PARIS—Billed by the French press as “the sale of the century,” though admittedly we’re just nine years in, Christie's three-session marathon auction of 733 works of art, furniture, and antiquities from the collection of the late, great fashion guru Yves Saint Laurent and his longtime business partner and companion Pierre Bergé is estimated to bring €200–300 million ($250–375 million) at Paris’s Grand Palais next week.

Saint Laurent, who died of brain cancer at the age of 71 in June, bequeathed his share of the joint collection, assembled over five decades, to the Pierre Bergé-Yves Saint Laurent Foundation; Bergé decided to auction the entire collection and use the proceeds to create a new foundation dedicated to scientific research and the fight against AIDS.

While it’s difficult to gauge what draw the Saint Laurent provenance will have in the present climate, a replay of the stunning $25 million Andy Warhol estate sale at Sotheby’s in 1988 is not out of the realm of possibility.

With several of the top lots carrying price tags in excess of €15 million, a price level as yet untested since the global economic meltdown last September, the YSL sale, taking place February 23–25, represents a high-profile (if one-off) barometer of what the current market can bear.

Click on the photo gallery at left for works priced high, low, and right on the money at the upcoming Christie's sale.

Judd Tully is Editor at Large of Art+Auction.