CHRISTOPHER DRESSER (1834-1904) UK
JAMES COUPER & SONS Glasgow, Scotland
“Clutha” pitcher c. 1895
Aventurine blown glass with iridescent gold streaks and internal bubbles
Illustrated: “Liberty & Co.” Yuletide Gifts catalogue, 1895, “Clutha” Glass; Truth, Beauty, Power: Dr. Christopher Dresser 1834-1904, exhib. cat. Historical Design, Inc. (New York, 1998) p. 72
H: 8 1/2” x 6 1/2”
CHRISTOPHER DRESSER (1834-1904) UK
LINTHORPE ART POTTERY, Middlesbrough, England
HENRY TOOTH Artistic Manager Linthorpe (1842-1918) UK
“Flaring Lip” Pitcher 1879-1882
Glazed earthenware
Marks: LINTHORPE, Chr. Dresser (facsimile signature),
HT, no. 346
Illustrated: Christopher Dresser, by Widar Halén (Oxford: Phaidon, 1990), illus. 185, p.163; Truth, Beauty, Power: Dr. Christopher Dresser 1834-1904, exhibition catalogue Historical Design, Inc. (New York, 1998) p. 76.
H: 9 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.
SARA SAX (1870-1949)
ROOKWOOD POTTERY Cincinnati, OH
“Poppy” pitcher 1906
High fire ceramic with “Iris” glaze depicting five salmon pink poppies in various stages of blooming all on a rare handled pitcher form.
Marks: RP insignia, VI (1906), SAX (intertwined for Sara Sax), 772
For more information on Rookwood see: The Book of Rookwood Pottery, Herbert Peck (New York: Bonanza, 1968) pp. 60, 63, 64, 112, 140, 146, & 156 ; American Ceramics: The Collection of Everson Museum of Art, ed. Barbara Perry (New York: Rizzoli International Publications, Inc., 1989) p.108.
H: 8 1/4″ x Dia: 4 1/2″
WOLFGANG GESSL (b. 1949) Austria
Arc pitcher – unique 1990
Hand wrought silver in a rounded arching form with a cylindrical luminous yellow-green acrylic handle
Marks: Wolfgang Gessl (script impressed signature), WO.GE (in a rectangle), Swedish assay mark for Stockholm, 925 (silver guarantee in a rectangle), Q10 (in a rectangle)
Illustrated: Gold and Silversmith Wolfgang Gessl: Exceeding Geometry, Kerstin Wickman, p. 17, cover.
H: 13 1/2″ x W: 10 ¼” x D: 4 ½”
Price: $27,500
Wolfgang Gessl was born in 1949 in Vienna, Austria and trained as a goldsmith with Professor Hans Angerbauer. Upon moving to Sweden, Gessl studied under the eminent silversmith Sigurd Persson at Konstfack, the National University of Art, Craft and Design in Stockholm, Sweden.
Wolfgang Gessl has had fifteen solo exhibitions including shows at The National Museum, Stockholm and The Royal College of Art in London. His metalwork has been widely exhibited in Sweden, Europe and the U.S and his pieces can be found in many private collections throughout the world. He has taught at Konstfack for more than twenty-four years, and continues to live and work in Stockholm.
1950’s ITALIAN DESIGN
Futurist pitcher c. 1950
Handwrought and hand hammered pewter in an overall footed ovoid form with a traingle form spout body and an elongated arching contoured handle
Marked: PELTRO with lion, MADE ITALIA
H: 15″ x W: 9″ x D: 4″
Price: $6,000
The 1958 classic film, Auntie Mame, starring Rosalind Russell, features this sculptural pitcher on the coffee table in the surrealist interior of Mame Dennis’ penthouse on Beekman Place #3, New York City.
GORHAM MFG. CO SILVERSMITHS Providence, RI
THEODORE B. STARR Retailer
Renaissance Revival pitcher 1893
A highly important Gorham sterling pitcher chased with mythological faces, putti and various scrolling foliate patterns, the handle in the form of Pan with four sphinx figures supporting the base, all with elaborate and exquisite hand chasing and repousse throughout. Extremely fine original condition with original gilded interior.
