8th – 22nd March 2024
8th – 22nd March 2024
Christie’s London – The Pattie Boyd Collection will be offered by Christie’s online from 8 to 22 March with all 111 lots open for bidding from 8 March. A four-time Vogue cover-girl, Pattie Boyd is widely regarded as rock’s most legendary muse – as the former wife of both George Harrison and Eric Clapton, she inspired some of the greatest love songs of all time.
The sale is led by the original artwork chosen by Eric Clapton for the cover of Derek and The Dominos 1970 album Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs and original handwritten lyrics for George Harrison’s Mystical One, alongside love letters, drawings, photographs, fashion, jewellery and watches.
Adrian Hume-Sayer, Director, Private & Iconic Collections and Head of Sale, Christie’s London:
“Pattie Boyd’s extraordinary life and career chart some of the key moments of the cultural revolution that changed the world in the 1960s. This unique collection includes an array of cherished personal letters, photographs and mementoes, which provide a tangible link to that amazing time. Pattie’s passion for photography also provides a glimpse from behind the lens adding further colour to the intimate portrait of her life in the spotlight alongside two of history’s most iconic musicians.”
Already a successful model, Pattie Boyd was chosen to play a school girl in the 1964 Beatles film Hard Day’s Night – a small part which would change the course of her life when she met her future husband, George Harrison, on set. Their relationship put Pattie at the centre of Beatlemania and would inspire George Harrison to write Something. In 1970, Harrison’s close friend Eric Clapton (who gave Pattie the pseudonym Layla) would declare his secret love for her in the song of the same name – one of the highlights of the collection is the original cover artwork for Derek and The Dominoes 1970 album Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs – ‘Layla’ (La Jeune Fille au Bouquet) by Emile Théodore Frandsen de Schomberg.
Auction highlights include letters and lyrics penned by George Harrison and Eric Clapton as well as the iconic Eric Swain photograph which appears on the cover of Pattie’s 2022 book My Life in Pictures.
The Pattie Boyd collection opens a window on both her private world through the personal letters, ephemera and mementoes she has treasured as well as offering glimpses behind the lens from her parallel life as a photographer. Estimates range from £200 to £60,000 and the full collection will be on public exhibition at Christie’s headquarters in London from 15 to 21 March. Admission is free and all are welcome.
