Marks: 1967 Walter Lantz, All Rights Reserved, A Registered Trademark Of And Licensed By Walter Lantz Productions Inc. (bottom of jar), Woody Woodpecker copyright (on back)
Walter Benjamin Lantz (1899– 1994) was an American cartoonist, animator, film producer, and director, best known for founding Walter Lantz Productions and creating Woody Woodpecker.
ARCHIBALD KNOX (1864-1933) UK
LIBERTY & CO. London
Tray c. 1902-05
Pewter with abstract Celtic floral design in bas-relief
Marks: Tudric, 0161, 6
For more information see: Archibald Knox, ed. by Stephen A. Martin (London: Academy Editions, 1995) ; Liberty Design 1874-1914, Barbara Morris (London: Pyramid Books, 1989); The Designs of Archibald Knox for Liberty & Co., A.J. Tilbrook (London: Ornament Press Ltd., 1976)
Archibald Knox / Liberty & Co. Cake tray with handle c. 1902-05
ARCHIBALD KNOX (1864-1933) UK
LIBERTY & CO. London
Cake tray with handle c. 1902-05
Hammered pewter with stylized leaf and berry motif in relief
Marks: MADE IN ENGLAND, “TUDRIC” RD449032 PEWTER, 0357 SOLKETS (retailer)
For more information see: The Designs of Archibald Knox for Liberty & Co., A.J. Tilbrook (London: Ornament Press Ltd., 1976); The Designs of Archibald Knox for Liberty & Co., A.J. Tilbrook (London: Ornament Press, 1976); Archibald Knox, ed. by S. Martin (London: Academy Editions,1995); Liberty’s 1875-1975, An Exhibition to mark the Firm’s Centenary (London: Victoria & Albert Museum, 1975).
Archibald Knox / Liberty & Co. Sterling hand mirror 1908
ARCHIBALD KNOX (1864-1933) UK
LIBERTY & CO. London, UK
Hand mirror 1908
Sterling with large matrix cabochon turquoise
Marks: L & Co. cipher, Birmingham assay marks for 1908
Similar works with turquoise 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)
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)
Charles W. Hess, “Abstraction”, Resin-oil on plexiglas, sheet aluminum 1948
CHARLES W. HESS (1921-1998) USA
Abstraction 1948
Resin-oil on plexiglas, sheet aluminum
Signed: CH (in a circle)
Exhibited: Solo Exhibition, Modernism, San Francisco, CA, 1981; Charles Hess and Leta English Hess: Joint Retrospective, University Art Gallery, University of California, Riverside, October 1 – November 10, 1985; Charles Hess: Neoplastic Works, Modernism, Art of the 20th Century, San Francisco, CA; June 6 – 29, 1991.
Painting illustrated: “On Transparency and Reflection,”
The Structurist No. 27/28, 1987/1988.
Painting H: 12” x W: 12” x D: 1”
Framed H: 22” x W: 22” x D: 1 1/2”
Price: $58,000
Born in 1921 in Long Beach, California, Charles Hess studied painting at UCLA, University of Chicago and University of California, Berkeley. In 1962 he joined the faculty of San Francisco State University where he taught until 1983. Hess’s paintings have been shown in numerous solo and group exhibitions including shows at the Pasadena Art Museum, the Corcoran Gallery of Art and the Art Institute of Chicago where his work is also in the permanent collection.
Working in the neo-plasticist style for over thirty years, Hess’s work explored the three-dimensional relationship between the basic elements of painting: color, form, and space. Abstraction is one of the few works to survive from this period; most pieces from this period were lost due to the 1991 fire in the Oakland, CA hills.
***Charles and Leta English Hess papers, 1895-1987 can be found at the Smithsonian Archives of American Art.
Included are ten letters from Stanton Macdonald-Wright to Hess (1954-1965) relating to his views of the relationship between patrons and artists, the 1956 Paris art scene, contemporary art criticism, the art market, and his break with the Duveen Graham Gallery.
Michiel Gloeckner “Old Town No. 2”, Oil on Canvas 1960
MICHIEL GLOECKNER (1915-1989) Germany / USA
Old Town No. 2 1960
Oil on Canvas
Signed: MG (lower right corner)
Canvas: H: 14 1/16” x W: 11 1/16”
Framed: H: 19 9/16” x W: 16 9/16”
Price: 32,000
Michiel Gloeckner, known for his highly refined, balanced abstract, geometric style derived from natural forms, was the son of a well-known art collector. He graduated from the University of Dresden with a degree in mathematics and art history. He received a degree from the Royal Academy of Dresden where he studied under Otto Dix. Paul Klee also influenced Gloeckner’s work. After WWII Gloeckner moved to New York City. He continued to maintain a studio in New York at 115 East 70th Street, even after he moved to West Cornwall, Connecticut where he spent the later years of his life.