Marks: Lion, Anchor, G (Gorham silver touch marks), EX. (Exhibition), Theodore B. Starr, 6 pint, Sterling, 1805, double circle touch mark (date mark for 1893)
Provenance: Private Collection, New York; Private Collection Florida from 1984 to 2009; directly descended in the family of Thomas H. Macy (founder of Nantucket) prior to 1984
Weight: 74 troy oz.
H: 13″ x W: 10″ x D: 7″
EDMOND LACHENAL (1855-1930) Paris, France
Green glazed pitcher / vase form c. 1900
Marks: E LACHENAL (impressed and glazed in a rectangle on base)
For information on Edmond Lachenal see:”Edmond Lachenal”, Fritz Minkus, Kunst und Kunsthandwerk, IV (1901) pp.390-98; La Céramique Art Nouveau, Edgar Pelichet and Michèle Duperrex (Lausanne: Les Éditions du Grand-Pont, Switzerland, 1976) pp. 66,71,74,78,83,112,115; “l’Atelier Lachenal à la galerie Georges Petit “ in Les Echoes d’Art” (1933), p. Vll; Art Nouveau: Belgium & France, exh. cat. Yvonne Brunhammer et al. (Houston, TX: Institute for the the Arts, Rice University, 1976), p. 48; Le Japonisme (Paris: Éditions de la Réunion des Musées Nationaux, 1988) cat no. 377, p. 321; Japonisme: the Japanese influence on western art in the 19th and 20th Centuries, Siegfried Wichmann (Parklane: New York, 1980) pp. 339, 349; cat. no. 920.
H: 9″ x W: 6 3/4″
STAFFAN NILSSON (b. 1949) Sweden
Pitcher 1992
Sterling silver, red acrylic
Marks: SNN P 925 S10
Staffan Nilsson’s work was included in the exhibition “Form and Function, Contemporary Swedish Silver,” the Swedish American Museum, Chicago, Oct. 12 – December 2, 2000.
H: 11 ½ “
Price: $8,000
*** A related teapot in sterling silver with a red acrylic handle can be found in the permanent collection of the Shanghai Museum and it is an innovative use red acrylic and sterling silver.
WOLFGANG GESSL (b. 1949) Austria / Sweden
Cone Teapot 1996 (designed 1995)
Hand wrought and hand hammered silver cone shaped covered pitcher form with a green PVC handle and spout over silver cylindrical arching forms
Marks: Wolfgang Gessl (script impressed signature), WO.GE (in a rectangle), Swedish assay mark for Stockholm, 925 (silver guarantee in a rectangle), X10 (in a rectangle), 2/9 GD 452
Illustrated: Gold and Silversmith Wolfgang Gessl: Exceeding Geometry, Kerstin Wickman, p. 19.
H: 8 3/8” x W: 8 ½” x Dia base: 5 ¼”
This is No. 2 out of the edition of 9 models.
Price: $22,500
Wolfgang Gessl was born in 1949 in Vienna, Austria and trained as a goldsmith with Professor Hans Angerbauer. Upon moving to Sweden, Gessl studied under the eminent silversmith Sigurd Persson at Konstfack, the National University of Art, Craft and Design in Stockholm, Sweden.
Wolfgang Gessl has had fifteen solo exhibitions including shows at The National Museum, Stockholm and The Royal College of Art in London. His metalwork has been widely exhibited in Sweden, Europe and the U.S and his pieces can be found in many private collections throughout the world. He has taught at Konstfack for more than twenty-four years, and continues to live and work in Stockholm.
ANTONIO PIÑEDA (1919-2009) Taxco, Mexico
Exhibition Pitcher c.1959-60
Handwrought sterling silver in an overall triangular form with a diamond opening and a double splayed form and contoured handle, 30 troy ounces total weight
Marks: Antonio Taxco (large crown mark) Sterling Silver, 930, Mexican Eagle silver standard mark
Exhibited at the Triennale di Milano, Italy, 1960
Provenance: Antonio Pineda, 1990
Illustrated: Triennale di Milano, Argentería di Antonio Pineda,
Exhibition Catalogue (Milan, 1960).
H: 6 5/8” x L: 9 ½” x D: 5 ¾”