FRANÇOIS-XAVIER LALANNE | UNIQUE "PETIT RHINOCÉROS MÉCANIQUE" CONDIMENT HOLDER

Commissioned directly from the artist by the original owner, 1978

Christie's Paris, 28 May 2010, lot 246

Les Lalannes, exh. cat., Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, 1975, p. 8 (for a related model)

Jean-Louis Gaillemin, “Atelier Lalanne,” Architectural Digest, February 1981 (for the present lot photographed in situ in the artist’s studio)

Claude & François-Xavier Lalanne: Fragments, exh. cat., Galerie Enrico Navarra, Paris and JGM Galerie, Paris, 2000, pp. 13 and 57 (for details of a variant of the model)

Daniel Abadie, Lalanne(s), Paris, 2008, pp. 234 (for a preparatory drawing of the present lot) and 235 (for the present lot illustrated)

Les Lalanne, exh. cat., Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris, 2010, p. 62 (for related models)

Paul Kasmin, Claude & François-Xavier Lalanne, New York, 2012, n.p. (for a related model)

In 1964, François-Xavier Lalanne (1927-2008) introduced the Rhino-crétaire to his bestiary, a large-scale, bronze-fleshed desk in the shape of a rhinoceros. Several versions of the model followed. In 1971, Lalanne created a monumental rhino made of leather which cleverly disassembled into several independent seats. The animal became a leitmotif in the artist’s œuvre and was used as a main theme for smaller objects, including extremely rare functional pieces incorporating complex mechanisms such as the present lot. Only three variants of this condiment holder are known to exist. “Petit Rhinocéros Mécanique” is exceptional in terms of conception and machinery, displaying a unique mechanism of doors and hidden alcoves, and includes a set of custom-made Saint-Gobain glassware commissioned by the original client.