Walter Abner Burns Nichols was one of the most colorful of the American adventurer/entrepreneurs in 1920s China. The Nichols name has come to be used almost synonymously with the ‘Chinese deco’ rugs manufactured in Tientsin, China in the 1920s and 1930s. Nichols did not originate the Chinese deco style, but he did a great deal to popularize it and to maintain its high standards of manufacture.
Nichols began in his youth as a first-class wool grader who went to Tientsin around 1920 to work for the Elbrook family of wool merchants. Nichols started his own business a couple of years later. In a brochure he produced in the late ’20s, with the assistance of Pande-Cameron, he announced: “In 1924 W.A.B. Nichols of Tientsin, North China, introduced the Super Chinese Rug which has become world famous. It is known in every market as the most durable and beautiful product of the modern Chinese weavers art and adorns the homes of people all over the earth.”
Walter Nichols Chinese Art Deco rug with circle motif c. 1935
Walter Nichols Chinese Art Deco rug c. 1935
WALTER NICHOLS China
Chinese Art Deco rug c. 1935
Walter Abner Burns Nichols was one of the most colorful of the American adventurer/entrepreneurs in 1920s China. The Nichols name has come to be used almost synonymously with the ‘Chinese deco’ rugs manufactured in Tientsin, China in the 1920s and 1930s. Nichols did not originate the Chinese deco style, but he did a great deal to popularize it and to maintain its high standards of manufacture.
Nichols began in his youth as a first-class wool grader who went to Tientsin around 1920 to work for the Elbrook family of wool merchants. Nichols started his own business a couple of years later. In a brochure he produced in the late ’20s, with the assistance of Pande-Cameron, he announced: “In 1924 W.A.B. Nichols of Tientsin, North China, introduced the Super Chinese Rug which has become world famous. It is known in every market as the most durable and beautiful product of the modern Chinese weavers art and adorns the homes of people all over the earth.”
European Art Deco whimsical “Dachshund” brooch in 18k gold, green champlevé enamel sweater and eye and set with 18 round-cut diamonds, signed: maker’s touchmark, 750 c. 1930’s
Gustav Manz (designer) for Thomas Kirkpatrick & Co., Fifth Avenue, NYC Art Deco Butterfly brooch, 12 baguette diamonds and 83 round diamonds (approx. 11 carats TW), 22 contoured and buff cut sapphires and 10 contoured and buff cut peridot, black enamel details all set in platinum, signed, c. 1920’s
Tiffany & Co Art Deco “Mustache” comb, 14K gold in a contoured form with the original tortoise shell comb and brown alligator slip case, signed: Tiffany & Co. 14K, square bowtie mark (possible maker’s mark), c. 1930’s
Art Deco “Fire Opal” necklace, frosted rock crystal round beads and four sided custom rock crystal bezels set in 18K yellow gold with 16 round–cut accent diamonds featuring five large natural fire opals (G.I.A certificate, dimension of each fire opal, 13.00 x 8.15 x 6.20mm for a TW of approx. 17.50 carats), c. 1940’s
Paul Brandt, Paris Art Deco “Zig Zag” cigarette case in sterling with champlevé black enamel zig zags on both sides of the case, signed: S A M initials in a triangle French maker’s poincon, French Boar’s head Paris silver assay mark for small objects (2x), London import mark with a London Zodiac sign of Leo (3x), .925 (silver standard) (4x) and the London letter M date mark for 1927 (3x), no. 18347 (2x), British touchmark of a G and an F in a rectangle, C.B.F initials and the date 7-1928 (script engraving), c.1925
Waslikoff & Sons, Inc., New York (active 1920’s to 1950, 48th Street) Art Deco bracelet set with one large oval aquamarine, 6 large emerald-cut aquamarines and 16 French cut aquamarines (approx. 30 carats TW for the 23 aquamarines) together with 60 round-cut diamonds and 6 baguette diamonds (approx. 6 carats TW for the 66 diamonds) all set in platinum, signed, c. 1930’s
Breuhaus de Groot / WMF Ikora Germany Art Deco Rare “Pokal” Covered Footed Cup 1928
FRITZ AUGUST BREUHAUS DE GROOT (1883-1960) Germany
WMF [WÜRTTEMBERGISCHE METALLWARENFABRIK] Geislingen
“Pokal” Covered footed cup ( model no. Br 6 )1928
Silverplated brass, model no. Br 6
Marks: WMF insignia (touchmark), x/o
Illustrated: Goldschmiedekunst 49, (1928) m. Abb; Deutsche Kunst und Dekoration 63, (1928/29) Abb S 353; Metallkunst: Kunst vom Jugendstil zur Moderne (1889-1939), Karl H. Bröhan, Band IV (Berlin: Bröhan-Museum, 1990) n. 610, p. 571; WMF Ikora Metall / Metalwork, Carlo Burschel and Heinz Scheiffele (Stuttgart, Germany: ARNOLDSCHE, 2006) pp.12,19,34.
