Product Description
Dominick & Haff New York Grand Sterling “Grape” Theme Centerpiece Bowl 1883
DOMINICK & HAFF (active 1872-1928) USA
W. H. GLENNY & SONS CO. (retailer, New York City)
Impressive Grape and Vine centerpiece bowl 1883
An exceptional and impressive sterling hand wrought “Grape” theme centerpiece bowl by Dominick and Haff (active 1872-1928) , 1883 and retailed by W. H. Glenny & Sons Co. (retailer, New York City)
Elaborate hand hammered, chased and repousse sterling silver bowl with applied grape branch handles and very deep three dimensional hand repousse grape clusters, leaves and vines, all against a background of graduating honey comb pattern hammer tone marks, original lemon-yellow gold interior, approx. weight: 90 ounces
Marks: Dominick and Haff makers mark incorporating the date 1883, W. H. Glenny Sons & Co. (retailer), 355A, STERLING
H: 6 1/2″ x Dia: 18″
The New York silver firm known today as ‘Dominick & Haff’ originally began with the name ‘William Gale & Son’ in 1862. It went through a series of ownership and name changes to become Dominick & Corning in 1867, Gale and Corning in 1869, Gale Dominick & Haff in 1870 and Dominick & Haff in 1872. In 1929, Dominick & Haff was purchased by the silversmith/ manufacturing company of Reed & Barton of Taunton Massachusetts.
Dominick & Haff New York Grand Sterling “Grape” Theme Centerpiece Bowl 1883
ANDREE FLAMANT-DUCANY-GIDE (1882-1970) France
VALSUANI FONDEUR (1899-1981) Paris, France
Cubist mask sculpture 20th Century
Cast bronze with rich brown-black patina (possibly cast at a later date by the Valsuani Foundry)
Marks: G. Flamant, 2/8 C. Valsuani Cire Perdue (signed on chin)
H: 11” x W: 7” x D: 5 ½”;
On stand: H: 18 ½”
Price: $35,000
ANDREE FLAMANT-DUCANY-GIDE
Flamant-Gide was born in Nimes, France on January 2nd, 1892 and died on March 28th 1970. She was both a painter and sculptor and exhibited regularly at the Salon des Artists Francais beginning in 1923. She sculpted in an angular Cubist style influenced by African Art and was a fellow artist of Joseph Csaky, Gustave Miklos, Jacques Lipchitz and Henri Laurens who were considered the leading Art Deco sculptors in Paris during the 1920’s.
CUBISM
Cubism drew its influence from: Cezanne’s structural analysis in his oil landscapes, e.g. ‘La Montagne Sainte Victorie’ c.1887; Gauguin’s figurative landscapes, e.g. ‘Haymaking’ 1889; and African tribal Art such as Gabon masks. European artists were greatly influenced by African and Oceanic Art during the late 1890s and early 1900s. African sculpture, with its bold shapes and lines, had a great impact on the development of Cubism. Maurice de Vlaminck became a keen admirer and collector of African masks after seeing them in a Paris anthropological museum. He purchased similar masks and his excitement for these works displaying bold primitive expressions and simplistic design filtered through to Matisse, Derain, Gris and Picasso, who all became collectors as well. By the 1920s African art exhibitions were common in Paris and other cities throughout Europe.
Cubist sculpture brought the simplified shapes of Cubist painting together with the three-dimensional modeling medium of sculpture. The first Cubist sculpture, which could be properly deemed as such was made by Picasso in 1909 and was titled ‘Head of a Woman’. However Picasso did experiment with sculptural forms as early as 1907 when he found himself fascinated and deeply influenced by African masks. Cubist sculpture was mostly reminiscent of Analytical Cubism in its stripping away of illusionist details to reveal the fundamental form contained in each individual subject, be it human or still-life.
VALSUANI FOUNDRY
The Valsuani foundry was started by the brothers Claude and Attilio Valsuani who learned the foundry trade while employed at the Hebrard foundry. While working for Hebrard, Claude Valsuani showed great promise as a finisher and eventually worked his way up to become the Technical Director of the Hebrard foundry. In 1899 Claude Valsuani started his own foundry in Chatillon, casting mostly small works for various artists primarily using the lost wax technique of casting (cire perdue). In 1905 he moved his foundry to 74 Rue des Plantes in Paris. Among the famous sculptors who had the Valsuani foundry cast their works were: Renoir, Picasso, Despiau, Paul Troubetzkoy, Matisse, and Gaugin. Claude Valsuani died in 1923 in his native Italy but his son, Marcele then took over the foundry and continued the tradition of producing extremely fine bronzes until the 1970’s.