Courtesy of Christie’s

Chairs from 1812 ball at Tuileries Gardens, Paris

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The auction made €9 million ($13.4 million) with fees, against a high estimate of €3.8 million, based on hammer prices. Proceeds will benefit Saint Laurent and Bergé’s charity devoted to research on HIV and AIDS.

About 85 percent of the 1,156 lots were sold in the event, held in collaboration with Pierre Berge and Associates in the Theatre Marigny.

The pair of chairs, which had been kept in Saint Laurent’s apartment in the Rue de Babylone, sold for €241,000, handily besting the estimate of €7–9,000. 

A 20th-century green enameled earthenware umbrella stand sold for €109,000, after being valued at just €300 to €500. 

The most expensive of a small group of works of modern art was Fernand Leger’s 1950 gouache-and-black-ink drawing Les travailleurs au repos (Workers at rest), which sold for €181,000 against a high estimate of €70,000.

Many of the 1,200 clients registered to bid at the auction were lured by more personal items, such as Saint Laurent’s enamel-and-gilded-metal Cartier alarm clock, which went for €3,500, more than double its high estimate.