EXHIBITIONS
Gallery Seventy-Five, New York 1955, 1956, 1958
Jacques Seligman Galleries, New York 1960, 1961, 1962
Wadsworth Atheneum 1960
Wesleyan University 1961
Philadelphia Art Alliance 1962
Philadelphia Academy of Fine Arts 1963
World House Galleries, New York 1963, 1962, 1965, 1966
Jack Richard Smith “10003” Blackoil, wax, lead salts on copper 2006
JACK SMITH (1950-) Taos, NM
“10003” 2006
Blackoil, wax, lead salts on copper, ebonized wood frame
For more information on Jack Smith see: “Taos Portraits” by Jack Smith, May 14th – August 15th, 2004, exhibition catalogue (Taos, NM: Harwood Museum of Art, University of New Mexico)
Canvas: H: 18” x W: 13 3/16”
Framed: H: 25 1/4” x W: 20 7/16”
Jack Smith was born in 1950. At age 16, he began his training at the Interlochen Arts Academy in Michigan before moving to Ohio to attend Columbus College of Art and Design. He also studied for a brief time at the Instituto de Allende, at San Miguel de Allende, GTO, Mexico. He now resides in New Mexico. Reflecting a profound knowledge of art history and and an alchemist’s sense of the painting craft, contemporary painter Jack Smith has forged his own place amongst the most powerful of contemporary portraitists working in America. Incorporating blackoil, wax, lead salts, and copper Smith’s small format portraits and paintings are detailed and intimate depictions of creative individuals and charged tableaux. Smith’s singular style of portraits glow with a warm inner light and present honest, straightforward images that speak of personal narratives.Jack Smith recently received a prestigious Past Achievement Award from the Peter and Madeleine Martin Foundation for the Creative Arts, following an important solo exhibition titled, Jack Smith: The Taos Portraits at the Harwood Museum of Art at the University of New Mexico in 2004. The exhibition featured fifty portraits of Taos, New Mexico residents, executed between 2000 and 2003. The series was intended as a visual biography of this unique artistic community at the turn of the century. Smith’s subjects range from the famous to the infamous – including artists, writers, art patrons, Native peoples, and street peoples.
Peter Svenson, “Triangle Painting”, Oil on canvas 1976
PETER SVENSON (b. 1944)
“Triangle Painting” 1976
Oil on Canvas
Signed: Peter Svenson 1976, Turkey Shoot (on the stretcher) and canvas on verso.
H: 41 ½” x W: 48”
Nationally recognized artist and writer Peter Svenson was born in 1944 and received a bachelor of arts degree from Tufts University and a masters of fine arts in painting from the University of North Carolina.
Svenson created “Turkey Shoot” in 1976 based on color field painting theories. The triangular shaped canvas is unusual in this style of painting, the lines are precise, the paint is thinly laid on the primed canvas in flat primary and secondary colors. “During the late 1950s and 1960s, color field painters emerged in Great Britain, Canada, Washington, DC and the West Coast of the United States using formats of stripes, targets, simple geometric patterns and references to landscape imagery and to nature.” Some of the artists of the Washington Color School included Gene Davis, Morris Louis, Kenneth Noland and Sam Gilliam.
Peter Svenson’s work relates to this group of Washington color field artists working in the style in the 1950s, 60s and 70s.
Dorothy Reno Grover, “California Interior with black cat”, Oil on canvas c. 1950’s
DOROTHY RENO GROVER (1908-1975) USA
“California Interior with black cat” c. 1950’s
Oil on Canvas
Canvas: H: 40″ x W: 34 1/2″
Framed: H: 42″ x W: 36 1/2″
Born in Dallas, TX on Sept. 10, 1908 into a pioneer Texas family. (Her grandfather was mayor of Dallas, and Brownsville, Texas is named for him.) Dorothy Reno moved to California with her family at age ten and settled in San Mateo. After graduating from Mills College, she obtained an M.A. degree from UC Berkeley. She wed radio announcer John B. Grover in 1931 and settled in Oakland. In 1971 she bought the former home of artist Glenn Wessels in Berkeley where she remained until her death.
