Scarcity & Infinity: Christie’s Showcases An Unprecedented Collection Of Louis Vuitton Art Bags

Handbags are rarely discussed in the same breath as sculpture, but the line between the two has been growing blurrier for more than two decades. Christie’s New York will present Scarcity & Infinity: An Important Collection, the most comprehensive collection of Louis Vuitton artist collaboration bags ever offered at auction. It is a collection that explores the intersection of art and design through innovative collaborations with Takashi Murakami, Frank Gehry and Yayoi Kusama. Comprising more than 100 pieces across 88 lots, it ranges from reimagined iconic classics to exceptionally rare contemporary creations, and it will be offered as part of Handbags & Fashion: The New York Edit during December Luxury Week.

The Top Lot

The star of the sale is a rare Artycapucines Crystal Panda clutch by Murakami, one of only 130 made worldwide. It is encrusted in more than 6,000 hand-set Swarovski crystals and carries an estimate of $20,000 to $30,000. Close behind in appeal are ten examples from the Artycapucines VII Collection, which marked Murakami’s celebrated reunion with Louis Vuitton, revealed on the occasion of Art Basel Paris in 2025.

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Murakami’s Bold Designs

Murakami’s work runs through the collection with characteristic energy. His Pink and White Artycapucines Mini Tentacles, from an edition of 95, carries an estimate of $10,000 to $15,000. The collection also features pieces built around his cherry motif, including a White Crocodile Cerises Mini Capucines with gold hardware and a Cherry Bag Charm, estimated at $10,000 to $15,000. Playful, graphic and instantly recognisable, they show why his collaborations helped change how people think about the luxury handbag.

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Gehry’s Sculptural Eye

Frank Gehry brings an architect’s sensibility to the bag. His White Crocodile Drawn Fish Mini Capucines with Silver Hardware is one of only 20 pieces made worldwide, with an estimate of $10,000 to $15,000. A Metallic Bear with Us clutch takes inspiration from his 2014 sculpture Bear With Us, and carries the same estimate. His White and Red Floating Fish Capucines draws on the Fish lamps he created for the Fondation Louis Vuitton, estimated at $6,000 to $8,000. Together, they translate his fluid, organic forms into leather and metal.

Kusama’s Pumpkin

From Yayoi Kusama comes a rare, limited edition yellow and black monogram leather pumpkin bag with silver hardware, estimated at $8,000 to $10,000. The pumpkin is one of the artist’s best-known motifs, and its translation into a bag brings her distinctive vision into everyday objects.

The Classics, Too

Not every piece is flamboyant. The collection also includes traditional and coveted designs featuring the trademark Vuitton monogram, allowing collectors to see how the house’s heritage and its artistic collaborations speak to each other. The range, from reimagined classics to ultra-rare creations, gives the sale its sense of completeness.

Art in Context

Highlights will be on view at Christie’s New York, at 20 Rockefeller Plaza, during the auction house’s pre-sale exhibition of 20th and 21st Century art from 7 to 17 November. Displayed among works by some of the most important artists of the last century, the bags enter into a direct dialogue with the art world they have long borrowed from, and increasingly belong to.

A Pioneering Partnership

The setting is fitting. In the 21st century, Louis Vuitton pioneered the practice of collaborating with artists on limited edition handbag designs. Beginning under Marc Jacobs’ direction, the early collaborations with Stephen Sprouse and Takashi Murakami proved so popular that they paved the way for many more creative projects in the following decades. More than two decades after those groundbreaking launches, the resulting rarities are collected not only as handbags but as works at the intersection of art, fashion and design.

The bags will be presented in the online sale Handbags & Fashion: The New York Edit, beginning 25 November and concluding 10 December. They will also be on view at Christie’s New York during December Luxury Week, from 3 to 9 December. Scarcity & Infinity arrives at a moment when collectors increasingly treat fashion as art. By gathering more than a hundred pieces in one place, the sale offers a rare overview of how a single house and a handful of artists reshaped the idea of the luxury bag. For those who have followed the story, it is a chance to own a chapter of it.