For some it is a hippopotamus, for one it was the heart of her home, and for many it will be a jaw-dropping objet d’art. This is French sculptor François-Xavier Lalanne’s Hippo Bar, the star of Sotheby’s sale dedicated to The Schlumberger Collection, which in true hippo style smashed expectations by selling for a remarkable $31.4 million. Shaped in hand-wrought copper, steel, and wood, the creature reflects an animal that remained Lalanne’s lifelong muse. It also set a new benchmark for his work. Life came full circle for a man who believed sculpture should be familiar and useful, something you lie on, sit on, eat at, write on, or store things inside. That philosophy resonated deeply with art patron Anne Schlumberger, who commissioned the giant for her home and lived with it as part of her everyday world.
Inside the Sotheby’s saleroom, the atmosphere was electric. The Hippo Bar sparked a heated 26-minute contest as seven determined collectors, both in person and on the phones, fought to claim the nearly six-foot marvel. They were not only bidding on whimsy but on rarity, since this is the first and only Hippopotame Bar executed in copper and entirely hand-fabricated by Lalanne. That distinction made it the defining highlight of The Schlumberger Collection auction.
The structure itself goes far beyond a playful animal form. It is a fully realized functional sculpture shaped with the presence of a real creature. Beneath the layered russet, reddish, and dark patina lies a meticulously designed interior. The back and head open to reveal a complete bar fitted with a revolving bottle rack, an ice bucket, a hors d’oeuvre tray, and storage for glassware, each piece built into the internal skeleton of the hippo. When closed, none of this is visible and the animal stands quietly, its secret tucked away.
Anne Schlumberger commissioned the work in the mid-1970s, and her family spoke warmly of her instinctive, curious eye. “Our mother’s collection reflects the breadth of her curiosity and the connections she found across disciplines, bringing together painting, sculpture, design, and jewelry in ways that felt both natural and surprising. For her, collecting was never about decoration but about creating connections and conversations,” the Schlumberger family noted ahead of the sale. “The Hippopotamus Bar, like so many pieces she lived with, embodied her sense of wonder, humor, and love of life.”
Lalanne had explored hippopotamus forms long before this commission. In the late 1960s he created Hippopotame I, a life-size hippo bathtub in molded resin and brass for Marcel Duchamp’s widow, a piece so large it ended up in her living room instead of the bathroom. Even smaller bronze hippo sets that hit the auction block for $2.7 million, have shown how consistently collectors gravitate toward his playful, quietly sophisticated universe. It makes one wonder whether this bar hidden inside a beast will also find its place of pride in a tycoon’s home.
