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CRAFTS
Lacquer cabinet in wonderful condition
Spa, around 1770
Video: Paint cabinet from Spa
Spa, around 1770
Neuwied casket
David Roentgen workshop, Neuwied, around 1780
Oak body with mahogany veneer, with its original fire-gilt bronze fittings, carrying handle and lock.
The design, dimensions, and layout of this oak veneered mahogany casket are similar to a casket dated around 1785 in the Berlin Museum of Decorative Arts: simple rectangular shape with carrying handle, the body divided by gilt brass strips, bands and profiles, the keyhole uncovered. Inside, an insert closed with a roll-top lid and side pedestal drawers that pop out at the touch of a button as secret compartments.
Between 1755 and 1790, significantly over a hundred different models of the highly popular caskets from the Roentgen workshop are documented. The importance of this item in the workshop's range is demonstrated by the portrait of Susanna Maria Roentgen, wife of Abraham and mother of David Roentgen, in 1772 with a casket made by her husband's hand.
Length: 29.5 cm, width: 16.5 cm, height: 17 cm
Cf.: State Museums, Foundation for the Cultural Heritage of Prussia, Berlin, Arts and Crafts Museum, Inv. 35.93
Dietrich Fabian, “Roentgenmöbel aus Neuwied”, Bad Neustadt 1986, p. 280 ff., esp. figs. 672 and 673
Oak body with mahogany veneer, with its original fire-gilt bronze fittings, carrying handle and lock.
The design, dimensions, and layout of this oak veneered mahogany casket are similar to a casket dated around 1785 in the Berlin Museum of Decorative Arts: simple rectangular shape with carrying handle, the body divided by gilt brass strips, bands and profiles, the keyhole uncovered. Inside, an insert closed with a roll-top lid and side pedestal drawers that pop out at the touch of a button as secret compartments.
Between 1755 and 1790, significantly over a hundred different models of the highly popular caskets from the Roentgen workshop are documented. The importance of this item in the workshop's range is demonstrated by the portrait of Susanna Maria Roentgen, wife of Abraham and mother of David Roentgen, in 1772 with a casket made by her husband's hand.
Length: 29.5 cm, width: 16.5 cm, height: 17 cm
Cf.: State Museums, Foundation for the Cultural Heritage of Prussia, Berlin, Arts and Crafts Museum, Inv. 35.93
Dietrich Fabian, “Roentgenmöbel aus Neuwied”, Bad Neustadt 1986, p. 280 ff., esp. figs. 672 and 673
Cymbal beater bowl
Nuremberg, around 1520
A central quatrefoil motif with stylized floral bundles is chased from the beaten sheet brass.
Cymbal beater bowls were an export hit of the Free Imperial City until the beginning of the 16th century. They were produced in accordance with graphic motifs from Schedel's World Chronicle, printed in Nuremberg in 1493, and with designs by the Nuremberg masters Albrecht Dürer, Sebald and Barthel Beham or Georg Pencz.
Diameter: 37 cm
A central quatrefoil motif with stylized floral bundles is chased from the beaten sheet brass.
Cymbal beater bowls were an export hit of the Free Imperial City until the beginning of the 16th century. They were produced in accordance with graphic motifs from Schedel's World Chronicle, printed in Nuremberg in 1493, and with designs by the Nuremberg masters Albrecht Dürer, Sebald and Barthel Beham or Georg Pencz.
Diameter: 37 cm
Large tureen
Porcelain, with underglaze sword mark with star (1774-1813), Neu-Brandenstein form (from 1744), press marks 3rd and 42nd, overglaze painting in bold colours, and gilding.
The tureen and salver belong to the form with plaited relief patterns developed by Eberlein in 1741 for the head chef at the Saxon court, Friedrich August von Brandenstein. The impressively lifelike decoration with native birds appears to have been inspired by Albin's ornithological work, which is documented in the manufactory's library and which the editor illustrated from life together with his daughter Elizabeth Albin.