***24 layers of paint were applied to the surface and the painting is 24 inches high and wide. Erik Saxon was born in San Francisco in 1941 and now resides in New York City. He received both his Bachelor and Master of Arts from Berkeley (The University of California). Originally from San Francisco but based in NYC since 1968, Saxon was a core member of the Radical Painting Group active in NYC during the 1970s and 1980s. The RPG stressed a return to the core concerns of painting, focusing primarily on the monochrome. The group included Erik Saxon, Phil Sims, Merrill Wagner, Dale Henry, Doug Sanderson, Susanna Tanger, Anders Knutsson, Marcia Hafif, Jerry Zeniuk, Frederic Matys Thursz. In 1973 Saxon began making abstract work based on the grid format, initially using watercolor on paper and then industrial paint on raw canvas. The same year he began exploring the idea of monochromatic canvases – a series of acrylic drawings consisting of white and off-white squares arranged into groups of three to five panels – but tabled the idea a year later to focus his attention on paintings organized around a nine square grid structure. For the past thirty years, Saxon has worked with the monochrome and it’s relationship to its surroundings–the wall, the floor, its location within the exhibition space, and the viewer. In addition to his studio work, Saxon is a writer and has had his essays published in Artforum, Art in America, Appearances and other respectable art magazines. Radical Painting denotes an abstract art tendency in Europe and North America, which was in existence in the 1980s and 1990s and has to be seen in the light of Postmodernism. The term Radical Painting was used in the context of an exhibition at the Williams College Museum of Art in Williamstown (MA) in 1984 for the first time. It describes a self-referential art, which addresses topics of its immanent characteristics – especially color, but also image carriers, surface and structure. The Radical Painting artists and their monochrome painting are in the tradition of Post Painterly Abstraction of the 1950s and 1960s and shows notions of Minimal Art. The roots of radical art can also be found in the stylistic ambitions of Constructivism, Suprematism and Art Concret. In terms of style, radical painting is characterized by mostly monochrome works that focus on color effects, shading and material properties, entirely doing without external motifs. Radical Painting enables the observer to sensually experience the picture with its independently perceived color and light values, uniquely achieved by the painting technique, subtle coating methods or change of flows. Among the main artists of Radical Painting are Phil Sims, Marcia Hafif, Günter Umberg and Joseph Marioni; others radical artist are Jerry Zenuik, Andreas Exner, Frederic Matys Thursz, Rudolf De Crignis, Christiane Fuchs, Ingo Meller, Eric Saxon, Peter Tollens, Dieter Villinger, Ulrich Wellmann, Olivier Mosset and Winston Roeth.
Saxon’s works can be found in the following selected Public and Private Collections: artothek, Kolnisches Stadt Museum, Cologne, Germany. Bank of America, San Francisco. Fogg Museum, Havard University , Boston, MA Goteborg Museum of Art, Sweden Lita Hornik, New York IBM, San Jose, CA Wynn Kramarsky, New York Herbert Minkel, New York Mondriaanhuis, Museum voor Constructieve en Concrete Kunst, Amersfoort, Neatherlands. Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery, The University of British Columbia, Vancover,B.C., Canada Museo Cantonale d’Arte of Lugano , Switzerland Museum fur Kommunikation, Frankfurt, Germany Museum of Modern Art, Belgrade MOMA, Museum of Modern Art , New York . Gift of Wynn Kramarsky National Gallery of Art, Washington , D.C. UCLA Hammer Museum, Los Angeles , CA University of Kentucky Art Museum, Lexington, KY Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, CT
Pierre-Emile Legrain (attr.) Pair of French Art Deco drop and roll front cabinets c. 1927
PIERRE-EMILE LEGRAIN attr. (1889-1929) France
Matching Cabinets (pair) c. 1927
Golden cerused oak, roll-front and drop front doors,
original brass keys, reeded base
Provenance: Felix Marcilhac, Paris
For more information on Legrain see: Pierre-Emile Legrain 1889-1929 (Paris: exh. cat. Galerie Jacques de Vos,1996); Union des Artistes Modernes, Arlette Barré-Despond (Paris: Editions du Regard, 1986) 119-120.
H: 50 1/2 ” x W: 23 1/2” x D: 11 1/2”
The Art Deco movement centered in early 20th-century Paris sought to bridge the transition from academic art and craftsmanship to modern art and industrial production. Regarded by some as one of its founders, Pierre-Emile Legrain (1889-1929) worked at a time of great ferment in art, as well as in society. Legrain’s curiosity and receptiveness to these changes led him to adapt forms, materials and techniques from other cultures.
Legrain created two distinct bodies of work: an assemblage of approximately 1,200 bookbinding designs and a much smaller production of furniture made for couturiers in the French fashion trade. Both artistic endeavors shared fine craftsmanship, masterful use of rare and expensive materials, unusual combinations of textures and surfaces, and spare, geometrical forms. Nearly all of his creations were one-of-a-kind.
