The Late Houston Heiress Anne Schlumberger and a Record-Breaking $31.4 Million Lalanne Hippo

It was the hippo cry heard around the world — and it all started in Houston.

Well, not a cry, exactly. . . More like a $31.4 million exclamation. When a rare hippo-shaped bar by Francois-Xavier Lalanne blew past its $7 to $10 million estimate at a Sotheby’s New York auction last December, the record-setting price made headlines worldwide.

“The result was historic on every level: the highest price ever achieved for François-Xavier Lalanne, the highest price ever for a work of design at auction, and more than triple its high estimate after a spirited 26-minute bidding battle,” says Jodi Pollack, Sotheby’s chairman, co-worldwide head of 20th century design and chairman of major collections.

Since then, on April 22, Claude Lalanne’s Ensemble of Fifteen Mirrors achieved $33.5 million at Sotheby’s New York, breaking that previous record.

The Lalanne sale was part of Sotheby’s Schlumberger Collection, which has also given collectors and the public a rare glimpse into the world of the late Houston heiress and philanthropist Anne Schlumberger. Over a lifetime, she collected everything from Impressionist art to Surrealist jewelry by Salvador Dalí. Works from both categories were featured in late-2025 sales. Additional pieces — including African sculpture, prints and smaller works — will continue to be offered through 2026.

Anne Schlumberger’s Art Eye

Thanks to The Schlumberger Collection, we now see the breadth of her eye: a trove of 20th-century masterpieces ranging from Claude Monet’s Vue de Rouen depuis la côte Sainte-Catherine (which sold for more than $7 million last November at Sotheby’s New York’s Modern Day Auction) to Picasso ceramics and floor lamps by Alberto Giacometti. Her jewelry collection was also remarkable, with pieces by Van Cleef & Arpels, Buccellati, Lalaounis and, notably, Salvador Dali’s Swirling Sea Necklace.

“She was an incredibly private person,” says Margot Romano, an art services specialist at Bank of America who is assisting the heirs with Schlumberger’s estate. “She was involved with the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston and The Menil Collection. But she wasn’t a socialite. What she cared about was her family, her relationships with artists, and her collection.”

Born in Paris on August 19, 1939 — 13 days before Hitler’s invasion of Poland marked the official start of World War II — Anne Schlumberger was a descendant of the Schlumberger industrial dynasty, whose roots trace back to Alsace and whose business expanded to Texas during the war. In Houston, she graduated from The Kinkaid School in 1957 and from the University of Houston College of Architecture in 1979. With her classmate Edwin Eubanks, she co-founded the firm Eubanks/Bohnn Associates.

When she died last year, her obituary drew a picture of a singular, quietly witty personality — one who not only designed her own French-inspired home but infused it with art and moments of wit in every room. The obituary begins with a wink: “Anne-Marie Louise Schlumberger (Melcher, Bohnn) Brown begrudgingly passed away on April 22, 2025, in Houston, Texas.” It goes on to note that she was “happily married for 43 years” — cue drumroll — “to her three husbands.”

Art collecting ran in the family, but Schlumberger made it distinctly her own. After spotting Lalanne’s rhino bar at the home of her sister Catherine, she commissioned one for herself, only to request a hippopotamus instead. Lalanne obliged. The result, Hippopotame Bar, pièce unique, 1976, was a copper prototype (later versions were produced in bronze) that held pride of place in her home. Her sons recall that she filled it with chips, salsa and drinks for gatherings.

Schlumberger, who also maintained a home in the South of France, visited the Lalanne studio frequently. The relationship yielded numerous one-of-a-kind works, several of which appeared in Sotheby’s New York’s Important Design sale in December 2025 — from elaborate outdoor gates with fantastical animals to anemone-shaped balustrade ornaments for her staircase in Houston (both by Claude Lalanne).

“Anne wanted nine of the flowers specifically, since she did not like even numbers,” Romano says.

Her home near Houston’s Museum District, now owned by one of her sons, reflected the same sensibility: a layered mix of inherited pieces and blue-chip furniture commissioned from European designers André Dubreuil and Diego Giacometti. It was also filled with gestures both subtle and playful: A decorative artist faux-painted an air return to match the Fortuny fabric on the walls. A trompe-l’oeil bat hovered in the corner of one room, to the delight (and occasional surprise) of guests.

She had a fondness for chickens and roosters — her home in France had a small barnyard — and even gave herself a nickname: Chick-Anne.

Pollack, who visited Schlumberger’s home in Houston, was struck by the way she created immersive environments shaped by art and imagination.

“Anne didn’t live around her collection — she lived with it,” Pollack says. “She collected with conviction and curiosity, and that authenticity has resonated powerfully in the auction room.”