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  Mellerio Paris Rare French Art Deco “Gyroscope” sterling cigarette box c.1930

  MELLERIO PARIS  Italy/ France

  Gyroscope cigarette box  c.1930

  French silver (950 silver standard) in a structural form of a gyroscope with a lever for an interior lifting mechanism, gilding

  Marks: Mellerio Paris, 3776 D, head of Minerva French guarantee mark for 950/1000

  H: 5 1/4″ x Dia: 4 1/4″

  The renowned Mellerio family and their jewelry can be traced back to Lombardy, Italy as early as the 16th century.  Some family members moved to Paris and became royal jewelers for Louis XIII.  The revolutions of 1789 and 1848 interrupted their business and they moved to Madrid where they became the jewelers favored by Queen Isabel II.  Later in the 19th century they returned to Paris where once again they prospered and participated in several international expositions including  London (1862), Paris (1867, 1878 and 1900), and Vienna (1873).  In the 20th century they exhibited at the renowned Paris 1925 Exposition des Arts Décoratifs in Paris and then in New York at the 1939 World’s Fair.

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  Walter Bosse / Austrian Keramik Art Deco Glazed Pottery Bookends c.1930

  WALTER BOSSE   (1904 – 1979)  Austria

  Bookends    c. 1930

  Hand-painted and glazed earthenware

  For more information see: Walter Bosse:  Leben, Kunst, und Handwerk, 1904-1979, Cherica Schreyer-Hartmann, Hans Hagen & Johanna Hottenroth (Vienna: Verlag Christian Brandstätter, 2000), Wiener Keramik:  Historismus, Jugendstil, Art Déco, Waltraud Neuwirth, (Braunschweig: Klinkhardt & Bierman, 1974), pp. 114-115.

  H: 5″ x D: 4 1/2″ x W: 5 1/4″

  Price: $2,250

  Walter Bosse (November 13, 1904–December 13, 1979) was a Viennese artist, designer, ceramist, potter, metalworker, and craftsman noted for his modernist bronze animal figurines and grotesques.

  Walter Bosse, born November 13, 1904, in Vienna, was the son of artists Luise and Julius Bosse. His father worked as a portrait painter at the imperial court. Walter Bosse attended the Wiener Kunstgewerbeschule (Vienna School of Applied Arts) from 1918 to 1921, where he studied ceramics under Michael Powolny, and ornament under Franz Cižek. He then attended the Münchner Kunstgewerbeschule (Munich School of Applied Arts). During his schooling he was given the opportunity to sell his work at the Wiener Werkstätte by Josef Hoffmann, who became a mentor to Bosse. Bosse opened his own shop in Kufstein in 1923.

  Bosse’s work grew in popularity and a number of his pieces were shown at the International Exposition of Modern Industrial and Decorative Arts in 1925. He started designing for Augarten Porcelain Works (1924) as well as Goldscheider (1926) and Metzler and Ortloff (1927). In 1931, to meet increasing demand (especially in America), Bosse opened up a bigger shop in Kufstein, but by 1933 he started to feel the effects of the economic depression. By 1937, the Kufstein works were closed.

  In 1938, now divorced, Bosse moved back to Vienna where he founded Bosse-Keramik (Bosse Ceramics), which expanded under the new name “Terra” to include glass, toys, textiles. and a variety of craft items for the gift market. In the late 1940s, Bosse began experimenting with brass by giving his ceramic figures a metal coating to protect them from breakage. In the early 1950s, Bosse began his “Black Golden” line of brass figurines. He transitioned all of his efforts to brass. The figures became popular worldwide.

  Despite Bosse’s success with his brass figures, it was still a difficult time for him financially. In 1953, partly fleeing from financial troubles, he moved to Iserlohn where he set up a new shop and continued production. Bosse also collaborated with Karlsruhe State Majolika Works on a number of pottery animal figures. In 1958, he designed for Achatit Schirmer in Cologne. Bosse also turned his efforts to small, everyday items such as letter openers, keyrings, corkscrews, and pencil holders, all of which bear his distinctive “black and gold” look. A number of these Bosse designs began to gain widespread popularity internationally.