Paris - Art collectors and museum curators from all over the world are expected to fill the 1,200 seats in the Grand Palais in Paris later Monday when the 733-piece collection that belonged to the late fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent goes under the hammer.

Billed as the "sale of the century," the three-day auction organized by Christie's offers works by such giants of modern art as Picasso, Matisse and Mondrian as well as Art Deco masterpieces, ancient Egyptian and Roman sculptures, German silver beer steins and a wealth of other artworks and artifacts.

The auction, which opens Monday evening with Impressionist and modern art, is expected to bring up to 300 million euros (385 million dollars), easily breaking the world's record for the auction of a private collection, 163 million euros, set in 1997.

Part of the proceeds from the auction will go to a foundation that funds research into AIDS.

The piece that is expected to fetch the highest price is a 1914 painting by Picasso of a guitar titled Musical Instruments on a Table, which is estimated at 25 million to 30 million euros.

Also going under the hammer is a painting by Mondrian that has become an icon of Saint Laurent's illustrious career. The 1922 work Composition in Blue, Red, Yellow and Black inspired the designer's groundbreaking 1965 day dress, with its colour blocks of white, red, blue, black, and yellow.

However, Christie's had originally expected more from the sale of the pieces collected over more than 50 years by Saint Laurent, who died last June of brain cancer, and his longtime partner Pierre Berge. But the economic crisis has also taken a toll on the art market.

Lowered expectations are not the only damper to have hit the auction. Lawyers in China said Friday they had filed a lawsuit with a Paris court to force Christie's to withdraw from the sale two bronze animal heads that were allegedly stolen from China by British and French troops 150 years ago.

Berge, whose own auction house is collaborating on the sale, told French radio that he would give the bronzes to Chinese authorities only if they agreed to free Tibet.

"They only have to declare that they are going to apply human rights, give the Tibetans back their freedom and agree to accept the Dalai Lama on their territory," he told journalists in Paris.

Christie's has pulled out all the stops for the auction, spending nearly 1 million euros on renting and fitting out the Grand Palais, which was built for the 1900 World's Fair.

In addition, it has produced a five-volume catalog weighing a total of 10 kilogrammes and costing 250 euros. Only 6,000 copies were printed, and they have already become highly valued art objects.

Francois de Ricqles, vice president of Christie's France, told the daily Liberation that organizing the sale would cost the auction house between 6 million and 7 million euros.

Berge said the decision to hold the auction was the best way for him to find closure.

"This collection could only have two destinies - to end up in a museum... or on the auction block. I chose the sale because I felt the collection would not be truly complete until the hammer fell on the last lot."

However, Berge is not selling everything from the collection. He is keeping a portrait of Saint Laurent by Andy Warhol and an African bird sculpture - the first art object he and Saint Laurent had bought as a couple. (dpa)