“These Boots Are Made For Walkin” – Sculpted mahogany body with hand carved wooden boots that are covered in real Nile Crocodile skin.  The McSwain signature is hand made barbed wire and the horseshoe is forged from steel rod.  The back cutaway is inlaid with a real bandana.  Seymour Duncan pickups, Sperzel tuners. Signed by Dwight Yokham.

Edward Spencer attr. (1872-1938) UK
Artificer’s Guild  (1901-42)   UK

Pair of candlesticks circa 1910.

Handwrought iron with a squared central support terminating in a attenuated vine like wrap.

H: 10 1/2″ x Dia: 5 1/2″

The Artificers’ Guild Ltd was founded in 1901 by the metalwork and enameler Nelson Dawson (1859-1942). It was one of the few guilds inspired by the Arts and Crafts movement to enjoy real commercial success, and remained in operation until 1938. It was bought out in 1903 by the Birmingham entrepreneur Montague Fordham and established on a more commercial footing, producing domestic metalwork, church plate and furnishings, presentation plate and jewelry.

Fordham promoted Edward Spencer (1873-1938), previously Dawson’s principal designer, to be Director of the Guild’s workshop in Hammersmith. The Guild also had a showroom originally located just off Regent Street. Spencer died in 1938, shortly after the firm was wound up. During its existence, the Guild operated as a substantial business, employing over 40 staff at its peak, including a large number of skilled craftsmen, many of whom would have been trained in the Guild’s workshop. Although unacknowledged for much of the 20th century, the Guild is now recognized as an important producer of high quality metalwork and jewelry during this period.

TOMMI PARZINGER  (1903-1981)  Germany/USA

PETER ALBERT REIMES Silversmith (1900-1945) Germany / USA

Sterling covered pedestal cigarette box with neoclassical motifs c. 1938

ARCHIBALD KNOX (1864-1933) UK
LIBERTY & CO. London

Extremely rare and important grand clock by Archibald Knox for Liberty & Co. This is the largest of all of the Tudric models designed and is inset with abalone shell on the sides, the front corners and on the hands of the clock.

Marks: TUDRIC, 098

Illustrated: The Designs of Archibald Knox for Liberty & Co., A..J. Tilbrook (London: Ornament Press Ltd., 1976) pg. 88; The Liberty Style, (Japan: Hida Takayama Museum of Arts, 1999) fig. 168, p 114; Archibald Knox, ed. by Stephen A. Martin (London: Academy Editions, 1995) p. 88.

H: 15″ x W: 7″ x D: 5″

***This is the largest clock designed by Archibald Knox for
Liberty & Co. and one of only three models known.

CHRISTOPHER DRESSER (1834-1904) UK

JAMES DIXON & SONS Sheffield, England

Teaset  1880

Sterling silver

Marks: JD&S, Chr. Dresser (facsimile signature), 2272,

Sheffield assay marks for 1880 (“P” in an octagonal rectangle), Reg. mark for November 25, 1880

Illustrated: J. Dixon & Sons’ 1885 catalogue, p. 96.

Teapot illustrated: Christopher Dresser, by Widar Halén (Oxford: Phaidon, 1990), illus. 204, p. 181.

Teaset illustrated: Truth, Beauty, Power: Dr. Christopher Dresser 1834-1904, exhib. cat. Historical Design, Inc. (New York, 1998) p. 30/31.

Teapot: H: 4” x W: 7 ¼” ; Sugar bowl: H: 2 3/4” ; Creamer: H: 3 1/8”

Plated teapot in the permanent collection of the British Museum, London. Extremely rare model.

CHRISTOPHER DRESSER  (1834-1904)  UK
LINTHORPE ART POTTERY, Middlesbrough
HENRY TOOTH Artistic Manager Linthorpe (1842-1918) UK

“Gourd Vase”   1879-1882

Glazed Earthenware

***Extremely rare Dresser / Linthorpe model.

Marked: LINTHORPE, Chr. Dresser (facsimile signature) HT, no. 326

Illustrated:  Christopher Dresser: Truth, Beauty, Power exh. cat. (New York: Historical Design, 1998) p.75; illustrated in two drawings for gourd vases in Dresser’s 1881 design and account book under heading “Aug. 29, 1881. Sent to J. Harrison Esq. 41 Designs for Linthorpe.”

