Choupette Memorabilia Is Part of the Next Karl Lagerfeld Auctions
The final auctions for Karl Lagerfeld’s estate will have a German accent — and a feline touch.
Everything from vintage German advertising posters and furniture to his pet cat Choupette’s food bowl and climbing tree are to go on the block as Sotheby’s conducts a series of sales in Cologne.
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Two auctions at Sotheby’s new German headquarters at the Palais Oppenheim on May 4 and 5 will dispense 300 lots, while a further 250 will be open for online bidding from April 29 to May 6. The sales are estimated to bring in about 700,000 euros.
Many of the larger lots come from Lagerfeld’s country home in Louveciennes, France, an 18th-century villa done up with German furnishings, many designed by architect Bruno Paul, as well as his large collection of German advertising posters collected over 30 years. One by Oskar Schlemmer for “Das Triadische Ballett” from 1926 is estimated to fetch between 15,000 euros and 20,000 euros. But there are several lots in the sale offered from 10 euros, including notebooks and plastic fans.
Courtesy of Sotheby's
There is even a poster depicting a white cat, as if foreshadowing the arrival of Lagerfeld’s blue-eyed Birman, which he pampered for the last eight years of his life.
Among choice Choupette lots are a letter written to the cat by Brigitte Bardot, a noted animal rights activist, along with a cat wheel with pedestal.
Memorabilia abounds, from his collection of iPods that reveal an eclectic taste in music, to gifts from friends, home textiles and fashion drawings. Personal items include suit jackets, loafers, fingerless gloves, sunglasses and fans, which he ditched when he lost 90 pounds and adopted a more rock-‘n’-roll persona.
Courtesy of Sotheby's
The Cologne sales follow the Monaco and Paris legs of Lagerfeld’s multi-event estate auction. The French sales, held at the end of 2021, netted 18.2 million euros, roughly four times the pre-auction estimate, according to Sotheby’s.
Two world records were set at one of the Paris sales: A black Chanel crocodile tote bag from 2010 that Lagerfeld carried daily fetched 94,500 euros, and Martin Szekely’s “Miroir Soleil Noir,” from 2007, went for 375,500 euros.
SEE ALSO:
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Sotheby’s to Auction Karl Lagerfeld’s Furniture, Art, Cars and More
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