Reinhold Klaus / Carl Geyling Atelier Vienna “Cubist Man with top hat and flowers” stained glass window c. 1930
REINHOLD KLAUS (1881-1963) Vienna, Austria
CARL GEYLING ATELIER (founded 1841) Vienna, Austria
Man with tophat and flowers c. 1930
Window of stained and hand-painted leaded glass
Provenance: Estate of Carl Geyling (1814-1880), Vienna
H: 17 3/4″ x W: 14 1/2″
Reinhold Klaus studied from 1898-1902 with Alfred Roller at the Kaiserlich-Königliche Kunstgewerbeschule in Vienna. In 1914 Klaus married into the Carl Geyling family and became extensively involved with with stained glass painting. As early as 1918 Klaus worked on a stained glass window for the Siegestempel am Bisamberg in Vienna. In 1934 he became a professor of stained glass painting at the Kunstgewerbeschule, as well as creative director of the C. Geylings Erben glass painting company. Reinhold Klaus, a member of the Künstlerhaus since 1924 received many prizes and honors. He worked on commissions for the St. Veits cathedral in Prague, the St. Stephan cathedral in Vienna and many others.
Francois-Emile Decorchement French Art Deco “Bleu” pâte-de-crystal vase 1926
FRANÇOIS-EMILE DECORCHEMENT (1880-1971) France
“Bleu” pâte-de-crystal vase c. 1926
Cobalt blue pâte-de-crystal (lost wax cast crystal) with mauve inclusions, two low-relief friezes of varying abstract vine motifs
Impressed: DECORCHEMENT in a lunette seal, numbered A 865
For more information on Decorchement see: Art Deco, Victor Arwas (New York: Harry N. Abrams,1980) pp. 268-69, 298.
H: 4 1/2″ x Dia: 4 3/4″
Decorchement, Francois Emile. (1880-1970) He set up a glass house in Conches in 1902 producing exquisite pate-de-verre, statuettes, bowls and vases. He extended this range to encompass a rougher hewn surface with motifs of flowers and sometimes insects. His designs became increasingly abstract during the 1930s toward the outbreak of the Second World War; these were often executed in pate-de-cristal. Later the production continued although in a more restrained manner with softer semi-opaque and translucent colors.
Andre Arbus (attr.) French Art Deco Straw Marquetry Box c. 1940
ANDRÉ ARBUS (attr.) (1903-1969) France
Straw marquetry box c. 1940
Natural gold and ebony stained straw inlaid in a design of a window pane diamond pattern on the hinged lid, original suede cloth/paper interior, wood frame
For more information see: André Arbus: architecture-décorateur des années 40, Yvonne Brunhammer (Paris: l’Editions NORMA, 1996).
Scandinavian Modern / Art Deco Finnish Silver Presentation Bowl 1925
SUOMEN KULTASEPPÄ OY Turku, Finland
(FINNISH GOLDSMITH COMPANY, LTD.)
Silver bowl 1925
Hand wrought and repoussé silver with an overall scrolling leaf, blossom and vine motif, applied stylized open work silver handles
Marks: “TILL AIS och NILS WENER 19 [28-30/ IV] 26 ADI och ALLAN RÖNEHOLM,” maker’s mark (hammer with wings), government control mark (crown), 813 H (silver standard) U5 AT (date mark), city mark for Turku
H: 7 1/4″ x W: 13 1/2”
This Art Deco Finnish silver centerpiece was presented as a gift from Adi and Allan Röneholm to Ais and Nils Wener in 1926. By repute this piece was shown the year prior at the Paris 1925 exhibition.
D.I.M. (Decoration Intérieure Moderne) / French Art Deco / Rene Joubert & Philippe Petit Lounge Chair c. 1930
D.I.M. [Decoration Intérieure Moderne] France
Rene Joubert, Philippe Petit [designers]
Lounge chair circa 1930.
Primavera wood with Backhausen fabric designed by Robert Oerley
For more information see: Le Mobilier du XXe Siècle, Pierre Kjellberg (Paris: Editions de l’Amateur, 1994), pp. 165-7.
Fabric illustrated: Art Nouveau Textil-Dekor um 1900, Ruth Grönwoldt (Stuttgart: Württembergisches Landesmuseum, 1980) p 182-183.