H: 7 3/4″

The contrasts in Dresser’s designs for different materials showed how his approach to design was also shaped by the properties and nature of a material. In 1879 Dresser was appointed art director at the newly established Linthorpe pottery, near Middlesbrough. Founded by John Harrison, a local businessman, the pottery’s aim was to use local clay to provide jobs for local men. Dresser’s design for the moulds for the pottery were inspired by a wide range of cultures from Japan, Peru, Mexico, Morocco and Ancient British forms. These very striking pieces, with the metal oxides in the complex and innovative glazes providing the only decoration. All of his designs were impressed with a facsimile signature. When Linthorpe closed in 1889, its moulds were acquired by a rival, Ault Pottery in Derbyshire. In 1893, Dresser signed a contract with Ault for new designs specifying that each pot should be marked with his facsimile signature.

CHRISTOPHER DRESSER  (1834-1904)  UK
JAMES DIXON & SONS Sheffield, England

“Gothic Arch” toast rack c.1881

Silver-plate

Marks: JD&S (stamped), EP, #72, “D”

Drawing illustrated: Christopher Dresser’s 1881 design and account book

For more information see: Truth, Beauty, Power: Dr. Christopher Dresser 1834-1904, exhib. cat. Historical Design, Inc. (New York, 1998); Charles Handley-Read, “High Victorian Design:  An Illustrated Commentary” in ‘Design 1860-1960’ sixth conference report of the Victorian Society (London, 1968); Victorian and Edwardian Decorative Art: The Handley-Read Collection, ed. Simon Jervis (London:  Diploma Galleries,1972); Christopher Dresser:  pottery, glass, metalwork, (London:  The Fine Arts Society Ltd., 1972); Isabelle Anscombe & Charlotte Gere, Arts & Crafts in Britain and America (New York:  Rizzoli International Publications, Inc., 1978); Truth, Beauty and Design, Victorian, Edwardian and later Decorative Art (London:  Fischer Fine Art Limited),; A Thing of Beauty:  Art Nouveau, Art Deco, Arts & Crafts Movement and Aesthetic Movement Objects in Atlanta Collections (Atlanta, GA:  The High Museum of Art, 1980), cat. no. M2; Widar Halén, Christopher Dresser (Oxford: Phaidon, 1990),; Judy Rudoe, Decorative Arts 1850-1950:  A Catalogue of the British Museum Collection (London: Trustees of the British Museum, 1991),; Gerda Breuer, Von Morris bis Mackintosh – Reformbewegung zwischen Kunstgewerbe und Sozialutopie,  Arts and Crafts (Darmstadt: Institut Mathildenhöhe, 1994/95); “The Silver Designs of Dr. Christopher Dresser,” Shirley Bury, Apollo (December, 1962)

H: 6″ x D: 4 1/8″ x W: 4 5/8″

CHRISTOPHER DRESSER (1834-1904) UK

JAMES COUPER & SONS Glasgow

Clutha vase   c. 1895

Aventurine blown glass with iridescent gold streaks and internal bubbles

Illustration: Christopher Dresser, Widar Halen (Oxford: Phaidon, Christies Limited, 1990) p. 196, illust. 228.

For more information: Liberty Style: the classic years, 1898-1910, Mervyn Levy (New York: Rizzoli International Publications, Inc., 1986); Christopher Dresser: the power of design, Christopher Wilk (New York: Zurland – Zabar, 1993).

H: 19 3/8 ”

GUSTAVE HERTER (1839-1883) b. Germany/New York

Renaissance revival “portrait” cabinet   1858 – 1864
Carved cherry wood portrait plaque, mahogany, exotic wood inlays and gilding; black and gold veined marble top

Marks: G. Herter / New York (impressed mark)

Provenance: Patrick A. Valentine Family, Lake Oconomowoc Wisconsin; Phillip Danforth Armour, Chicago and Lake Oconomowoc, Wisconsin.