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.
Muller Freres / French Art Deco Art Glass vase c. 1925
MULLER FRÈRES Lunéville, France
Vase c. 1925
Heavy cased clear glass over black glass with silver foil inclusions; acid-etched and deeply wheel-carved with a large zig zag motif
Signed: MULLER FRES LUNEVILLE (etched signature)
For more information see: Glass, Art Nouveau to Art Deco, Victor Arwas (New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1987) pp. 231-6;L’Europe de L’Art Verrier, des Precurseurs de l’Art Nouveau a l’Art Actuel 1850-1990, Giuseppe Cappa (Mardaga: Liège,1991) pp. 344-7.
American Art Deco Reed & Barton Sterling candlesticks 1928
REED & BARTON (active 1824 – present) Taunton, MA
Candlesticks 1928
Sterling silver with Hoffmann-like fluted base and bobêches with undulating stem and palm leaf like terminating detail.
Marks: eagle R (in a shield) lion, Sterling, 1000, cement reinforced, eagle (date mark for 1928).
Model illustrated: Vanity Fair (Dec. 1928, Vol. 31), p. 120., Reed & Barton Vintage Catalog, p. 10, plate number 1000.
For more information on Reed & Barton see: Encyclopedia of American Silver Manufacturers, Dorothy T. Rainwater (West Chester, PA: Schiffer Publishing Ltd., 1986), p. 156-160.
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.
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.
Tommi Parzinger / American Art Deco Coffee Table circa 1939
TOMMI PARZINGER (1903-1981) Germany/USA
PARZINGER, INC. New York
Coffee table c.1939
Carved and ceruse oak with an incised diamond pattern pewter top
Illustrated: Arts and Decoration, June 1940
***This table was originally priced at $80 during the period, as it appears in the Arts and Decoration vintage illustration from 1940.
For other examples of Parzinger’s work see: Town & Country, Vol. 54, “Counter Points”, December 1939, p. 31; Town & Country, Vol. 95, “Counter Points”, June 1940, p. 19; The Studio, 1938, “For the Table”, p.107-09; The Studio, 1942, “Tommi Parzinger, Designer of Modern Interiors and Silver”, p.37; Decorative Art, Studio Yearbook (London & New York: The Studio Publications, 1952-53), p. 98; Craft in the Machine Age, ed. Janet Kardon (New York: American Craft Museum, 1995) p.128, 134, 183, 241.
H: 12” x L: 42” x D: 14”
Price: $34,500
This is a wonderful and rare coffee table by Tommi Parzinger in beautifully detailed ceruse oak with a diamond pattern pewter inset top. This table was
completely handmade and dates from 1940, shortly after Parzinger opened his first eponymous gallery on East 57th Street. It is low and lean with exquisite Neoclassical Revival carved details and a silhouette that calls to mind an American take on Jean Michel Frank’s sober and refined elegance of the same time period. The cross-hatch carving with tassels on the two long sides and the related top corner details also have a charm reminiscent of Parzinger’s affable personality and effervescent design sensibility.
