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
SOPHIE BURGER-HARTMANN (1868-1940) Munich, Germany
Vide Poche c. 1900
Richly patinated dark brown bronze Vide Poche modeled as a swirling Art Nouveau nymph holding a stylized shell form low tray.
Marks: VW (Vereinigte Werkstätten für Kunst im Handwerk Munich)
H: 6 1/2″ D: 7″ x W: 8″
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.
ARCHIBALD KNOX (1864-1933) UK
LIBERTY & COMPANY London, UK
Cymric tri-handled covered server 1904
Sterling silver with repoussé Celtic knot motifs and three buttress handles; the handle of the domed lid inset with a jelly opal, cylindrical crystal bowl.
Marks: No. 5199, Liberty & Co., CYMRIC and Birmingham assay marks for 1904 (all the marks appear both on the underside of the base and on the cover)
W: 7 1/4″ x D: 7 1/4″ x H: 2″
Price: $28,000
Clasp illustrated: Deutsche Kunst und Dekoration, Band XIV, April 1904-September 1904, p. 506 (see image attached)