Product Description
Joseph Maria Olbrich Jugendstil Darmstadt Cake server 1901

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
Joseph Maria Olbrich Jugendstil Darmstadt Cake server 1901
WMF [Württembergische Metallwarenfabrik] Germany
“Four Seasons” Art Nouveau Jewelry box c. 1900
Silver plate with Jugendstil design buttress handles and open work handle with a frieze of Art Nouveau maidens representing the four seasons, velvet lined with two original keys.
Marks: WMF mark, I/O (in a box), E
For more information see: WMF: Glas, Keramik, Metall, 1925-1950, Jörg Schwandt (Berlin: Kunstgewerbemuseum, Staatliches Museum Preussischer Kulturbesitz, 1981); Metallkunst, Band IV (Berlin: Brohan-Preussischer Kulturbesitz, 1981) pp. 546-579.
H: 7 1/2″ x W: 17″ x D: 5 1/2″
Price: $3,500
WALTER SCHERF (1875-1909) Germany
ORIVIT Germany
‘Mahogany framed mirror with gilt pewter Art Nouveau stylized flower and whiplash motif.
H: 24 1/2″ x W: 19″ x D: 3/4″
Price: 3/4″
PROF. MAX LÄUGER (1864-1952) Karlsruhe, Germany
Unique Jugendstil ceramic footed bowl inlaid with gold mosaic 1906
Light and dark green glazed earthenware inlaid with mosaic gold glass squares on four cylindrical feet.
Marks: ML, K (monogram)338 (incised), 4., MUSTER B.., GESCHTZ
For other mosaic inlaid works by Max Läuger see: Max Laeuger (1864-1952): sein graphisches, kunsthandwerkliches und keramisches Oeuvre, Elisabeth Kessler-Slotta (Saarbrücken: Saarbrücker Druckerei und Verlag, 1985) pp. 178/179; Europäisches Kunstgewerbe 1927, Stadtisches Kunstgewerbe-Museum zu Leipzig, (Leipzig: E.A. Seeman, 1928) p. 86; Deutsche Kunst und Dekoration vol. XII “Professor Max Laeuger Karlsruhe”, pp. 221-237; Modernism: Modernist Design 1880-1940 (The Norwest Collection, Norwest Corporation, Minneapolis), Alastair Duncan (Woodbridge, Suffolk, England: The Antique Collector’s Club, 1998), p. 86.
H: 5 3/4″ x Dia: 7 1/4″
Max Laeuger (or Läuger) was born in Lörrach on September 30, 1864. Laeuger was a self taught ceramicist, studied at the Karlsruhe Polytechnic a hundred miles to the north-west of Lörrach (now Karlsruhe University) and eventually became a professor at the university. In 1895 after travelling throughout Europe visiting the major cultural centers to study art he was appointed director of the art pottery department of Tonwerke Kanderne close to his home town. He stayed there until 1913 and later took up a similar position at Majolika-Manufaktur in Karlsruhe.
From 1921 he had his own workshop on the premises formerly owned by the company and produced designs there. The work produced fell into three categories, slip decorated wares designed by Laeuger but produced entirely by the factory, pieces made at the factory but decorated and glazed by Laeuger and one-off pieces by the professor made from beginning to end in his own workshop. All were marketed by Majolika-Manufaktur. Laeuger’s one-off pieces had the brushed initials ‘ML’ and the other works were marked ‘LAEUGER’ or ‘PROF. MAX LAEUGER’
Through the thirties and into the Second World War he worked on his own, but after his workshop was destroyed in 1944 he returned to Lörrach where he died on December 12, 1952. Laeuger was a major figure in German ceramics. His designs and his glazes had ‘organic’ characteristics that are his signature design and his work is much sought-after by collectors. Examples of Laeuger pieces are on display at the Badisches Landesmuseum in Karlsruhe.
MARIANNE BRANDT (1893-1983) Germany
METALLWARENFABRIK RUPPELWERK Gotha, Germany
Paper holder c. 1930
Black enameled and nickeled metal, hinged ball weight, ball feet
Marks: RUPPEL (in a circle), mehrfach geschützt
Illustrated: Die Metall Werkstatt am Bauhaus, (Berlin: Bauhaus-Archiv, Museum für Gestaltung, 1992) pp. 181-3;
H: 1 5/8” x W: 5 1/4” x D: 4”
Napkin holder c. 1930
Black enameled metal and nickeled base
Marks: RUPPEL (in a circle), mehrfach geschützt, 85/4440/37, Ruv 5 (numbers in red crayon)
H: 3 ¾” x W: 5” x D: 2 1/8”
For other works by Brandt for Metallwarenfabrik Ruppelwerk see: Die Metall Werkstatt am Bauhaus, (Berlin: Bauhaus-Archiv, Museum für Gestaltung, 1992) pp. 180-183; Die Metall Werkstatt am Bauhaus, (Berlin: Bauhaus-Archiv, Museum für Gestaltung, 1992) pp. 181-3; Avantgarde Design 1880-1930, Torsten Bröhan, Thomas Berg (Cologne: Benedikt Taschen, 1994) p. 105.
F.W. QUIST Esslingen, Germany
Ball ashtray “Smokny”
Nickel plated metal and black lacquered surface
Marks: Quist (on bottom)
H: 3 1/2″
The hardwarefactory F.W.Quist, Esslingen, Germany was founded 1868 as „Lackier- und Metallwaarenfabrik“ from the turner and metal-turner Jacob Schweizer, jun.. In the year 1872, the conversion of the business from a public company occurred, the “Actien-Plaqué Fabrik”. From 1890, the director and shareholders Friedrich Wilhelm Quist took over the business as alone-owner. In his succession four generations continued the business as family-businesses until 1981.
The business always stood for the manufacture more representatively props in the taste of the time. „Tischkultur, Gastlichkeit, Geschenkkultur dienten als Felder, einen gehobenen, verfeinerten Lebensstil zu dokumentieren und das unabhängig von der gesellschaftlichen Zugehörigkeit.“ (Served table-culture, hospitality, gift-culture as fields should document lifestyle, independently of the social affiliation) (Esslingen 2004, S.60)
So, the form of the 1970 as newness presented ball-ashtray was borrowed this famous „ball“ or „globe“ (presented for the first time, 1966 at the international furniture-fair in Cologne) and „bubble“ (1968) chairs by the finish designer Eero Aarnio. The completely new and unconventional shape, Aarnio developed on basis of the simplest geometrical form, the ball. It advanced to a cult-object of the following decade and didn’t lose anything modernity until today.