PARIS.- The results of today’s design auction again underscore the buoyancy of works on each market of this segment from original collections or private groups. The selection of high quality pieces our experts offered won praise from collectors.

“Despite the wide range of works and periods, the auction was very consistent,” said Cécile Verdier, the European head of Sotheby’s European Design department and the auctioneer. “Whether it be Gallé glass, Royère furniture or creations by Rousseau, Ruhlmann, Gruber, du Plantier, Lalanne, Giacometti and Branzi, the leitmotiv was likely poetry, refinement and quality craftsmanship. We’re delighted to have brought recognition to postwar pieces by Marc du Plantier and to have shattered the artist’s previous record.”

Works by the 20th-century’s greatest decorative artists, each emblematic of their period — Emile Gallé, Clément Rousseau, Jean Royère, Marc du Plantier and Claude Lalanne — achieved the highest prices.

Two collections of Emile Gallé glassware, one French, the other Belgian, opened the auction. The 12 lots achieved prices that confirm the resurgent popularity of Art Nouveau glass first seen in 2013, when the Garden Museum and Félix Marcilhac collections were offered at auction. All the lots were sold for a combined total of €760,000 / $845,300, well above the high-end estimate of €447,000 / $497,170 (lots 1-12). The most hotly disputed piece was the Vase sur Socle Grand Iris, 1901-1904, estimated between €200,000 and 300,000 ($218,000-326,000), which reached the second-highest price for a vase by the artist: €435,000 / $479,561 (lot 8).

The Art Deco section’s highest price was for a Table de bibliothèque tournante by Clément Rousseau, ca. 1920, combining luxury and modernity, which set the world record for the artist at €315,000 / $347,269 (lot 26, estimate: €200,000-250,000 / $218,000-272,000). The top sheathed in rosewood, violetwood and green-tinted shagreen creates an astonishingly modern three-dimensional optical effect.

Several works by Emile-Jacques Ruhlmann paid tribute to the decorator’s timelessly elegant style. A pair of fan-shaped silver-plated bronze and alabaster sconces, ca. 1925, fetched €117,000 / $130,130 (lot 27, estimate: €100,000-150,000 / $109,000-163,000). A set of eight chairs and four armchairs in cane Rendez-vous des pêcheurs de truite, ca. 1932, still in their original condition, achieved ten times its €20,000-25,000 estimate at €207,000 / $228,205 (lot 34).

The auction showed that interest in work by Jean Royère remains high. Nearly all of the 16 lots by the artist were sold. His different armchair models were the most successful. The emblematic Ours Polaire ca. 1948-1949, broke the previous world auction record for a pair of armchairs by the artist at €543,000 / $598,625 at Sotheby’s last autumn in Paris (lot 109). A pair of Sculptures armchairs, ca. 1960, fetched €237,000 / $261,278, double the high-end estimate of €120,000 / $87,000-131,000 (lot 95). The Elephanteau, upholstered in anise green velvet, 1948, sold for €135,000 / $150,150, over twice its high-end €60,000/ $43,500-65,500 estimate (lot 112).

Alberto and Diego Giacometti were the auction’s other two stars. Alberto’s bronze Greek lamp with a golden-brown patina, ca. 1937, in the family since it was created, achieved €195,000 / $214,976, far above its €70,000-100,000 / $76,500-109,000 estimate (lot 63). The two models of the Lampe Tête de femme designed in 1933-1934, one cast when it was designed, the other by Diego in the 1970s, sold for €189,000 / $208,361 and €159,000 / $175,288, respectively (lots 60 and 139). Bidding was competitive for Loup aux aguets ca. 1970, touched off a bidding war, which was sold for €141,000 /$156,800 (lot 137, estimate: €30,000-40,000 / $32,600-43,500).

The auction ended with the Marc du Plantier collection, which totalled €919,750 / $1.022.980, far above its €380,000-545,000 / $422,651-606,171 estimate. The artist designed these 11 works for the homes of the present owners or their parents between the 1950s and 1970s. They illustrate the richness of his work and his ability to break new ground. The parchment-covered wooden desk, 1957, was acquired for €339,000 / $373,727 (lot 163, estimate: €70,000-100,000 / $76,500-109,000), while the pair of patinated iron candelabras decorated with hard stones, 1961, brought €93,000 / $103,430 (lot 160, estimate: €40,000-60,000 / $43,500-65,500).