Flavio Poli for Seguso Large Murano Glass Bottle with Stopper c.1950’s
FLAVIO POLI (1900-1984) Italy
SEGUSO VETRI D’ARTE Italy
Bottle with stopper c. 1950’s
Spectacular large decanter or bottle with stopper with a golden cognac cased glass interior tear drop form suspended in a solid clear glass body by FLAVIO POLI (1900-1984) Italy for SEGUSO VETRI D’ARTE Italy
Lucien Lelong / French Art Deco Handpainted Porcelain Vase circa 1935
LUCIEN LELONG (1889 – 1958) Paris, France
“Metaphysical” vase c. 1935
Hand painted and glazed porcelain with aqua, black and silver tones.
Marks: LL monogram, AB
H: 13 3/4″
Lucien Lelong was born in Paris, France on October 11, 1889. Lucien learned his trade from his father, Arthur Lelong, who owned a textile factory in 1896, and his mother Eleanore, a dressmaker. He discovered his vocation in the family business and as soon as World War I was over, he expanded the family business by creating his own fashion house in the late 1918.
He became immediately famous due to the neat tailoring of his designs and his skill in choosing and manufacturing fabrics. He did not actually create his own designs but hired the most prominent designers of the moment to design his collections such as Christian Dior, Pierre Balmain and Hubert Givenchy. Lelong was one of the first designers to diversify into lingerie and stockings. He introduced a line of ready-to-wear in 1934 which he labeled “editions.” In 1939, Lelong’s collections showed tightly waisted, full skirts; a style which became the “new Look” in Dior’s collection in 1947. After the war, in 1947, Lelong showed pencil-slim dresses; pleated, tiered, harem hemlines; and suits with wasp waists, cutaway fronts and square shoulders.
After a trip to the United States where he learned everything pertaining to the working methods in the mass production of clothes, he returns to France and creates a line of pret-a-porter (ready-to-wear) collection, branded “LL” Edition. Lelong used his double” LL” logo to influence his designs as well as refining the packaging design of his perfumes and cosmetics. He was a master of the use of knits and bias to shape the body in the most complementary way. His house’s trademark was their unique ability in designing with fur.
He was married to Natalie Paley who was the daughter of the Grand Duke Paul of Russia that assisted him with his business. Lelong was an active member of high society; socialized with the women he dressed, and did not miss the opportunity to capitalize on his name. From 1937 until the end of the war in 1948, Lelong was President of the Chambre Syndicale de la Couture Parisienne, in which role he was able to fight and hinder the transfer of the Parisian fashion houses to Berlin during the German occupation. It was largely due to his efforts that ninety-two houses stayed opened during the war.
Poor health caused the end of his career; Lelong retired in 1952, and died in 1958 of a heart attack.
Andre Thuret French Art Deco Rare Handblown Art Glass Vase c. 1930
ANDRÉ THURET (1898-1965) France
“Organic” vase/bowl c. 1930
Handblown and formed clear glass with bubble technique encapsulating a frosty white oxide.
Signed: ANDRÉ THURET
H: 2 3/8″ x D: 4″ x W: 6 1/4″
Andre Thuret was one of the first modern French studio glass artists and a contemporary of Maurice Marinot. He was born on November 3, 1898 in Paris. It is by science that Andre Thuret came to art. It is in Thuret the engineer and the chemist who serve Thuret the vase artist. The scientist places at the disposal of the creator of forms, rates/rhythms and colors the fluid and transparent beauty of glass and the reactions of metallic oxides. He worked in a traditional glass blowing technique at a temperature often exceeding 1,000 degrees. Thuret exhibited at the Salon d’Automne in 1928 and 1932 and obtained his first plate of the Company of Encouragement to Art. He was invited to exhibit in the United States in 1929-1930. Andre Thuret received his Chevalier of the Legion of Honor in 1947.
Maurice Bouval French Art Nouveau Nymph Silvered Bronze Candleholder c. 1900
MAURICE BOUVAL (born Toulouse, died 1920) France
M. COLIN France
“Nymph Embracing a Blossom” candle holder c.1900
Silvered cast bronze in the form of a nymph on a leaf embracing a blossom
Marks: M. Bouval (script signature) and COLIN, (Foundry) written above
For other examples of Bouval’s work see: The Paris Salons 1895-1914, Vol. V: Objets d’Art & Metalware, Alastair Duncan (Woodbridge, Suffolk: Antique Collectors’ Club, 1999), p. 127; Ecole to Deco, Small Sculptures from a Private Collection, Stephen C. McGough ed. (Oberlin, Ohio: Allen Memorial Art Museum, 1979) pp. 33-4; Art Nouveau Sculpture, Alastair Duncan (New York: Rizzoli, 1978) pp. 30-1.
