Sit-on sheep lead nearly 150 design pieces headed for Christie's

Nearly 150 rare design pieces from one anonymous French-American collector are headed for Christie's upcoming Design sale. The group includes sheep-shaped seats by François-Xavier Lalanne and a piece by Jean Prouvé, according to a report published on 19 October. Elle Décor

The sheep are the crowd-pleasers. Lalanne, the French artist and designer who lived from 1927 to 2008, made seats and ottomans — low, padded seats with no back — in the form of sheep. Christie's calls the Moutons de Laine, or woolly sheep, his best known and loved work. Christie's

One past example shows how they work. Christie's lot 6007582 was titled 'MOUTONS DE LAINE', A SHEEP AND TWO OTTOMANS, and dated 1968. It was made from sheep's wool over patinated aluminium and wood, with the standing sheep measuring 35 in. (89 cm.) high. Christie's said the work was part of a flock first executed in 1968.

Lalanne did not stop at one trio. Another flock offered by Christie's, lot 5621953, was listed as 'Moutons de Laine', Un Troupeau de 24 Moutons in a Post-War and Contemporary Art Evening Sale. Christie's That set, also in wool, aluminium and wood, comprised seven white sheep and one black sheep, plus 16 smaller white grazing sheep.

There are outdoor cousins too. Christie's has described the Moutons de Pierre as cast in monolithic blocks of concrete with a cloud-like cut-out, and other stone sheep in epoxy and bronze as designed to flourish outdoors. Christie's A separate listing for a Troupeau de Moutons shows the idea kept returning in different materials.

The market has watched them closely for years. In October 2012, a François-Xavier Lalanne 'Mouton de Laine' was expected to fetch between US$4 million and US$6 million at a November auction in New York City. Business Insider

What makes this stand out is simple. These are not sculptures behind a rope. They graze in the living room, and you can sit on them.