Product Description
Archibald Knox / Liberty & Co. Crumb tray c. 1902-05
ARCHIBALD KNOX (1864-1933) UK
LIBERTY & CO. London
Crumb tray c. 1902-05
Pewter with abstract Celtic design in bas-relief
Marks: 3, ENGLISH PEWTER 0532
Illustrated: Archibald Knox, ed. by Stephen A. Martin (London: Academy Editions, 1995) ; Liberty Design 1874-1914, Barbara Morris (London: Pyramid Books, 1989) p. ; The Designs of Archibald Knox for Liberty & Co., A.J. Tilbrook (London: Ornament Press Ltd., 1976)
L: 9 1/2 “ x 4 1/2″
Archibald Knox / Liberty & Co. Crumb tray c. 1902-05
PROF. MAX LÄUGER (1864-1952) Karlsruhe, Germany
Unique Jugendstil ceramic footed bowl inlaid with gold mosaic 1906
Light and dark green glazed earthenware inlaid with mosaic gold glass squares on four cylindrical feet.
Marks: ML, K (monogram)338 (incised), 4., MUSTER B.., GESCHTZ
For other mosaic inlaid works by Max Läuger see: Max Laeuger (1864-1952): sein graphisches, kunsthandwerkliches und keramisches Oeuvre, Elisabeth Kessler-Slotta (Saarbrücken: Saarbrücker Druckerei und Verlag, 1985) pp. 178/179; Europäisches Kunstgewerbe 1927, Stadtisches Kunstgewerbe-Museum zu Leipzig, (Leipzig: E.A. Seeman, 1928) p. 86; Deutsche Kunst und Dekoration vol. XII “Professor Max Laeuger Karlsruhe”, pp. 221-237; Modernism: Modernist Design 1880-1940 (The Norwest Collection, Norwest Corporation, Minneapolis), Alastair Duncan (Woodbridge, Suffolk, England: The Antique Collector’s Club, 1998), p. 86.
H: 5 3/4″ x Dia: 7 1/4″
Max Laeuger (or Läuger) was born in Lörrach on September 30, 1864. Laeuger was a self taught ceramicist, studied at the Karlsruhe Polytechnic a hundred miles to the north-west of Lörrach (now Karlsruhe University) and eventually became a professor at the university. In 1895 after travelling throughout Europe visiting the major cultural centers to study art he was appointed director of the art pottery department of Tonwerke Kanderne close to his home town. He stayed there until 1913 and later took up a similar position at Majolika-Manufaktur in Karlsruhe.
From 1921 he had his own workshop on the premises formerly owned by the company and produced designs there. The work produced fell into three categories, slip decorated wares designed by Laeuger but produced entirely by the factory, pieces made at the factory but decorated and glazed by Laeuger and one-off pieces by the professor made from beginning to end in his own workshop. All were marketed by Majolika-Manufaktur. Laeuger’s one-off pieces had the brushed initials ‘ML’ and the other works were marked ‘LAEUGER’ or ‘PROF. MAX LAEUGER’
Through the thirties and into the Second World War he worked on his own, but after his workshop was destroyed in 1944 he returned to Lörrach where he died on December 12, 1952. Laeuger was a major figure in German ceramics. His designs and his glazes had ‘organic’ characteristics that are his signature design and his work is much sought-after by collectors. Examples of Laeuger pieces are on display at the Badisches Landesmuseum in Karlsruhe.
JOSEF HOFFMANN (1870-1956) Austria
JACOB & JOSEF KOHN Vienna
Stool c. 1907
Mahogany-stained beech with upholstery fabric (new) designed by Josef Hoffmann by Backhausen, Vienna
Illustrated: Jacob & Josef Kohn 1916 catalogue (reprint), p. 37, Model no. 728/s; Klassiker des Modernen Möbeldesign, Dorothee Müller (Munich: Keysersche Verlagsbuchhandlung, 1980) illus. 85, p. 110: Jacob & Josef Kohn catalogue (reprint in Moderne Vergangenheit Wien 1800-1900 (Vienna: Künstlerhaus, 1981) p. 63; 1909 Jacob & Josef Kohn catalogue (reprint) in Bent Wood and Metal Furniture: 1850- 1946, Derek E. Ostergard, ed. (New York: The American Ferderation of Arts, 1987) p. 107.
H: 18″ x Dia: 14″
Price: $4,250