TOMMI PARZINGER (1903-1981) Germany/USA
WILLIAM STARK / KARL DRERUP Enamel
PETER REIMES Silversmith
Sterling and enamel pedestal centerpiece bowl on an
attached square base with a frog, lily pad and fish motif as part of the
overall enamel design c. 1938
Marks: RP (for Peter Reimes), Parzinger, STERLING
H: 6 3/4″ (including pedestal) x Dia: 8 1/2″
FRANZ XAVER BERGMAN (1861-1936) Austria
“Frog” pen wipe c. 1905-1910
Cold-painted bronze, boar’s hair bristles
For information see: Art Bronzes, Mich. Forrest (Schiffer, 1988).
L: 3 1/2″ x W: 3 1/2″ x H: 2″
Price: $1,675
A well-known animalier at the turn-of-the century, the sculptor Franz Bergman created a number of small bronzes in a variety of subject matter. Other figurative works were informed by the Jugendstil / Art Nouveau style and the European taste for the exotic as is found in his figures of rug merchants and camels. His animal sculptures, however, capture the Viennese tradition of naturalistic bronzes. The quality of the bronze casting shows tremendous detail, which was carefully brought out through the applied patination process known as cold painting.
CHARLES-MAURICE FAVRE-BERTIN (1887-1961) FRANCE
Frog bookends c. 1925
Patinated brown with green highlights cast bronze, black Portoro marble plinth bases
Marks: M.BERTIN, MADE IN FRANCE
H: 5″
Charles Darwin published his theory of evolution with compelling evidence in his 1859 book “On the Origin of Species” overcoming scientific rejection of earlier concepts of transmutation of specie. By the 1870s both the scientific community and much of the general public had accepted evolution as a fact and awakening the public to the diversity of life. The frog emerging from Darwin’s Pond was a symbol of the times and a favorite theme for jewelry of the era.