A billiard table, several giant chandeliers, and even pots and pans; items from Yves Saint Laurent's private country hideaway went on show on Tuesday ahead of the second instalment of this year's record-smashing "sale of the century".
In all 1185 items will go under the hammer at a giant four-day auction starting November 17 that winds up with the sale of the late fashion designer's last Mercedes-Benz automobile and Hermes luggage.
In comparison to the record-smashing 700-item February sale, which fetched $US492 million ($528.52 million) in the biggest private art sale in history, next week's auction is expected to ring up a mere $USD3 to $USD4 million, said Francois de Ricqles, deputy president of Christie's France.
"This auction is totally unlike the first, which was the sale of an art collection," he told AFP.
"There are no masterpieces this time, we're not expecting to break market records."
Buyers were expected to turn out in numbers nonetheless, said Jonathan Rendell, deputy head of Christie's America, thanks to the high prestige of Yves Saint Laurent and his partner Pierre Berge in art and fashion circles.
"All of this belonged to Saint Laurent and Berge, it was part of their intimacy, their universe," said Rendell. "A lot of it is quirky but it was there with them at the weekends."
From neo-Gothic chairs, to panther sofas, rococco mirrors, porcelain, floor cushions and spare curtains, "I think prices will fly," Rendell said.
The February chapter in the once-in-a-lifetime sale smashed 25 records for artists as well as setting new ceilings in Art Deco and silver.
Berge, a business tycoon and arts patron, opted to sell the collection after Saint Laurent's death in June last year aged 71.
Last month, he said he would offer the entire proceeds of the November follow-up sale to fight AIDS, along with some of the proceeds from the February auction.
"It is a misconception to think AIDS is like other illnesses," Berge, who is 78, said. "We are not at the end of the tunnel, we are travelling further down the tunnel."
Works on auction are largely from the pair's three-storey Chateau Gabriel on the Normandy coast, a rambling place with a sea view and vast grounds that was built in 1874 for wealthy Americans.
Purchased in the early 1980s, the pair had it redecorated in eclectic style to evoke writer Marcel Proust's In Search of Lost Time, late 19th century castles of Bavaria, and decors from Luchino Visconti's final film The Innocent.
AFP