Walter Bosse / Austrian Keramik Art Deco Glazed Pottery Bookends c.1930
WALTER BOSSE (1904 – 1979) Austria
Bookends c. 1930
Hand-painted and glazed earthenware
For more information see: Walter Bosse: Leben, Kunst, und Handwerk, 1904-1979, Cherica Schreyer-Hartmann, Hans Hagen & Johanna Hottenroth (Vienna: Verlag Christian Brandstätter, 2000), Wiener Keramik: Historismus, Jugendstil, Art Déco, Waltraud Neuwirth, (Braunschweig: Klinkhardt & Bierman, 1974), pp. 114-115.
H: 5″ x D: 4 1/2″ x W: 5 1/4″
Price: $2,250
Walter Bosse (November 13, 1904–December 13, 1979) was a Viennese artist, designer, ceramist, potter, metalworker, and craftsman noted for his modernist bronze animal figurines and grotesques.
Walter Bosse, born November 13, 1904, in Vienna, was the son of artists Luise and Julius Bosse. His father worked as a portrait painter at the imperial court. Walter Bosse attended the Wiener Kunstgewerbeschule (Vienna School of Applied Arts) from 1918 to 1921, where he studied ceramics under Michael Powolny, and ornament under Franz Cižek. He then attended the Münchner Kunstgewerbeschule (Munich School of Applied Arts). During his schooling he was given the opportunity to sell his work at the Wiener Werkstätte by Josef Hoffmann, who became a mentor to Bosse. Bosse opened his own shop in Kufstein in 1923.
Bosse’s work grew in popularity and a number of his pieces were shown at the International Exposition of Modern Industrial and Decorative Arts in 1925. He started designing for Augarten Porcelain Works (1924) as well as Goldscheider (1926) and Metzler and Ortloff (1927). In 1931, to meet increasing demand (especially in America), Bosse opened up a bigger shop in Kufstein, but by 1933 he started to feel the effects of the economic depression. By 1937, the Kufstein works were closed.
In 1938, now divorced, Bosse moved back to Vienna where he founded Bosse-Keramik (Bosse Ceramics), which expanded under the new name “Terra” to include glass, toys, textiles. and a variety of craft items for the gift market. In the late 1940s, Bosse began experimenting with brass by giving his ceramic figures a metal coating to protect them from breakage. In the early 1950s, Bosse began his “Black Golden” line of brass figurines. He transitioned all of his efforts to brass. The figures became popular worldwide.
Despite Bosse’s success with his brass figures, it was still a difficult time for him financially. In 1953, partly fleeing from financial troubles, he moved to Iserlohn where he set up a new shop and continued production. Bosse also collaborated with Karlsruhe State Majolika Works on a number of pottery animal figures. In 1958, he designed for Achatit Schirmer in Cologne. Bosse also turned his efforts to small, everyday items such as letter openers, keyrings, corkscrews, and pencil holders, all of which bear his distinctive “black and gold” look. A number of these Bosse designs began to gain widespread popularity internationally.
Hexagonal green-tinted lead crystal covered dish / tazza with lid in a stepped jewel-like form mounted with a silver lid and footed base silver
Marks: WMF logo, moon, crown, 800
For more information see: Wilhelm Wagenfeld und die Moderne Glasindustrie,Walter Scheiffele (Stuttgart: Verlag Gerd Hatje, 1994); WMF Ikora Metall / Metalwork, Carlo Burschel and Heinz Scheiffele (Stuttgart, Germany: ARNOLDSCHE, 2006).
Tubular chrome base with exotic wood and burl, glass inset half tops.
For more information see: Deutsche Stahlrohr Möbel, Alexander von Vegesack (München: Bangert Verlag, 1986), Bauhaus Furniture: A Legend Reviewed, exhibit. cat., Bauhaus-Archiv Museum für Gestaltung, Berlin, 2002.
Smaller table: 22″ H x 17″ D x 26 1/4″ W.
Larger table: 24 1/2″ H x 17 1/2″ D x 29 3/4″ W.
