—with works from Les Lalannes totaling nearly $18.5 million and several achieving up to 15 times their estimates—demonstrated the growing international interest not only in design but also in Lalanne pieces more specifically. This latest result reshuffles the ranking of Lalanne’s top-selling works at auction. In June 2025, Grand Rhinocrétaire II brought in $16.4 million in New York—more than tripling its $5 million high estimate—then the second-highest result for the artist and now the third. Just weeks earlier, Bar aux Autruches fetched €11.1 million ($12 million) in Paris, setting a new bar record.
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