ROBERT EDGAR STONE (1903-1990) UK
Modernist nut dish 1931
Handwrought silver
Marks: R. E. Stone (facsimile signature) R.E.S., British assay marks for London, Wilson & Sharp Ltd Edinburgh, 1931
For more information see: Art Nouveau and Art Deco Silver, Annelies Krekel-Aalberse (New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc.,1989) pp. 34 and 259.
W: 5 3/4”x D: 4” x H: 1 1/4”
LOUIS AUGUSTE DAGE (1885-1963) France
B. ALTMAN & CO. (Retailer)
French Art Deco pottery vase c. 1930
Earth color craqulure glaze with dark brown fissures with a heavy over drip glaze in blue and white variegated hues.
Marks: LD Dage (script signature on the side), Pour B. Altman & Co. Paris, New York, Made in France (on bottom)
H: 5 ½” x Dia: 7”
CZECH CUBISM / ART DECO
Panel-cut vase c. 1912-25
Clear cut lead crystal with amber overlay in conical form with a band of chevron cut designs around the upper third; the conical form above a flaring, paneled foot
For more information see: Czech Cubism: Architecture, Furniture, and Decorative Arts, ed. Alexander von Vegesack, (New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 1991); Art Deco: Bohemia 1918-1938 (Milan: Electa, 1996); Czech Art Deco 1918-1938 (Prague: The Municipal House, 1998) pp. 74-75.
H: 7 1/2″
OTTO HEINTZ, New York
HEINTZ ART METAL SHOP Buffalo, New York
Grand verdigris “Silver Crest” vase c. 1925-30
Bronze with a rich green patina; sterling silver collar and foot
Made by the Heintz Art Metal Shop, Buffalo, NY
Marks: Silver Crest logo with STERLING DECORATED BRONZE, conjoined H A M S in diamond shape, 1080
For further information see: The Arts & Crafts Movement in New York State: 1890s-1920s. Coy L. Ludwig (Hamilton, NY: Gallery Assoc. of NY State, 1983) p. 90.
H: 14 3/4”
The Heinz shop used sterling silver applied as floral ornamentation to bronze. The objects were distinguished by a variety of patinas and machine-shaped bases-very different from the hammered look of most Arts and Crafts metal works. Despite the death of its founder Otto Heinz in 1918 at the age of 41, the company continued and produced a more modern line entitled Silver Crest.
SHEETS-ROCKFORD SILVER PLATE CO. Rockford, Ill.
Creamer and sugar on tray c. 1928
Silverplated brass with green bakelite handles
Marks: Rockford logo in circle, E.P.N.S. 1529 (marks on both creamer and sugar), Rockford logo in circle, E.P.N.S. 15115 (on tray)
Tray: L: 11 7/8” x W: 8 3/8”
Sugar: H: 3 1/8” x W: 4 5/8” x D: 2 ¼”
Creamer: H: 3 1/8” x W: 4 3/8” x D: 2 ¼”
GEORGE JAKOB HUNZINGER (1835-1898) Germany/ USA
Chair 1876
Yellow and blue painted elaborately turned wood, blue thread woven covered metal band mesh seat (original condition)
Marks: George Hunzinger Patent 1876
Illustrated: The Furniture of George Hunzinger, Invention and Innovation in Nineteenth-Century America, Barry R. Harwood (Brooklyn: Brooklyn Museum of Art, 1997) p.103.
H: 32″ x D: 17″ x W: 20″
GEORGE JAKOB HUNZINGER (1835-18989) USA
George Hunzinger emigrated in the 1850s from the Black Forest region of Germany where his family had worked as cabinetmakers since the 17th century. Settling in New York, he joined a community of 3,000 German furniture makers but soon distinguished himself as a maker of patent furniture and “fancy chairs”. Hunzinger’s innovative designs are often associated with the development of the Aesthetic Movement in America. By the 1870s, his chairs were sought after by many Americans as accent pieces for their parlors. The woven mesh or upholstery of these innovative chairs follows the original intention of the maker and the turned frame has an avant-garde, colorful and rather contemporary feeling painted in a combination of a rich ochre yellow and cobalt blue, a color combo that was highly prized for it’s eccentricity in Victorian America.
