Photos courrtesy of Sotheby's,

A lamp designed by Frank Lloyd Wright sold for a record-breaking price in a recent auction at Sotheby’s, fetching 7.5 million dollars (approximately 6.6 million euros) and thus becoming the most expensive object designed by Wright, surpassing some of his houses.

An early commission obtained by Wright, the lamp was designed around 1903 for the Susan Lawrence Dana House in Springfield (Illinois). It was part of an ambitious residential project for Dana, an heiress and political activist, one of the first to stand for women’s suffrage, civil rights, and social-welfare reforms.

The auctioned piece presents a rectangular pedestal and a screen recalling the inclined eaves of the Dana House. Made with opalescent glass and with geometrical and botanical motifs, it reflects Wright’s pursuit of a total work of art, where architecture, furniture design, and decoration are seen as a single coherent unit.

At the auction, the lamp attracted collectors from all over the world, who engaged in an intense battle that lasted 11 minutes. The hammer price exceeded the initial estimate by far, and also broke Wright’s previous record, for a ceiling lamp from the Francis W. Little House, which sold for 2.9 million dollars in 2023.

The new record reflects the growing value of pedigree design objects in the art market, while some residences built by Wright have sold for less than half a million dollars.