Auction introduction: The Karpidas Collection is undoubtedly one of the finest groups of art and design in private hands, attesting to Pauline Karpidas’ unrivalled patronage of the arts, including 20 years of exhibitions which have attracted some of the most interesting contemporary artists and designers to the Greek island of Hydra, now renowned for its vibrant art scene. In Hydra, the spirit of the Hydra Workshop meets 19th-century Greek history. Artworks by the contemporary artists that Pauline Karpidas collected from the mid-1980s onwards - Juan Muñoz, Jonathan Meese, Richard Prince, Georg Baselitz, Kiki Smith, Thomas Houseago - and those exhibited on the island since 1996, live symbiotically among the white-washed stone walls and pale blue painted woodwork that comprises the lovingly converted Boudouris Mansion. Having collaborated with interior designer Jacques Grange and gallerist David Gill, and championed the furniture designs of Mattia Bonetti, André Dubreuil, and of course Les Lalannes, the worlds of high art and functional living seamlessly coexist. We would like to thank Mattia Bonetti and Régis de Saintdo, the Galerie Mougin, the Lalanne Archives, Jacques Grange, The Galerie du Passage, Pierre Passebon, David Gill Gallery, Francis Sultana and Patrice Dangel for their assistance with the cataloguing of the lots.