CLÉMENT MASSIER (1845-1917) France
MASSIER ART POTTERY Golfe Juan, France
“Bamboo and flying crane” vase c. 1900
Earthenware tapering form with applied handles, hand painted with bamboo and flying cranes with gilt motives and details
Marks: Clement Massier Golfe Juan (block impressed letters)
For more information and other works by the Massier family see: Lost Paradise: Symbolist Europe (Montreal, Quebec: The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, 1995) p. 176, cat. 269; Jugendstil Art Nouveau, Floral and Functional Forms, Siegfried Wichmann (New York/Boston: Graphic Society/Little, Brown & Co., 1984) p. 45; Art Nouveau Belgium France. Exh. cat. Yvonne Brunhammer et al. (Houston, TX: Institute for the the Arts, Rice University, 1976); La Céramique Art Nouveau, Edgar Pélichet, Michèle Duperrex (Paris: La Bibliothèque des Arts, 1976) p. 89
H: 14 1/8” x D: 9 5/8”
Franz Xaver Bergman (1861–1936) (attr.) Vienna, Austria.
Bull pen wipe c. 1900
Cold painted bronze, boar’s hair bristles, horn.
For information see: Art Bronzes, Mich. Forrest (Schiffer, 1988).
H: 5 1/4” x L: 11”
Franz Xaver Bergman (1861–1936) was the owner of a Viennese foundry who produced numerous patinated and cold-painted bronze Oriental, erotic and animal figures, the latter often humanized or whimsical, humorous objects d’art.
A well-known anamalier at the turn-of-the century, the sculptor Franz Bergman created a number of small bronzes in a variety of subject matter. Other figurative works were informed by the Jugendstil/Art Nouveau style and the European taste for the exotic as is found in his figures of rug merchants and camels. His animal sculptures, however, capture the Viennese tradition of naturalistic bronzes. The quality of the bronze casting shows tremendous detail, which was carefully brought out through the applied patination process known as cold painting.
GORHAM MFG. CO SILVERSMITHS Providence, RI
“Exotic” tea and coffee set in original Gorham presentation chest 1880
Sterling silver 5-piece service with “butler” finish, bright-cut chasing and repoussé surface in the Far Eastern exotic style with elephant trunk spouts and handle forms, tent-like splayed lids, interior gilding, engraved conjoined initials, bone spacers in the original deep teal velvet-covered presentation chest with hot pink silk- satin interior
Marks: Gorham marks, STERLING, 1560, “M” (date mark for 1880)
Lid of case interior stamped in gold: Gorham Mfg. Co., Sterling Silver, Union Square, NY
Coffeepot: H: 5 3/4” handle-to-spout: 9 1/4” (length);
teapot: H: 4”;
sugar w/ lid: H: 4”;
waste bowl: H: 2 1/2”;
cream: H: 2 3/4”;
chest: H: 7” x W: 21” x D: 15”
For related pieces and further information see: Gorham Silver 1831-1981, Charles H. Carpenter, Jr., Chapter 6, “Innovation and Fantasy”, p. 94-121 (New York: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1982); In Pursuit of Beauty: Americans and the Aesthetic Movement, Chapter 8,“Metalwork: An Eclectic Aesthetic” by David Hanks, p.253-294 (New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art / Rizzoli, 1987); Silver in America, 1840-1940: A Century of Splendor, Charles L. Venable, Chapter 6, “Consumption and Design” p.123-204, (New York: Dallas Museum of Art, Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1995).
Leonard Wyburd UK
Liberty & Company London
Four-legged Thebes stool circa 1890-95. Oak with highly figured grain, concave slat seat, turned details.
Marks: 4 (impressed on underside)
This design was registered by Liberty & Co. in 1884.
Related Liberty & Co. stools illustrated: Liberty’s 1875-1975 : An Exhibition to Mark the Firm’s Centenary (London: Victoria & Albert Museum, 1975) p. 35, illustr. C1, Liberty Design, 1874-1914 , Barbara Morris (London: Octopus Publishing Group:, 1989) p. 103; Egyptomania: Egypt in Western Art, 1730-1930 (Paris: Éditions de la Réunion des Musées Nationaux and Ottawa: National Gallery of Canada, 1994), pp. 465-66.
H: 15″ x D: 17″ x W: 17″
One of the driving influences of the Aesthetic Movement of the late 19th century was an informed interest in authentic ancient designs inspired by recent archaeological discoveries. Both the three and four-legged Thebes stool were inspired by actual furniture and wall paintings unearthed from royal tombs in the ancient Egyptian city for which they are named. Leonard Wyburd, who was one of the principal designers for Liberty, patented his designs for the Thebes stools in 1884. Liberty & Co. continued to make the popular stools into the early 1900’s.
