A bronze and glass console table by Diego Giacometti achieved $1,762,500 at Doyle New York’s Doyle+Design auction on April 8, 2013. This stunning price set a new world auction record for a work by Diego Giacometti.

The circa 1975 console, titled Chevreuil, Biche et Bambi, is a unique piece commissioned from Giacometti by French fashion designer Serge Matta, brother of Surrealist painter Roberto Matta. Serge Matta was an enthusiastic collector of works by Giacometti, who was represented by Pierre Matisse Gallery in New York. Pierre Matisse also represented Matta’s brother, Roberto.

This one-of-a-kind console was commissioned for Serge Matta’s country house in France, and the lot is accompanied by a letter from Pierre Mattise to Matta stating:

"Mon Cher Serge,

Our friend Diego just told me that the console (…Chevreuil, Biche et Bambi, 81cm x 1.7m x 38 cm) that you commissioned for your country house is ready-it is preferable that you come to get it at his studio. I will be in Paris at the end of the month.

Pierre"

The consignor of the console purchased it directly from Serge Matta, and a second accompanying letter states:

"Received the (agreed?) sum for the sale of the console in bronze (Chevreuil, Biche et Bambi, measuring 81cm x 1.7m x 38 cm) signed on the (crossbar?) Diego and…initialed DG…..(made?) for myself from the Pierre Matisse Gallery in New York

In Paris, 10 May 1982

Serge Matta"

The bronze console with glass top depicts a bucolic scene of a buck, doe and fawn interspersed with three pine trees. Estimated at $400,000-600,000, it was the object of competitive bidding, which dwindled to two determined phone bidders, one from New York and one from the United Kingdom. The console was hammered down to the British buyer.