Full Text:

CHRISTIES NEW YORK 20THCENT DECORATIVE ARTS

NEW YORK CITY -- Christie's Twentieth Century decorative arts sale on December

10 featured works designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, Armand Albert Rateau, Louis

Comfort Tiffany and Tiffany Studios, and totalled $20,565,574 (Christie's Park

Avenue: $18,380,620; Christie's East: $2,184,954.

The sale total for the firm's Twentieth Century decorative arts department,

New York, this year totals $32,765,406.

The star lot of the day was a "Magnolia" lamp, sold in the afternoon auction

entitled Tiffany: Innovation in American Design, which, after furious bidding

both on the telephones and in the saleroom, fetched $1,762,500 and set a new

record for a "Magnolia" lamp, surpassing Christie's earlier record of $992,500

in June 1998.

An "Elaborate Peony" leaded table lamp realized $750,500 (est $300/400,000),

while a dychroic "Large Dragonfly" floor lamp climbed to $387,500 (est

$250/350,000), replacing the firm's prior record of $332,500 for a standard

"Drop-head dragonfly" model.

The morning session of Twentieth Century decorative arts, including Arts and

Crafts and architectural designs, reached $6,043,355. A rare cast-bronze

armchair by Armand Albert Rateau fetched $640,500 (est $250/350,000) and set a

world record for the artist and any Twentieth Century chair. A Frank Lloyd

Wright copper urn, circa 1903, was sold to the Dana Thomas House Foundation in

Springfield, Ill., for $288,500 (est $80/100,000).

On December 8, Christie's East set a record for a "Wisteria" table lamp,

Tiffany Studios, when it fetched $420,000 (est $100/150,000). A "Winfield

Memorial" window, circa 1890, formerly in the Greenville Reformed Church of

Jersey City, N.J., sold for $63,000 (est $30/40,000).