Münchner Werkstätten / Art Deco Large Glazed Pottery Vase c. 1928
MÜNCHNER WERKSTÄTTEN Germany
Vase c. 1928
Blue and white modeled glazed earthenware with orange red outlines
Marks: “M” over “W” mark, Germany
Provenance: Mr. Ernest L. King (Watkins) “Rockledge” Commission, Winona, MN c.1930’s Phillip Brooks Maher (interior architect), descended in the King Family to Bud (E. L. King Jr.) and Betty King, Winona, MN, Hollander Gallery, Milwaukee, WI, Private Collection, New York, NY
H: 9 ¾” x W: 8 ¼” x D: 8 ¼”
Price: $5,450
ROCKLEDGE, the summer home of Ernest and Grace King (the Watkins Family Company fortune was made from door-to-door sales of health potions and hygiene related products) was built and designed in its entirety from the expansive main home building with all of the furnishings to the custom silver service all the way down to the hand woven carpets and lace curtain designs, is arguably the most famous American Arts and Crafts commissioned home in America and was built and meticulously designed by George Washington Maher. It was finished in 1912, and was used by the Kings for the month of August only for a couple of decades before the interior was completely redone in the fashionable Art Deco design of the 1930’s. George Washington Maher’s son Phillip Brooks Maher, was hired for the project and went shopping for the best of the design of the period in both New York and Paris. He assembled a legendary collection of Art Deco design that comprised many important examples of both American and European Art Deco including the famous Donald Deskey square form telescope table, a Gilbert Rohde “Z” clock, a pair of Mies van der Rohe red lacquer and wicker armchairs, DIM furniture and rugs from Paris and rare Paolo Venini floor lamps and sculptural glass pieces among many other major 20th Century design works. This rare vase was indicative of the avant-garde furnishings throughout the King Home as well as the exquisite quality and attention to the detail of every single object that the Kings surrounded themselves with and became accustomed to enjoying and living with whether they were at their Daytona Beach resort, their lakeside property at Lake Tahoe or their plantation in Hawaii!
Rudolf Rieger / WMF Ikora Germany Art Deco Dinanderie Pair of Vases c. 1930
RUDOLF RIEGER Germany
WMF [WÜRTTEMBERGISCHE METALLWARENFABRIK] Geislingen, Germany
Dinanderie pair of vases c. 1930
Brass with a black patina and stylized silver inlay in a geometric motif
Marks: WMF castle mark
Illustrated: WMF Ikora Metall / Metalwork, Carlo Burschel and Heinz Scheiffele (Stuttgart, Germany: ARNOLDSCHE, 2006), p. 58, 156 and 185.
H: 3 1/4″ x Dia: 4″
Price: $1,950
Rudolf Rieger was in Paul Haustein’s master class and worked as self-employed goldsmith in Stuttgart. Between 1920 and 1930 he submitted designs for metal objects to WMF AG and from 1940 until 1941 he was the master instructor at the WMF art-metal division.
Silver-plated copper with with red patinated squares and rectangles on a black-patinated textured background
Marks: WMF castle mark, IKORA
Illustrated: WMF Ikora Metall / Metalwork, Carlo Burschel and Heinz Scheiffele (Stuttgart, Germany: ARNOLDSCHE, 2006), p. 142, 90/585.
For more information see: WMF Glas Keramik Metall 1925-1950, Jörg Schwandt, (Berlin: Kunstgewerbemuseum, Staatliche Museum Preussischer Kulturbesitz, 1981). Metallkunst, Band IV (Berlin: Bröhan-Museum, 1981) pp. 546-579.
Handbuilt earthenware sculpture with a golden light brown glaze.
Marks: Hulda Rotier Fischer 36 (hand incised)
H: 6 1/2″ x W: 7″ x D: 5 1/2″
Price: $2,300
Hulda Rotier Fisched studied at the Milwaukee Normal School and was a student of Robert von Neumann Sr. In 1921 she also studied with Carl Holty. She worked as an Art Instructor at Shorewood Opportunity School for 30 years. Rotier Fischer was a Member of the Milwaukee Art institute.
She is the recipient of many Milwaukeee Journal Awards.
Grosfeld House New York (attr.) Modern / Art Deco Lucite Stool c. 1940
Grosfeld House New York
Lucite stool circa 1940.
Cylindrical lucite base stool with gold lucite wrap like connecting elements, silk upholstery.