WHITING MANUFACTURING CO. North Attleboro, MA
“Koi” serving bowl with matching servers c. 1880
Sterling silver serving bowl and matching servers with applications of Koi fish behind nets, gilt interior
Marks: on base: lion with W in oval (manufacturer’s insignia), STERLING, 2124A, J.E. CALDWELL & CO. (retailer)
H: 4 3/8″ x Dia: 9 3/4″
In 1840 Albert Tifft and William Whiting started their business in North Attleboro, MA as a jewelry manufacturing company and then in 1866 created the Whiting Mfg. Co. and expanded production into small holloware as well. The Gorham Company bought Whiting in 1926 and all operations were then moved to Providence, R.I.
SIR WILLIAM REYNOLD STEPHENS (1862–1943) London, UK
BRITISH ARTS & CRAFTS
Photo frame 1886
Bronze / copper lost wax casting with an elaborate stage set with a seeded figure and two capitals with mythological telamons, easel back
Marks: 18 December 1886, W Reynold Stephens London (signature and markings in the cast, bottom left front)
H: 6 5/8″ x W: 11 1/2″
Sculptor of decorative works, portraits and monumental figures, goldsmith and painter. Born 8 August 1862 in Detroit, U.S.A., of British parents; his father’s name was Stephens. Educated in England and Germany, then studied at the R.A. Schools and won prizes for sculpture and painting 1887. Assumed the additional name of Reynolds 1890. Exhibited at the R.A. 1886–1942, solely as a sculptor after 1894. Influenced to some extent by Alfred Gilbert and Pre-Raphaelite medievalism. Made many memorials, including those to Sir William Q. Orchardson, R.A., in St Paul’s, and to Archbishop Lord Davidson in the courtyard of Lambeth Palace. In 1904 he designed the chancel screen, reredos and other decorations for the Church of St Mary the Virgin, Great Warley, Essex. F.R.B.S. 1904, P.R.B.S. 1921–33, awarded R.B.S. gold medal 1928; knighted 1931. Died at Tunbridge Wells 23 February 1943.
JAIPUR, MUGHAL INDIA
Enameled and gem set gold Cup and Saucer c. mid-19th Century
High carat yellow gold (22-24 carat) cup and saucer set with a fine emerald, ruby and diamonds, the cup with a high foot with rounded sides and handle formed of two snakes intersecting at three points and biting the rim. The exterior is decorated with red, green, blue and white enamels with roundels containing combatant animals on a ground of floral sprays, the saucer with gently rounded sides decorated with lobed cartouches containing warriors combating tigers and birds, the underside with a series of oval panels containing peacocks and hummingbirds.
Provenance: a gift from a European diplomat in the 1930’s-40’s, and thence by descent.
Saucer: Dia: 5 1/4;
Cup: H: 2 3/4″ (with handle) x Dia: 2 5/8″
Similar animal decoration can be found in an epaulette attributed to Rajesthan, probably Jaipur, in the Khalili Collection (Pedro Moura Carvalho, Gems and Jewels of Mughal India, London, 2010, p. 225, no. 120. A related cup and saucer with similar animal depictions was sold at Christie’s (Islamic Art, Indian Miniatures, Rugs and Carpets, London, 21st October 1993, lot 350.
MINTON'S LTD (established 1793) Stoke-upon-Trent, England
L. ARNOLD
“Pre-Raphaelite” charger 1881
Handpainted faience with a portrait image of a young woman with flowering blossoms and butterflies
Marks: Mintons (under glaze), Date mark for 1881 (under glaze), L. Arnold (on front of charger)
Diameter: 10″
George Richards Elkington (1801-1865)
Trompe L’Oeil Box 1854
Sterling silver shallow box with a hinged lid of a life-size trompe l’oeil damask napkin neatly folded on a gilt-sterling Georgian dinner plate
Weight: 45 troy ounces
Marks: GRE makers mark, London hallmarks for 1854
H: 2″ x Dia: 10 1/2″
Eugene Schopin (1831-1893) Montigny-sur-Loing, France.
Renaissance-Revival style Majolica wall shelf, circa 1872.
Hand modeled and cast ceramic with highly stylized caryatids and floral details glazed with rich cobalt blue, green, gold and cream colored glazes.
Marks: M-S-L (Montigny-sur-Loing), RA.
H: 8 ½” x W: 14” x D: 6 ¾”.
Eugene Schopin founded his ceramic factory in Montigny-sur-Loing in 1872. Painters like Jean-Baptiste Corot, Eugène Thirion (1839-1910), Adrien Schulz (1851-1931), Numa Gillet (1868-1940) and Lucien Cahen-Michel (1888-1980) were attracted to this area by the beauty of the landscape and light. Eugene Schopin collaborated with these artists to create a range of models inspired by Impressionism and decorated according to the new demands of the public.
