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  Sori Yanagi / Tendo Co. Ltd. / Japanese Crafts “Butterfly” Stool c.1956

  Sori Yanagi (1915-2012), Japan
  Tendo Co. Ltd., Japan

  Butterfly stool, 1956.

  Bleached rosewood veneer on plywood with brass.

  H: 15” x W: 16 ½” x D: 12”

  Price: $4,900

  This model can be found in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art and the Metropolitan Museum in New York.

  The Japanese designer Sori Yanagi is best known for his 1956 Butterfly Stool. It is both elegant and utterly simple: two curved pieces of molded plywood are held together through compression and tension by a single brass rod. The stool’s graceful shape recalls a butterfly’s wings, and has also been compared to the form of torii, the traditional Shinto shrine gates. He loved traditional Japanese crafts and was dedicated to the modernist principles of simplicity, practicality and tactility that are associated with Alvar Aalto, Charles and Ray Eames, and Le Corbusier.”

  Yanagi, who studied architecture and art at Tokyo’s Academy of Fine Art, was inspired by the work of Le Corbusier and by the designer Charlotte Perriand, with whom he worked in the early 1940s, while she was in Tokyo as the arts and crafts adviser to the Japanese Board of Trade. But perhaps the most indelible influence on Yanagi was that of his father, Soetsu Yanagi, who led the “mingei” movement, which celebrated Japanese folk craft and the beauty of everyday objects, and who founded the Nihon Mingeikan (or Japanese Folk Crafts Museum) in Tokyo. Yanagi fils, who was named director of the museum in 1977, succinctly described his design aesthetic in a 2002 interview in The Japan Times: “I try to create things that we human beings feel are useful in our daily lives. During the process, beauty is born naturally.” Throughout his life, Sori Yanagi was inspired by what he called “anonymous design” — he cited the Jeep and a baseball glove as two examples — and he in turn inspired younger designers, like Naoto Fukasawa, Tom Dixon and Jasper Morrison.

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  W.C. Handy, “Blues – An Anthology” 1926

  W.C. HANDY ed. (1973-1958) USA
  “Blues – An Anthology” 1926
  180pp. bound in blue cloth with original dust jacket. Very scarce work, considered the most famous blues collection in history, it includes historical notes, tunes and arrangements, notes for each song, a bibliography, and a chart of guitar chords.
  With an introduction and notes by Abbe Niles
  Illustrations by Miguel Covarrubias
  Published by Albert & Charles Boni, New York

  Dimensions:
  Book: H: 11 ¾” x W: 9 1/8” x D: 1”
  Custom leather box 2008: H: 13 13/16” x W: 10 3/8” x D: 2 7/16”
  Custom silk slipcase: H: 15” x W: 11 1/8” x D: 3 3/8”

  William Christopher Handy was a composer, musician and a music publisher. He was sometimes called the “Father of the Blues” and was credited with helping popularize blues music. Handy was a seminal figure in the development of American songwriting. His compositions assimilated folk tunes, blues, spirituals, minstrel songs, and elements of European music and forged a new sound in American popular commercial music. Born in Florence, Alabama, Handy began arranging music when in grade school. By the turn of the century, he had toured or was touring with a number of minstrel acts and bands. He became a leading bandleader in Memphis, Tennessee, and eventually wrote such classics as “The Memphis Blues” (1912), “The St. Louis Blues” (1914), and “Beale Street Blues” (1916). In addition to his songwriting, Handy also founded an important and influential music publishing concern, the Pace and Handy Music Company, in 1913. Finally, Handy’s books and writings, such as his autobiography, Father of the Blues (1941), and Blues: An Anthology (1926), comprise an important contribution to American culture. In 1979, New York City joined the list of institutions and municipalities to honor Handy by naming a stretch of West 52nd Street in Manhattan “W.C. Handy Place.”

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  Archibald Knox / Liberty & Co. Rare Sterling and Opal caviar server 1904

  ARCHIBALD KNOX   (1864-1933)   UK
  LIBERTY & COMPANY   London, UK

  Cymric  tri-handled covered server  1904

  Sterling silver with repoussé Celtic knot motifs and three buttress handles; the handle of the domed lid inset with a jelly opal, cylindrical crystal bowl.

  Marks: No. 5199, Liberty & Co., CYMRIC and Birmingham assay marks for 1904 (all the marks appear both on the underside of the base and on the cover)

  W: 7 1/4″ x D: 7 1/4″ x H: 2″

  Price: $28,000

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  Henri Matisse “Verve” Vol. IX No. 35 & 36, 1958

  HENRI MATISSE (1869-1954) France
  “Verve” Vol. IX No. 35 & 36 1958
  Revue artistique et littéraire paraissant quatre fois par an
  Created and editioned at the Mourlot Studio, Paris.
  Published by E. Tériade, Paris 1958.

  Dimensions:
  Book: H 14 1/2” x W: 10 11/16”
  Custom leather box: H: 15 13/16” x W: 11 5/8” x D: 2 1/16”
  Custom linen case: H: 16 3/4” x 12 5/16” x D: 2 5/8”