H: 16 1/4″ x W: 13 1/2″ x D: 16 1/2″
Grosfeld House Furniture Company manufactured some iconic designs of the twentieth century. Some of the great designers that work for the company were Vladimir Kagan and Lorin Jackson. They produced some of the earliest chairs using Lucite starting in the 1930’s and through the Post War Era.
Guttierez Vega / South American Art Deco Sterling Modernist Coffee / Tea Set c. 1935
GUTTIEREZ VEGA (active 1930s) Bogotá, Columbia
Four-piece modernist coffee / tea set c. 1935
Radical form cone and triangular shaped four piece sterling silver with bold design exotic handles.
Marks: T.A.N. Sterling (Maker’s mark), serial number F925
Coffee pot H: 5″ x L: 10 1/2″
Teapot H: 4 3/8″ x L: 10 1/2″
Creamer H: 3″ x L: 8″
Sugar bowl H: 4 1/2″ x L: 7 3/4″
In the 1930s, Colombia began to embrace modern and Art Deco architecture. The new Liberal Party government tore down many older buildings to reject the conservative past. In their place, it constructed modern buildings with an international flavor and interiors and decorative arts were designed to complement these newly stylized buildings.
Ohlsson & Rice Rare Streamline American Art Deco Tether Race Car Model No. 88 with Trailer c. 1950
OHLSSON & RICE (founded 1941) Los Angeles, CA
Tether Race Red car Model No. 88
Gas powered tether car racer 1950
Steel and various metals with the car and trailer details painted red, rubber tires and cork details
The license plate reads: California, 19-50, 61U421
H: 5″ x L” 13 1/2″ x D: 7 1/2″
Price: $3,000
In 1941 Irv Ohlsson teamed up with Harry Rice, and the firm of Ohlsson & Rice was founded producing model race cars and propellers. No other engines at the time combined the reliability, ease of maintenance, simplicity of operation and unlimited life of the Ohlsson & Rice engines. The Second World War put a temporary hold on their success, however, as all manufacturing facilities were turned over to military production. By the time the war shut down their production, they had produced about 75,000 engines.
As soon as the war was over, Ohlsson & Rice got back into production. Even with a shortage of needed materials and machines somewhat worn out by 3-shift a day wartime production use, they jumped back into a market that had a seemingly endless demand for their products. Modelers were hungry to get back into flying, and O & R took advantage of the market by buying the machinery needed to meet the huge demand.
Ohllson & Rice die cast tether cars were first manufactured in 1946. The early model cars had solid rear brake drums. open air front grill, 10 air vent slots in the seat, windshield, manual fuel pump, external hand brake lever, 4 nerf bars or radius rods, and plated front axle. The cars were fitted with a .23 or .29 Ohlsson and Rice engine. The easiest way to tell their plane engines from the car engines was the exhaust port. The cars have a straight cut exhaust and the planes had an angled cut port. However they are interchangeable except to be estetically correct. Basic colors included white, black, red , blue and yellow. The .29 engine were available in either spark ignition models or with a glow plug. In the early days Ohlsson and Rice had trouble with their engines and discovered a lot of the problems were due to inferior fuel sources. To rectify this they started to manufacture their own Nitro Glow fuel. This seemed to cure their engine problems. The later models in the fifties went to a closed front grill , 1 air vent slot in seat, hollow brake drums, no windshield and a smaller .049 engine. The last of the midget racers were made in 1959.
Just Andersen Denmark Art Deco Grand bronze vase c. 1935-40
JUST ANDERSEN (1884-1943) Denmark
Grand vase c. 1935-40
Rich deep brown patinated bronze, neck with three sets of four incised lines, with flaring rim and gilt edge
Marks: DENMARK, JUST (in a triangular cartouche), No. B 2055
For more information see: “Just Andersen: Manden og Vaerket” by Svend Rindholt in Samleren: Tidskrift for Kunst og Kunstindustri (Attende Aargang, 1941) pp. 171-194; Dansk Biografisk Leksikon. Første Bind (Copenhagen: Gyldendal, 1979) p. 199. The Design Encyclopedia. Mel Byars (New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1994) p. 23.