H: 42” x W: 43 1/2” x D: 22”

This Renaissance Revival cabinet is an exceptional example of the style as it developed in the United States from the middle of the 19th century into the early years of the Civil War. Along with intricate marquetry and gilded elements, the cabinet boasts a rare carved wood civil war era portrait. Herter’s case pieces in this style were generally ornamented with bronze medallions or plaques imported from Europe. In addition, the G. Herter signature makes this piece a great rarity as the cabinetmaker rarely signed his work. This spectacular cabinet also has an interesting provenance. The original owner, Phillip Danforth Armour, founder of the famous Chicago Meat Packing Co., likely acquired the cabinet at the time of his wedding in 1863. Thirty years later, the cabinet was moved to the Armours’ summer estate, Danforth Lodge, which was built on Oconomowoc Lake in Wisconsin. The mansion was raised in 1953 but the cabinet survived in the family of Armour’s widow who had married Patrick A. Valentine, a principal in the Armour company.

“Danforth Lodge”, Oconomowoc Lake, Wisconsin (known as Newport of the Midwest) a grand summer residence, built in 1893 by Phillip Danforth Armour (founder of the Armour Meat Packing Co., Chicago, Illinois). After Phillip Danforth Armour died, his wife married Patrick A. Valentine, an officer of the Armour Meat Packing Co. In 1916 they enlarged it into an even grander estate, which was later sold and subdivided in 1941. The mansion was eventually torn down in 1953.

Herter Brothers of New York City became one of the leading cabinetmaking and decorating firms of the nineteenth century. Gustave Herter (1830-98) and his younger brother Christian (1840-83) emigrated from Germany to New York. While Gustave spent time working at Tiffany, Young, and Ellis (later Tiffany and Company), Christian had studied at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris, France. Their partnership led to prominent commissions including the homes of wealthy industrialists, William H. Vanderbilt, J. Pierpont Morgan, and Potter Palmer, among others. Dictated by the favored tastes of the Aesthetic Movement and its quest towards “art for art’s sake,” the Herters’ work achieved a perfect blend of classic and craft as they became one of the first “tastemakers” of the period, designing exquisite furniture as well as interior schemes.

***A related work of Herter Brothers Renaissance Revival can be found in the Music Room Mirror from the Milton Latham Residence  at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

Herter Brothers

The firm of Herter Brothers, New York, (working 1864–1906), founded by Gustave (1830–1898) and Christian Herter (1839–1883), begun as an upholstery warehouse, became one of the first firms of furniture makers and interior decorators in the United States after the Civil War. With their own design office and cabinet-making and upholstery workshops, Herter Brothers were prepared to accomplish every aspect of interior furnishing including decorative paneling and mantels, wall and ceiling decoration, patterned floors and carpets and draperies.

The Herters were born in Stuttgart, Württemberg. Gustave was born Julius Gustav Alexander Hagenlocher, with his unmarried mother’s surname. She married Christian Herter (1807–1874) in 1835, and he adopted Gustave. Christian Augustus Ludwig Herter, Gustave’s half-brother, was born in 1839. Gustave and Christian’s father was a skilled cabinetmaker and they followed him in the trade. Gustave Herter came to New York City in 1848 and by 1858 was working under his own name. Christian was in New York by 1859 and joined his brother in the firm (renamed Herter Brothers) by 1864.

The firm was at the forefront of the panoply of furnishing styles that preceded the Mission style: Renaissance Revival, Neo-Grec, Eastlake, the Aesthetic Movement, ebonized “Anglo-Japanese style” furnishings of the 1870s – 1880s for which the firm is best recognized today, and the wide range of furnishings in revival styles required for Gilded Age houses.

The Red Room of the White House was furnished with Herter Brothers furniture during the administration of Ulysses S. Grant. Several pieces of Herter Brothers furniture remain in the White House including a center table and a slipper chair. This center table bears the remains of the only known Herter Brothers paper label; generally the firm stamped their furniture, a common practice in the 19th Century.

