FEAR OF a bidding war leading to an astronomical price may have prevented the sale of a chair made by the Irish designer Eileen Gray which failed to sell at a Christie’s auction in New York on Tuesday night.
Jennifer Goff, the curator of furniture at the National Museum of Ireland, said yesterday that potential bidders may have been deterred by fear and trepidation of a bidding war in light of last year’s sale of another chair by Eileen Gray for “astronomical money”. The designer’s leather armchair – known as the Fauteil aux Dragons (the Dragons’ Chair) – sold for €21.9 million in Paris and set a world record price for 20th century furniture. It had belonged to the late designer Yves Saint Laurent.
Christie’s had estimated the Siréne lacquered and painted beechwood armchair, made in Paris 90 years ago by the Enniscorthy, Co Wexford-born architect and furniture designer, at $2 million – $3 million (€1.5 million – €2.3 million).
It was being sold by an American private collector.
The auction at the Rockefeller Plaza in Manhattan attracted bidding from within the saleroom and via the telephone and the internet.
The chair, lot 16, received an opening bid of $1.2 million and rose quickly in increments of $100,000 before stalling at $1.7 million.
Having apparently failed to reach the undisclosed reserve, the auctioneer declined to accept the highest bid and declared the item a “pass”.
However, the auction’s second lot by Eileen Gray – a painted wood screen – was sold for $842,500. It had an estimate of $700,000 – $1 million.
It is one of a pair made by the designer.
The other is in the collection of the National Museum of Ireland and is on display at Collins Barracks in Dublin.
Ms Goff said it had been acquired by the State – along with other items by Eileen Gray – from a private collection in France 10 years ago.
The acquisition was brokered by the museum’s director Dr Pat Wallace and the then minister for the arts Síle de Valera.
Eileen Gray moved to France early in the last century.
She died, aged 98, in Paris in 1976.
Virtually unknown in Ireland during her lifetime, since her death she has been increasingly recognised as one of the most influential figures in the history of art deco design.
Meanwhile, Christie’s announced that further items of furniture designed by Eileen Gray, from another private French collector, would be offered for sale in Paris next year.