H: 13 1/2″ x Dia: 8″
Designer Just Andersen trained with Peter Hertz and Mogens Ballin, the premier silversmith in Copenhagen. He was also employed as a designer for Georg Jensen before he decided to open his own silver and metal studio in 1918. The elegant, simple forms and richly-patinated surfaces are highly characteristic of Andersen’s high level of design and superlative craftsmanship.
Signed: B. SPADE, DECORATEUR, PARIS (metal plaque)
H: 17 5/8″ x W: 31 5/8″ x D: 18″
After WWI, Marseilles-native Batistin Spade started a workshop for cabinetry and textile design. During the years between the wars he gained recognition for his refined and sumptuous furniture and interiors. The designer worked on some 30 ocean liners, including the Île de France (1926) and the Normandie (1935). In the early 40s, Mobilier National chose Spade to create office interiors for numerous ambassadors and government officials.
Tiffany & Co. / Albert Barney American Art Deco sterling demitasse pot 1936
ALBERT BARNEY (? -1955) American
JOHN C. MOORE (1907-1947) New York
TIFFANY & COMPANY (1868-) New York
“Century Modern” chocolate or demitasse pot 1936
Handwrought sterling silver, fiber handle and finial
Stamped: TIFFANY & Co. MAKERS, 22172 (pattern/date system number), 5244(order number), STERLING SILVER, 925-1000, m (John C. Moore, designer), 5 GILLS
For a related modernist service and information about Century Modern silver exhibited at the 1939 New York World’s Fair see: Tiffany Silver, Charles H. Carpenter, Jr. (New York: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1978) pp. 256, 259-261
For more information see: Tiffany Silver, Charles H. Carpenter, Jr. (New York: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1978) pp. 256, 259-261; Modernism: Modernist Design 1880-1940, The Norwest Collection, Norwest Corporation, Minneapolis, Alastair Duncan (Woodbridge, Suffolk, England: The Antique Collector’s Club, 1998), p. 240.
Marcel Bouraine, Pair of French Art Deco “Dove” Bookends c. 1930
Marcel Bouraine (active 1925-1930) France.
Pair of Art Deco “Dove” sculptural bookends, circa 1930.
Silvered bronze (sand cast technique) in the form of doves with openly displayed and fan shaped tail feathers perched on roof pan tiles.
Marks: Bouraine (2x), #’s 52 and 53.
For more information and other works by Bouraine see: Les Echoes D’Art (May 1927), p. 21; Art Deco Sculpture, Bryan Catley; The Art Deco Style, Selected by Theodore Menten (New York: Dover Publications, 1972), p. 172; Dictionnaire critique et documentaire des Peintres, Sculpteurs, Dessinateurs et Graveurs, E. Bénézit, vol. 2 (Paris: Librarie Grund, 1976), p. 231, An Encylopedia of Art Deco, Edited by Alastair Duncan (New York: E.P. Dutton, 1988) pp. 26,28-29,31,104; Art Deco, Victor Arwas (New York, Harry Abrams,1980) pp. 163, 269.
Cloisonne enamel in a fantasy of archaic Chinese motifs in red, royal blue, black white and sand colored abstract designs on a bronze body with a turquoise enameled underside and interior.
Christofle / Luc Lanel French Art Deco Dinanderie Vase c.1930
LUC LANEL (1893-1965) France
ORFÈVRERIE CHRISTOFLE Paris
Ovoid form with a foot and flared lip design with a polished copper body with an overall stepped rectangular and square motif geometric design
Marks: CHRISTOFLE (large script with wave lines below), B 173, G
For more information see: Mobilier et Décoration d’Interieur ( 1924-25), p. 10; Les Arts Décoratifs Modernes (France), Gaston Quènioux (Paris: Librairie Larousse, 1925), p. 176; 150 Ans d’Ofèvrerie Christofle, Henri Bouilhet ([Paris]: Chêne/Hachette: 1981), pp. 241 and 230.