Among their most prominent clients were the Vanderbilts. Between 1879 and 1882, Herter Brothers decorated William Henry Vanderbilt‘s new Fifth Avenue mansion.

At 634 Fifth Avenue, in 1880–1882, they decorated the mansion of Darius Ogden Mills, on the site of part of Rockefeller Center now occupied by the colossal bronze Atlas. Their bills came to US$450,000. At the same time they were furnishing the nearby Jay Gould residence at 579 Fifth Avenue, at Forty-seventh Street.

The Herters did much of the interior work for the Eldridge Street Synagogue.

The White House’s interiors were extensively renovated during the administration of Theodore Roosevelt. Executing the designs of architect Charles Follen McKim, Herter Brothers created the plaster ceiling and ornately-carved oak paneling for the expanded State Dining Room. The firm’s workshops also provided the heavily carved paneling for the renovated East Room.

Very few Herter Brothers interiors remain extant. “Elm Park” in Norwalk, Connecticut was built 1864-68, and partially decorated by Herter Brothers. Open to the public as the Lockwood-Mathews Mansion Museum, the drawing room, music room and rotunda/art gallery are examples of the Herters’ interior design schemes, including lavishly carved and inlaid woodwork and frescoed walls and ceilings. The recently restored drawing room retains a suite of Herter furniture purchased for it by the home’s second owner, Charles D. Mathews.

Furniture from an early Herter commission survives in Victoria Mansion in Portland, Maine.

A notable surviving Herter interior is the John Thatcher home, now the Rosemount Museum, in Pueblo, Colorado (however, this work was carried out by the firm after the death of Christian Herter and the retirement of his brother, Gustave; connoisseurs and collectors tend to concentrate on the furniture and interiors designed during the brothers’ supervision of the firm).

Examples of Herter furniture are in major public collections in the United States. The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City presented an exhibition, “Herter Brothers: Furniture and Interiors for a Gilded Age,” in 1995.

Andrea Branzi (1938 – )   Zabro, Italy.

“Cucus” chair c.1985

Lacquered wood, tree branches

Illustrated: Domestic Animals: The Neoprimative Style Andrea and Nicoletta Branzi, (London, 1987) n.p.; Designed by Architects in the 1980s, Julie Capella and Quim Larrea, Barcelona, 1987, p. 37; Anne Bony, Paris Les années 80, 1995, p. 520; Charlotte and Peter Fiell, 1000 Chairs, Cologne, 2000, p. 588

H: 42 3/4″ x W: 19 3/4″ x D: 24″

Price: $19,000

The  “Cucus” chair was part of  the “Domestic Animals” series
designed in 1985/86 by Andrea Branzi for Zabro.

Andrea Branzi's “Domestic Animals” series was designed in 1985 and 1986 for the Italian firm Zabro. Designs were later also manufactured by Zanotta. Andrea Branzi created “Domestic Animals” in collaboration with Nicoletta Branzi, who produced limited edition art clothing for this series. The “Neoprimitive” style in which this collection has been rendered utilizes natural materials such as sticks to create an object that brings archetypal symbols into the home to produce emotional effects. These objects combine technology and nature and the symbols and codes that these entail demonstrating that “a hybrid love between different creatures is possible.” (Branzi, Domestic Animals, 1987, n.p.) With these objects Branzi aims to “domesticate” technological inventions so as to make them a positive presence in man's life.
“The difference between a domestic animal and a trained (or tamed) one lies in the fact that the latter is the outcome of an unnatural and violent attitude, while the domestic animal establishes the dream of a loving relationship with man.” (Branzi, Domestic Animals, 1987, n.p.)

Andrea Branzi, architect and designer, born in Florence in 1938, where he graduated in 1967, lives and works in Milano. From 1964 to 1974 he was a partner of Archizoom Associati, first vanguard group internationally known, whose projects are preserved at Centro Studi e Archivio della Comunicazione in Parma and at Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris.
Since 1967 he works in the fields of industrial and research design, architecture, urban planning, education and cultural promotion.He is Professor at the Third Faculty of Architecture and Industrial Design of Politecnico di Milano.