Jacques Sicard / Weller Pottery French Art Nouveau iridescent vase c. 1901-1907
JACQUES SICARD (décor) (1865-1923) France
WELLER POTTERY (form) Zanesville, OH
Vase c. 1901-1907
Earthenware with handpainted multicolored iridescent glaze
Other works by Sicard illustrated: Decorative Art 1880-1980, Dan Klein & Margaret Bishop (Oxford: Christie’s Ltd./Phaidon,1986) p. 109; The Ideal Home: 1900-1920, ed. Janet Kardon (New York: American Craft Museum, 1993) p. 166.
H: 9″
In 1902, Samuel Weller invited Sicard and his assistant Henri Gelie to Zanesville, where they developed a spectacular line of iridescent pottery called “Sicardo-Weller”. Sicard left the Weller Pottery in 1907 and never revealed the secrets to their copper-lustre glaze.
Christian Thomsen / RC Denmark Rare “Frog and Dragonfly” Art Nouveau vase 1901
CHRISTIAN THOMSEN (1860-1921) Denmark
ROYAL COPENHAGEN
“Frog and Dragonfly” vase 1901
Glazed porcelain with a frog in 3-D sculptural relief looking at a dragonfly seated on a calla lily leaf looking up at the blossom.
Form number 280
Marks: ROYAL COPENHAGEN, CROWN, 465/250, 3 wavy lines (Royal Copenhagen) insignia, inscribed A. 250
For more information see: Musterbuch KPF, um 1930, Illustration number 204; Porzellan, Kunst und Design 1889 bis 1939, vom Jugendstil zum Funktionalismus (Berlin: Bröhan-Museum, 1993) p. 467, ill. 435; Sammlung Bröhan: Kunsthandwerk 2, Metall, Porzellan (Berlin: Bröhan Museum, 1977), pp. 222-285.
H: 9″ x Dia: 3 1/2″
Christian Thomsen was employed at the Royal Porcelain Manufactory (Royal Copenhagen) in 1898, and was employed there until his death in 1921. Thomsen is said to have had a huge impact on Royal Copenhagen’s success throughout the 20th century. A large part of the recognition by the Royal Porcelain Factory has enjoyed over the years, they can thank Christian Thomsen for. He produced more than 100 different figurines, especially he had a fondness for agricultural characters, children figurines, figurines inspired by Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tales, fauns and trolls, and not least charming animals and bird figures.
Hector Guimard for Maison Coilliot / Art Nouveau glazed lava tile 1898
HECTOR GUIMARD (1867-1942) France
MAISON COILLIOT Lille, France
Tile c. 1898
Fired and glazed lava with abstract whiplash motifs in various tones of aqua blue on the obverse and a partial graphic on the reverse with polychrome floral and linear details.
Marks: 16 (on top of tile)
French architect Hector Guimard (1867-1942) realized the decorative possibilities of glazed lava, a substance made from mixing pulverized lava with clay when he built a villa for Louis Coillot, (1898-1900) a ceramics manufacturer in Lille who monopolized the distribution of the material. Guimard sided the entire facade of Maison Coilliot in lava stone.
***A related glazed lava tile from the Castel Henriette is in the Collection of the Musee d’Orsay.
The Maison Coilliot is an Art Nouveau house located on 14, rue de Fleurus in Lille, France. Louis Coilliot, a French ceramic entrepreneur, was fond of enameled lava and wanted to popularize the technique. To do so, Coilliot commissioned Hector Guimard, an architect he’d met at the 1897 fair La Céramique et tous les arts du feu, (“Ceramic Arts & Glass Making”), to apply the technique to his house’s façade. Coilliot’s factory and warehouse were located to the rear of his house, and therefore the façade held a double
purpose, both decorating the front of his home and advertising his business.
For more information see: Hector Guimard, 1867-1942: Architektur in Paris um 1900 (Munich: Museum Villa Stuck, 1975)
George Washington Maher “Rockledge” American Arts & Crafts side chair 1911-12
George Washington Maher (1864-1926) USA
Rockledge side chair, 1911-1912.
Stained oak with the original leather upholstery and leather-covered tacks.
Provenance: Ernest L. & Grace King residence, Homer, Minnesota
H: 40 ¾” W: 18 ½” x D: 20 ¼”
(Gift to The Wolfsonian-FIU, Miami Beach, FL)
In 1912 George Washington Maher designed Rockledge, a summer residence near Homer, Minnesota, for E.L. King. Sited just beneath a cliff along the Mississippi River, Rockledge is considered the finest residence of Maher’s career and a perfect example of his motif-rhythm theory of architectural design.