Norman Bel Geddes Art Deco Streamline Medal 25th anniversary of GM 1933
NORMAN BEL GEDDES (1893 – 1958) USA
Medal 1933 (Commemorating the twenty-fifth anniversary of General Motors)
Silvered bronze
Signed: Norman Bel Geddes [copyright mark ] 1933
Exhibited: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, May 16-Jan. 7, 2001, Mint Museum of Craft & Design, North Carolina, May 3-July 28, 2002
Illustrated: Johnson, J. Stewart, American Modern 1925-1940: Design for a New Age, Harry N. Abrams & The American Federation of the Arts, 2000, p. 127
Diameter: 3″
This medallion, commemorating the twenty-fifth anniversary of General Motors, is an example of the Streamlined style that dominated architecture and design in America from the late 1920s to the end of the 1930s. With its abstracted, teardrop-shaped vehicle form depicted in motion, with the tall winglike element rising from its center, the overall effect is one of speed and movement—characteristic of the Streamlined style and appropriate to the automobile and airplane age. Norman Bel Geddes was trained as a theatrical set designer but best known for another project for General Motors, the Futurama exhibition at the 1939 New York World’s Fair. This exhibit, through which visitors were propelled on a giant conveyor belt, depicted a utopian vision of America in the near future, a world dependent on the speed and efficiency of the automobile for work and recreation.
Cellini-Craft / American Art Deco Grand handcrafted “Argental” Center piece / bowl c. 1934
CELLINI-CRAFT Evanston, Ill
Grand “Argental” center piece bowl c. 1934
Hand wrought and hand hammered aluminum in a curvacious ovoid form with applied curlique handles.
Marks: ARGENTAL, XXX, HANDWROUGHT
H: 3 1/4″ x D: 13 3/4″ x L: 21″
CELLINI CRAFT was founded by Walter Gerlach & Hans Gregg in 1914.
The company created jewelry and tableware and was noted for their use of aluminum alloy “Argental.” In 1957 Cellini Craft was purchased by Julius Randahl. In 1965 the patterns and rights to “Argental” were sold to Reed & Barton.
Jean Serriere Rare French Art Deco Dinanderie Bowl c. 1925
Jean Serrrière (1893-1968) France
A. Hebrard (closed 1937) Paris
Footed dinanderie bowl, circa 1925
Hand wrought copper with silver incrustations in a repeating triangular motif and contrasting black patination on a rich brown ground.
Marks: JS (artists monogram) A. Hebrard, Paris
For more information see: Art et Décoration Revue Mensuelle D’Art Moderne, Tome XLVII. (Paris: Librairie Centrale Des Beaux-Arts) p.217; Silver of a New Era: International Highlights of Precious Metalwork from 1880 to 1940, (Rotterdam: Museum Boymans van-Beuningen, 1992) p.68, cat.no. 61; La Dinanderie Française 1900-1950, Dominique Forest and Marie-Cécile Forest (Paris: Les Éditions de l’Amateur, 1995) p.231-233.
Louis W. Rice / Apollo Studios “Skyscraper” American Art Deco hand mirror 1928
LOUIS W. RICE (Designer) USA
APOLLO STUDIOS, BERNARD RICE’S SONS, INC. New York
Skyscraper vanity hand mirror 1928
Silver-plated brass, original beveled mirror
Stamped marks: APOLLO STUDIOS, NEW YORK EPNS within a rectangle, SKYSCRAPER, REG. U.S. PAT. OFF.
For related Skyscraper objects see: (cocktail shaker) Silver in America, 1840-1940: A Century of Splendor, Charles L. Venable (Dallas/New York: Dallas Museum of Art, Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1995) p. 288; (teapot) Modernism: Modernist Design 1880-1940, The Norwest Collection, Norwest Corporation, Minneapolis, Alastair Duncan (Woodbridge, Suffolk, England: The Antique Collector’s Club, 1998); (cocktail shaker) American Modern 1925-1940, Design for a New Age, J. Stewart Johnson, exh. cat. Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York: Harry N. Abrams, American Federation of Arts, 2000) p. 48.
L: 18 1/2″ x D: 5″
The same model can be found in the collection of the New York Historical Society.
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