Rococo Revival, 19th Century
Wine Ewer c.1895
Silver-plate highly stylized classical ewer with various etched and applied floral details and an elegantly modeled double arch handle form
Marks: Heraldic Coat-of-Arms
H: 11″ x W: 8″ x D: 5″
This is a Rococo Revival inspired wine ewer that shows the design transition of the last quarter of the 19th Century and leading up to the curvaceous designs of the Art Nouveau Era. The classical form of this ewer has an ancient precedent as well.
Leonard Wyburd UK
Liberty & Company London
Four-legged Thebes stool circa 1890-95.
Mahogany, woven wicker seat, turned details.
Comparable Liberty stools illustrated: Egyptomania: Egypt in Western Art, 1730-1930 (Paris: Éditions de la Réunion des Musées Nationaux and Ottawa: National Gallery of Canada, 1994), pp. 465-66.
H: 15 3/4″ x D: 15″ x W: 15″
One of the driving influences of the Aesthetic Movement of the late 19th century was an informed interest in authentic ancient designs inspired by recent archaeological discoveries. Both the three- and four-legged Thebes stool were inspired by actual furniture and wall paintings unearthed from royal tombs in the ancient Egyptian city for which they are named. Leonard Wyburd, who was one of the principal designers for Liberty, patented his designs for the Thebes stools in 1884. Liberty & Co. continued to make the popular stools into the early 1900’s.
EDWARD WELBY PUGIN (1834 – 1875) UK
“Granville” chair c. 1870
Walnut, klismos-style A-frame back with exposed pegs, shaped seat and base with exposed mortise and tenon joinery.
Illustrated: Victorian and Edwardian Decor: From the Gothic Revival to Art Nouveau, Jeremy Cooper (New York: Abbeville Press, 1987) fig. 117; Nineteenth Century Design: from Pugin to Mackintosh, Charlotte Gere and Michael Whiteway (New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1993) p.143, pl. 173 (in oak); Catalogue Sommaire Illustré des Art Décoratifs, Musée d’Orsay (Paris: Éditions de la Réunion des Musées Nationaux, 1988), p. 184; Truth, Beauty and Design. Victorian, Edwardian and later decorative art, exhibit. cat. (Fisher Fine Art Limited, London, 1986.) p. 32, No. 50
A “Granville” chair is in both the Permanent Collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Musée D’Orsay, Paris.
H: 33″ x D: 18 1/2″ x W: 18″
Edward Welby Pugin, son of gothic-revivalist A.W.N. Pugin, was thrust into professional and family responsibilities upon his father’s death in 1852 when the young Pugin was only eighteen years of age. His style closely resembled his father’s although his furniture for the Granville Hotel in Ramsgate (1873) had its own robust individuality. Like his father, he designed both church and domestic furnishings, mostly executed by Hardman & Co. of Birmingham, the firm established by his father’s collaborator John Hardman. During his lifetime E.W. Pugin was regarded as the leading Catholic church architect of the High Victorian period, in fact he left for New York in 1873 and set up an office on Fifth Avenue and received commissions for some 30 churches across the U.S., including Chicago and Washington, D.C.
DOMINICK & HAFF (active 1872-1928) USA
W. H. GLENNY & SONS CO. (retailer, New York City)
Impressive Grape and Vine centerpiece bowl 1883
An exceptional and impressive sterling hand wrought “Grape” theme centerpiece bowl by Dominick and Haff (active 1872-1928) , 1883 and retailed by W. H. Glenny & Sons Co. (retailer, New York City)
Elaborate hand hammered, chased and repousse sterling silver bowl with applied grape branch handles and very deep three dimensional hand repousse grape clusters, leaves and vines, all against a background of graduating honey comb pattern hammer tone marks, original lemon-yellow gold interior, approx. weight: 90 ounces
Marks: Dominick and Haff makers mark incorporating the date 1883, W. H. Glenny Sons & Co. (retailer), 355A, STERLING
H: 6 1/2″ x Dia: 18″
The New York silver firm known today as ‘Dominick & Haff’ originally began with the name ‘William Gale & Son’ in 1862. It went through a series of ownership and name changes to become Dominick & Corning in 1867, Gale and Corning in 1869, Gale Dominick & Haff in 1870 and Dominick & Haff in 1872. In 1929, Dominick & Haff was purchased by the silversmith/ manufacturing company of Reed & Barton of Taunton Massachusetts.
WERNER SCHMIDT (b. 1953) Switzerland
Swiss Cheese chair 1991
Yellow laminated plywood, hinges.