Information and other examples from the Maher / Rockledge commission can be found in the following books and publications: The Art that is Life: The Arts and Crafts Movement in America, 1875-1920, ed. Wendy Kaplan, (Boston: Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Little, Brown and Company, 1987), pp. 396-400,The Ideal Home: The History of Twentieth Century American Craft, 1900-1920, Janet Kardon (New York: Abrams, 1993) cover illus. and p. 205; Geo. W. Maher Quarterly, Oct.-Dec., 1992, pp. 1, 16, 17; Arts, December, 1995, The Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minneapolis, Minn. cover and back cover.
Examples of artworks from Rockledge are in the permanent collections of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, NY, The Brooklyn Museum of Art, The Minnesota Historical Society, The Newark Museum, The Baltimore Museum of Art, The Minneapolis Institute of Arts, The Milwaukee Art Museum, The Wolfsonian, Miami Beach, FL, Dallas Museum of Art, the Houston Museum of Fine Arts and the St. Louis Art Museum.
Richly patinated gold brown and black hand-wrought copper wave detail, flanges and riveting
For more information on the Amsterdam School see: The Amsterdam School: Dutch Expressionist Architecture, 1915-1930, W. de Wit, ed. (New York: Cooper-Hewitt Museum; Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1983).
Cloisonne enamel in a fantasy archaic Chinese motif in red, yellow, black and white abstract designs on a bronze body with a blue enameled underside and a wood lined interior.
Mellerio Paris Rare French Art Deco “Gyroscope” sterling cigarette box c.1930
MELLERIO PARIS Italy/ France
Gyroscope cigarette box c.1930
French silver (950 silver standard) in a structural form of a gyroscope with a lever for an interior lifting mechanism, gilding
Marks: Mellerio Paris, 3776 D, head of Minerva French guarantee mark for 950/1000
H: 5 1/4″ x Dia: 4 1/4″
The renowned Mellerio family and their jewelry can be traced back to Lombardy, Italy as early as the 16th century. Some family members moved to Paris and became royal jewelers for Louis XIII. The revolutions of 1789 and 1848 interrupted their business and they moved to Madrid where they became the jewelers favored by Queen Isabel II. Later in the 19th century they returned to Paris where once again they prospered and participated in several international expositions including London (1862), Paris (1867, 1878 and 1900), and Vienna (1873). In the 20th century they exhibited at the renowned Paris 1925 Exposition des Arts Décoratifs in Paris and then in New York at the 1939 World’s Fair.
Black Starr & Frost American Art Nouveau Sterling Mounted Jewelry Box c.1900
BLACK STARR & FROST New York, NY
Art Nouveau Sterling and Mahogany Jewelry Box c.1900
Mahogany jewelry box with thick sterling silver decorative graphic mountings in an elaborate Art Nouveau whiplash design, original key
Marks: Eagle mark (Company logo) BLACK STARR & FROST, Sterling
For more information see: American Jewelry Manufacturers, Dorothy T. Rainwater (West Chester, Penn.: Schiffer, 1988)
H: 4 1/2″ x W: 10 1/2″ x D: 7″
SOLD
One of America’s oldest fine jewelers, Black, Starr and Frost traces its roots to 1810. In that year, Erastus Barton and Frederick Marquand opened Marquand and Barton near New York’s Maiden Lane. The firm added and lost partners numerous times and it also frequently moved locations in accordance with the addresses of its prestigious clientele. Its merchandise was eclectic and greatly varied including, lamps, jewelry, paintings, porcelain, and artistic objects. In 1876, the firm changed its name from Black, Ball, and Co. to Black, Starr, and Frost, and moved to 251 Fifth Avenue. Its inventory became focused on jewelry and silver objects, some imported from Europe, some produced in-house. For many decades, the renowned jewelry house, Black, Starr, and Frost was considered one of the great American jewelers. In 1876, it was invited to exhibit at the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia along with renowned firms like Tiffany & Company, Whiting, and Gorham. In 1939, the firm was one of five American jewelers invited to exhibit at the New York’s World’s Fair. In 1929, it merged with Gorham to become Black, Starr, Frost – Gorham.
Amphora Art Pottery / Art Nouveau Organic vase c. 1900
AMPHORA ART POTTERY Turn-Teplitz, Austria
Organic vase c. 1900
Glazed earthenware
Marks: AMPHORA (in oval), AUSTRIA (in an oval), 8026, 41
For more information see: Deutsche Kunst und Dekoration, ( March 1901) pp. 346-349; Sammlung Bröhan: Kunsthandwerk, Glas, Holz, Keramik,Vol. 1 Band II (Berlin: Bröhan Museum, 1976), pp. 284-293.
