ARE YOU sitting comfortably? A chair by the well-known Irish designer Eileen Gray is expected to fetch about €1 million when it goes for auction in Sotheby’s Paris later this month. The Transat armchair was commissioned by the Maharajah of Indore for his bedroom in the 1920s.
It is regarded as a masterpiece of modernist design. Only 12 armchairs were made and only nine are documented.
The Majarajah’s Transat chair is a combination of black Duco lacquer and natural leather. It was put on the market when items from the Majarajah’s collection were put up for auction in 1980 and has remained with the same owner since. Its value is put at between €850,000 and €1 million.
Other highlights of the auction which takes place in Paris on November 22nd include a coffee table Gray designed for her own home, the villa Tempe à Pailla in the south of France.
Of copper and tubular steel it was bequeathed by Gray to the mother of the present owner. It is estimated to fetch between €100,000 and €150,000.
Born in Wexford in 1876, Gray moved to France as a young designer and was involved in the art-deco movement.
She was largely unknown in her own country until after her death. Her achievements were recognised when the National Museum in Collins Barracks, Dublin, put on display a permanent exhibition of her work in 2002. Parts of her work were also showcased at the recent Moderns exhibition at the Irish Museum of Modern Art.
In December 2009 a chair made by Gray called Dragons sold for €21.9 million at auction.
