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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." B orn 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 From top: Eugène Boudin, Le Havre, La Fête des régates, 1869. Claude Lalanne, Set of Nine Unique "Anémone" Balustrade Elements, circa 2000. Right: Claude Monet, Vue de Rouen depuis la côte Sainte-Catherine, circa 1892. 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 f a n t a s t i c a l a n i m a l s t o a n e m o n e - s h a p e d b a l u s t r a d e ornaments for her staircase in Houston (both b y C l a u d e L a l a n n e ) . "Anne wanted nine of the f l o w e r s s p e c i f i c a l l y, 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." Claude Lalanne, Pair of Gates, Les Portes du Jardin, 2002