George Logan / Glasgow Style / British Arts & Crafts The Grey Bower chair c. 1905
George Logan (1866–1939) Glasgow, Scotland
Wylie & Lochhead, Ltd. Glasgow
British Arts & Crafts Movement/Glasgow Style
“The Grey Bower” chair, circa 1905.
Stained beech and contemporary silk upholstery.
Illustrated in a published drawing “The Grey Bower” by George Logan for Mssrs. Wylie & Lochhead in an article entitled ” A Color Symphony”: The Studio Magazine 1905
H: 53 3/8” x W: 18” x D: 13 3/4”
The Glasgow School was a circle of influential modern artists and designers who began to coalesce in Glasgow, Scotland in the 1870s, and flourished from the 1890s to sometime around 1910. Wylie and Lochhead’s output in the Glasgow Style, which was showcased at the 1901 Glasgow International Exhibition was designed by three young craftsmen – Ernest Archibald Taylor (1874–1951), John Ednie (1876–1934) and George Logan (1866–1939).
Whiting / Late 19th Century Sterling dish with pomegranate motif c. 1890
WHITING MANUFACTURING CO. No. Attleboro, MA
Footed dish with pomegranate motif c. 1890
Sterling silver with a hand hammered honey comb surface, applied pomegranate and pomegranate blossom motif
Marks: Whiting logo (lion with W in oval (manufacturer’s insignia)), STERLING, 757, C
L: 5″ x D: 4″
In 1840 Albert Tifft and William Whiting started their business in No. Attleboro MA as a jewelry manufacturing company and then in 1866 created the Whiting Mfg. Co. and expanded production into small hollowware as well. The Gorham Company bought Whiting in 1926 and all operations were then moved to Providence, R.I.
Mathilde Augé / Ely Vial Limoges French Art Nouveau Eucalyptus vase c. 1900
MATHILDE AUGÉ France
ELY VIAL France
Eucalyptus vase c. 1900
Colored enamels on copper with foil-backing depicting eucalyptus berries and leaves, gilt details
Signed: MA (artist’s monogram)
For more information see: The Paris Salons 1895-1914 Jewellery, Vol. I: Alastair Duncan (Woodbridge, Suffolk: Antique Collectors’ Club, 1994), p. 44; The Paris Salons 1895-1914, Objets d’Art et Metalwork, Vol. 5, Alastair Duncan (Woodbridge, Suffolk: Antique Collectors’ Club, 1994) p. 58; 1900, Philippe Thiébaut et al., exhib. cat. (Paris: Réunion des musées nationaux, 2000), p. 256.
Val Saint-Lambert “Oignon de Jemeppe” Belgian Art Nouveau art glass vase c.1900
Cristalleries du val Saint-Lambert (1826-) Belgium
Jemepper-Sur-Meuse
Gevaert Romain/Ledru Leon
“Oignon de Jemeppe” art glass vase c. 1900
Hand blown coffee colored art glass vase with pulled feathering decoration in a burgundy-brown coloration with an elongated neck pulled from a bulbous body.
Marks: VSL (the mark is a variant colored feather pulled detail in the glass on the bottom of the vase)
H: 15 3/8″ x D: 5 3/4″
Price: $12,500
Val Saint Lambert is a Belgian crystal glassware manufacturer, founded in 1826. Val St Lambert is the official glassware supplier to H.M. King Albert II of Belgium.
Val Saint Lambert was founded in the Val-Saint-Lambert Abbey by a chemist, M. Kemlin, who had previously worked for the Vonêche crystal works in the Ardennes. Val Saint Lambert is renowned for its Art Nouveau and Art Deco pieces.
Martele Gorham / American Art Nouveau Handwrought Sterling Kettle-on-Stand c.1903
GORHAM MFG. CO SILVERSMITHS Providence, RI
FINN ERICHSEN (Maker)
WILLIAM T. THOMPSON (Chaser)
SPAULDING & CO (Retailer) Chicago, IL
Kettle-on-stand c. 1903
Completely specially handwrought sterling silver in an overall organic form with highly stylized vines and blossom motifs with cutout details on the base. Bone spacers and finial for burner handle. Approx. silver weight is 66 troy ounces.
Marks for kettle: Gorham Martele touchmarks, 950 – 1000
FINE, F R U, SPAULDING & CO., CHICAGO, SE (Script signature)
Marks for burner: Gorham Martele touchmarks, 950 – 1000 FINE, P F, SPAULDING & CO., CHICAGO
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