ANE CHRISTENSEN (b.1972) born in Copenhagen, Denmark/ based in London, UK

Bowl  1999

Sterling silver

Marks: AKC, 925, Z, British hallmarks

H: 2 ½” x L: 12”

Price: $5,950

The starting point for all of metalworker Ane Christensen’s tableware is a single sheet of metal. Her aim is to develop a three dimensional object from a flat sheet without adding or removing any elements. Japanese paper packaging influences Ane’s work, but a more important influence is the half finished or half demolished structures of building sites that she says can hold unexpected sculptural qualities.

Ane graduated from the Royal College of Art and has since been involved in exhibitions in London, Denmark and Copenhagen, including more recently at Collect, V&A.

Ane makes pieces in a variety of metals including silver, stainless steel and powder coated copper.

JOSEF HOFFMANN  (1870-1956)  Austria
WIENER WERKSTÄTTE  (1903-1932)  Vienna

Candlestick holder and match safe  1906
Hand wrought brass with beading around the perimeter of the edges

Marks: JH monogram, WIENER/WERK/STÄTTE, rosemark

Model illustrated: Österreichische Werkkultur, Max Eisler (Vienna: Österreichischer Werkbund, 1916). (slipcovered); Wiener Werkstätte G. M. B. H. catalog (December 1923), p. 114

H: 1 3/4″ x D: 2 5/16″ x W: 4 1/2″

Price: $4,500

PAUL HAUSTEIN  (1880-1944)  Germany
HERMANN BEHRND (b. 1849) SILBERWARENFABRIK (silver) Dresden, Germany
JAKAB RAPOPORT (enamelist) Budapest, Hungary

Inkwell  c. 1900

Multicolored burgundy, purple, blue and green enamel with silver mounts, glass insert

Marks: Moon, crown, 800, HB (Hermann Behrnd mark)

Same model with variant mount illustrated: Deutsche Goldschmiede-Zeitung, n.d. (circa 1903-05), p. 23

For related works and more information see: Art Nouveau in Munich: Masters of Jugendstil, ed. Kathryn Bloom Hiesinger (Philadelphia: Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1988) pp. 67-69; Jugendstil in Dresden, Aufbruch in die Moderne, Gisela Haase et al., exh. cat. (Dresden: Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden; Wolfratshausen: Edition Minerva, 1999).

Dia: 7 1/4″ x H: 4 1/2″

Joseph Maria Olbrich (1867-1908)  Austria
Clarfeld & Springmeyer Hemer (Westfalen), Germany
Ludwig Ziech Vereinigter Silberbesteckfabrik Hamburg, Germany

Cake Server, 1901.

Silvered alpaca with JO (J. Olbrich) monogram and stylized linear motif .

Marks:  A.B.S.Z. 60

Illustrated: Joseph M. Olbrich 1867-1908, Eckhart G. Franz, et al., exhib. cat. (Darmstadt: Mathildenhöhe, 1983), p. 346.
For other examples of this service see: Bestecke des Jugendstils: Art Nouveau Knives, Forks and Spoons, Barbara Grotkamp-Schepers and Reinhard W. Sänger (Stuttgart: Arnoldsche, 2000), p. 100, illus. 104; Catalogue Museum Künstlerkolonie Darmstadt, Klaus Wolbert et al. (Darmstadt: Institut Mathildenhöhe,  n.d.), illustr. 306, p. 198; Das Deutsche Silber-Besteck 1805-1918: Biedermeier – Historismus – Jugendstil, Reinhard W. Sänger (Stuttgart: Arnoldsche Verlagsanstalt GmbH, 1991), pp. 176-180.

L: 10 5/8″ x W: 2 9/16″

Price: $3,750

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

Black coffee / demitasse pot  1906

Sterling silver with bone handle

Marks:  L & Co, Birmingham assay marks for 1906, (engraved) 1906, 5103

Model illustrated:  The Designs of Archibald Knox for Liberty & Co., A.J. Tilbrook (London:  Ornament Press Ltd., 1976) p. 144.

H: 8 1/2″ x W: 5″ x D: 2 3/4″