Feb. 25 (Bloomberg) -- The sale of Yves Saint Laurent’s art collection set records for a second night in Paris as a leather armchair fetched 21.9 million euros ($28 million), the most for a work of 20th-century design at auction. The buyer was the dealer who sold it to the French designer in the early 1970s.

From the front rows of the saleroom, Cheska Vallois offered bids of 500,000 euros each for the so-called “dragons” armchair made by French designer Eileen Gray around 1917 to 1919, wresting it from a rival phone bidder and prompting applause from the crowd of 1,000. The item had a presale top estimate of 3 million euros, according to host Christie’s International. Estimates don’t include Christie’s fees.

Sale of the 285 lots yesterday, the second of a three-day event at the Grand Palais, totaled 101.3 million euros, more than double the top estimate. This auction’s unequivocal strength eases the gloom that’s beset the art market the past six months as the latest -- and worst -- round of the credit crisis slashed wealth, chilling demand for art.

“We’re absolutely amazed by what’s happened,” said Edward Dolman, Christie’s managing director, of the results. “ There are still a lot of extremely wealthy people out there.”

The two-day auction tally of 307.5 million euros is the most for a private collection.

“The market is much deeper than it was in the 1990s,” said Francois Laffanour, director of Paris-based Galerie Downtown and a dealer in 20th-century arts.

Record Sideboard

The “dragon” armchair was one of 150 lots offered in the five-hour decorative-arts session that fetched 59.2 million euros, against a high estimate of 28.3 million euros. Saint Laurent and his partner Pierre Berge accumulated one of the world’s most important collections of Art Deco furniture and objects, said dealers. Ninety-five percent of the items sold.

An hour before the armchair, with wooden arms shaped like dragons, became the most-expensive piece of 20th-century design sold at auction, a sideboard dating from 1915 to 1917, also by Eileen Gray, held that title after New York-dealer Philippe Segalot, bidding in the room, paid 4 million euros for it. The 7-foot-wide lacquer-and-metal enfilade had been kept underneath a portrait of the fashion designer by Andy Warhol, in the music room of an apartment Saint Laurent shared with Berge.

A two-tier metal and crystal-glass bar made in 1965 by Versailles-based Francois-Xavier Lalanne, who died in December, sold for 2.8 million euros to an unidentified phone bidder, against a presale top estimate of 300,000 euros.

Most Expensive Bar

“It’s the most expensive bar ever,” said London-based dealer, Ben Brown, who represents Francois-Xavier and wife Claude in the U.K. “It’s one of Francois-Xavier’s greatest designs. I thought it would make a million, but I didn’t think it would make that much.’’

Other highlights included the 3.1 million euros paid for a pair of 3-foot, 4-inch high geometrically decorated vases by Jean Dunand, dating from 1925, and the 1.7 million euros given for a pair of leopard-skin upholstered stools by Gustave Miklos, circa 1928 to 1929.

Earlier yesterday, in the Old Master and 19th-century pictures session, a portrait by Theodore Gericault sold for an artist record of 9 million euros. Auction of the Saint Laurent and Berge collection began on Feb. 23, setting records for works by Matisse, Brancusi, Mondrian and Duchamp.

Sculptures and Asian art will be offered today, including two Qing Dynasty bronzes that the Chinese government said should be returned because they were stolen from the imperial palace. A Paris court ruled this week that the sale could proceed.

Proceeds from the sale -- held in collaboration with Berge’s own Paris-based auction house, Pierre Berge & Associates -- will benefit the foundation and research into AIDS, he said.

(Scott Reyburn writes about the art market for Bloomberg News. Opinions expressed are his own.)

To contact the writer on the story: Scott Reyburn in Paris at sreyburn@hotmail.com.

Last Updated: February 25, 2009 02:37 EST