Signed: WERNER SCHMIDT (block letters), 91/10
For related folding table by Schmidt see illustration: Aluminum by Design, Sarah Nichols et al. (Pittsburgh, PA: Carnegie Museum of Art, 2000) p. 57.
Open dimension- H: 31 3/4” x W: 28 1/2” x D: 20”
Closed dimension – H: 31 3/4” x W 22 ½
Price: $11,500
In the Style of JEAN-MICHEL FRANK (1895 – 1941) France
Pair of “Rodo” chairs 20th Century
Light ceruse oak with red Hermès sueded leather
For more information see: Jean-Michel Frank: The Strange and Subtle Luxury of the Parisian Haute-Monde in the Art Deco period, P.E. Martin-Vivier (Paris, 2006)
H: 32 1/2″
WERNER SCHMIDT (b. 1953) Switzerland.
Folding triangle chair, 1993.
Dark brown laminate Plywood, hinges.
Signed: Werner Schmidt, 8/10, ‘93 (script signature in white permanent marker)
For related folding table by Schmidt see illustration: Aluminum by Design, Sarah Nichols et al. (Pittsburgh, PA: Carnegie Museum of Art, 2000) p. 57.
Open dimension: H: 31 5/8” x W: 28” x D: 20”
Closed dimension: H: 31 5/8” x W 22 1/2”
ALDO TURA Italy
Coffee table with furled edges c. 1950
Vellum-covered birch with mahogany lacquered cherry legs
Illustrated: Mid-Century Modern, Furniture of the 1950s, Cara Greenberg
(New York: Harmony Books, 1984) p. 160.
H: 18 1/2” x D: 21” x 37”
Price: $14,500
BAKALOWITS & SÖHNE (founded 1845 in Vienna)
“Starburst” chandelier c.1970’s
Crystal rods of varying lengths with nine lights,
chromium-plated metal ceiling cap and spherical chandelier parts.
Ceiling to drop length: 46 1/2″ x overall diameter: 33 1/2″
Price: $24,000
The Bakalowits Company was founded in Vienna, Austria in 1845 by Elias Bakalowits. After his son Ludwig joined the company, E. Bakalowits & Sons grew and became one of the foremost crystal chandelier manufacturers in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. In 1892 Ludwig Bakalowits received the order to manufacture the chandeliers for the Neue Hofburg Palace in Vienna for Emperor Franz Joseph I and was appointed Imperial and Royal Purveyor to the Court.
The company’s reputation for excellence grew outside Europe, and by 1885 the company was exporting its products to America and Asia. In 1900, Bakalowits & Sons displayed their crystal chandeliers at the World Exposition in Paris. Other exhibitions in St. Petersburg, London, Geneva and Turin followed and attracted more clients from around the world. In 1928, the company obtained patents for its crystal chandeliers. In 1955 Bakalowits was entrusted with the manufacture of new lighting fixtures for some of the Viennese buildings that had suffered damage during the Second World War. These included the Parliament, the State Opera House, the National theatre, City Hall, St. Stephan’s Cathedral, and others.
ANTONIO PIÑEDA (1919-2009) Taxco, Mexico
Important Architectural Candlesticks c.1955-60
Handwrought sterling silver in exaggerated tall rectangular forms with various size rectangular geometric elements attached as the base supports, 100 troy ounces total weight
Marks: Antonio Taxco (crown mark), 925, Mexican Eagle silver standard mark, Mexican circular mark, Hecho en Mexico
Provenance: Antonio Pineda, 1990
***According to Antonio Pineda, these are one pair of only three pair made!
H: 20 ½” x W: 5” x D: 4”
ANTONIO PIÑEDA (1919-2009) Taxco, Mexico
Exhibition Pitcher c.1959-60
Handwrought sterling silver in an overall triangular form with a diamond opening and a double splayed form and contoured handle, 30 troy ounces total weight
Marks: Antonio Taxco (large crown mark) Sterling Silver, 930, Mexican Eagle silver standard mark
Exhibited at the Triennale di Milano, Italy, 1960
Provenance: Antonio Pineda, 1990
Illustrated: Triennale di Milano, Argentería di Antonio Pineda,
Exhibition Catalogue (Milan, 1960).
H: 6 5/8” x L: 9 ½” x D: 5 ¾”
ANTONIO PIÑEDA (1919-2009) Taxco, Mexico
Pair of “Oval Windows” cups c. 1960
Sterling
Marks: Antonio Taxco (crown mark), 925, Mexican Eagle silver standard mark, Mexican circular mark, Hecho en Mexico