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"Great interiors often have short lives\u2014so when an especially refined residence's furnishings hit the auction block, design groupies take notice. Which explains the international hubbub sparked when Christie's in New York announced that on April 23 and 24 it would be selling the contents of a magnificent Palladian-style villa in Malibu, California, that was outfitted nearly a decade ago by contemporary tastemaker and AD100 designer Michael S. Smith.\n\nPinterestFacebookInterior designer Michael S. Smith. Photo: Fran\u00E7ois Halard\n\nThe subject of Smith's soon-to-be-published book, Building Beauty: The Alchemy of Design (Rizzoli), the seaside pleasure dome was a celebration of classical serenity; its chalk-color, high-ceilinged spaces hosted a range of culturally and historically diverse objects so surprisingly congenial that the project's restful air seemed the result of magic rather than mere decoration.\n\nPinterestFacebookA 19th-century Chinese root-wood table. Photo: Christie's Images Ltd. 2013\n\n Encompassing such arresting oddities as a twisty 19th-century Chinese root-wood table (estimated to bring $10,000\u2013$15,000) and a lean-lined quartet of 12th-century Byzantine slipware bowls ($3,000\u2013$5,000), the 458-lot sale also includes statement-quality works of art, namely 1960s Abstract Expressionist paintings by the likes of James Brooks, Helen Frankenthaler, and Leon Polk Smith.\n\nPinterestFacebookA late Victorian laquered brass tripod Telescope ($1,000-$1,500). Photo: Christie's Images Ltd. 2013\n\nEverything offered in the sale \"A Palladian Villa by Michael S. Smith\" is on view to the public April 19\u201323 at Christie's. 20 Rockefeller Plaza, New York, NY; christies.com\n\nClick here to view a slide show of some of the items on the block.\n\nPinterestFacebookA Chinese Cloisonne enamel bowl ($1,500-$2,000). Photo: Christie's Images Ltd. 2013\n\nMore on archdigest.com:\n\n Check out Artcurial's upcoming auction of pieces from Paris's storied H\u00F4tel de Crillon\n\n See 5 fascinating recent sales from auction houses around the world"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.architecturaldigest.com/story/michael-s-smith-christies-auction-malibu-palladian-villa>