Jan. 10 (Bloomberg) -- Christie's International is to offer eight works on paper by the Austrian Expressionist Egon Schiele, carrying a low estimate of 7.6 million pounds ($14.9 million), in its Feb. 4 sale of Impressionist and modern art in London.

The proceeds will go to the Neue Galerie, New York, which was created by cosmetics magnate Ronald Lauder and the late Serge Sabarsky to showcase early-20th-century German and Austrian art. They will help pay for Lauder's $135 million purchase of Gustav Klimt's ``Adele Bloch-Bauer I,'' which hangs in the Neue Galerie.

``This is quite a coup for us,'' Olivier Camu, Christie's head of Impressionist and modern art in London, said today in a telephone interview. ``It's private and fresh.''

Five of the drawings carry estimates of 1 million pounds or more. Most expensive is the 1912 gouache, ``Woman Lying Down in Red Trousers and Standing Female Nude,'' estimated at 2 million pounds to 3 million pounds. Three self-portraits range in estimate from 700,000 pounds to 2 million pounds.

``These drawings are from the Serge Sabarsky estate, so we can presume that Ronald Lauder agreed to the consignment,'' said Richard Nagy, a London dealer who specializes in Austrian and German Expressionist art.

Lauder owns the world's largest private collection of German and Austrian modern art, Nagy said. Forbes ranks Lauder the 108th- richest American, with a net worth of $3.2 billion.

`Fortunate'

``These works on paper are being sold, with the approval of the board of trustees, to facilitate the acquisition of `Adele Bloch-Bauer I,' Scott Gutterman, deputy director of the Neue Galerie, said today in an e-mailed statement. ``The Neue Galerie is fortunate to have more than 140 additional Schiele works on paper in its extended collection.''

According to the auction result tracker Artnet, the current saleroom record for a Schiele work on paper is the $11.4 million with fees paid for ``Self-Portrait With Checkered Shirt'' at Sotheby's, New York, on Nov. 7.

Schiele died from influenza in Vienna in 1918.

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

To contact the reporter on this story: Scott Reyburn in London at sreyburn@hotmail.com

Last Updated: January 10, 2008 13:06 EST