Plate: length: 46 cm, width: 28 cm
Tureen: length: 40 cm, width: 22 cm, height: 30 cm
Total height: 32 cm
The tureen and salver belong to the form with plaited relief patterns developed by Eberlein in 1741 for the head chef at the Saxon court, Friedrich August von Brandenstein. The impressively lifelike decoration with native birds appears to have been inspired by Albin's ornithological work, which is documented in the manufactory's library and which the editor illustrated from life together with his daughter Elizabeth Albin.
Plate: length: 46 cm, width: 28 cm
Tureen: length: 40 cm, width: 22 cm, height: 30 cm
Total height: 32 cm
Fabergé purpurin cat
St. Petersburg, around 1900
Cat sitting upright with raised head, the bushy tail curled around the front paws, the fur carved in detail from the stone, the eyes made of faceted green demantoids.
In the original wooden case, the silk lining with the court supplier's mark of Peter Carl Fabergé (1846-1920) and the names of the branches: Moscow, St. Petersburg, Odessa. Fabergé opened the Odessa branch in 1890, and it existed until 1918.
Purpurin, like obsidian, is a volcanic rock glass. However, purpurin is artificially produced from glass that is fused with pure gold, giving it an opaque, bright red colour. The production of porporino was discovered in the Vatican mosaic workshops of Alessio Matteoli in the 18th century but was then forgotten. An employee of Fabergé rediscovered the old production process around 1890 and improved it. Purpurin was then used exclusively by Fabergé.
A similar cat figurine made of agate with emerald cabochon eyes - a gift from the Tsarina's mother Maria Feodorovna to her sister Thyra - is depicted in Habsburg.
Height: 2.9 cm
Cf. Géza von Habsburg: “Fabergé-Cartier, Rivalen am Zarenhof”, exhibition catalogue, Munich 2003, no. 326
We would like to thank Alexander von Solodkoff for his expertise.
Cat sitting upright with raised head, the bushy tail curled around the front paws, the fur carved in detail from the stone, the eyes made of faceted green demantoids.
In the original wooden case, the silk lining with the court supplier's mark of Peter Carl Fabergé (1846-1920) and the names of the branches: Moscow, St. Petersburg, Odessa. Fabergé opened the Odessa branch in 1890, and it existed until 1918.
Purpurin, like obsidian, is a volcanic rock glass. However, purpurin is artificially produced from glass that is fused with pure gold, giving it an opaque, bright red colour. The production of porporino was discovered in the Vatican mosaic workshops of Alessio Matteoli in the 18th century but was then forgotten. An employee of Fabergé rediscovered the old production process around 1890 and improved it. Purpurin was then used exclusively by Fabergé.
A similar cat figurine made of agate with emerald cabochon eyes - a gift from the Tsarina's mother Maria Feodorovna to her sister Thyra - is depicted in Habsburg.
Height: 2.9 cm
Cf. Géza von Habsburg: “Fabergé-Cartier, Rivalen am Zarenhof”, exhibition catalogue, Munich 2003, no. 326
We would like to thank Alexander von Solodkoff for his expertise.
Large display dish with grapes
Faience, probably Hollitsch, around 1770
Framed oval tray, marked on the underside with a green cross, with floral decoration in overglaze, arranged with lifelike shaped grapes on leaves, and with fire salamanders as a display dish on a late Baroque table.
Width: 40 cm, depth: 30 cm
Framed oval tray, marked on the underside with a green cross, with floral decoration in overglaze, arranged with lifelike shaped grapes on leaves, and with fire salamanders as a display dish on a late Baroque table.
Width: 40 cm, depth: 30 cm
Important oval tobacco tin by Johann Christian Neuber
Johann Christian Neuber (1736-1808), Dresden, around 1780
Tobacco tin, stone mosaic, and mounted in gold.
Large, oval lidded box with elaborate stone mosaic of various Saxon stones, imitating straw braid in the most precise trompe-l'œil manner, considering the stone pattern. The discreet gold mounting is finely ornamentally chiseled, the handle lavishly floral decorated.
This tobacco tin, which creates the illusion of a simple, finely crafted straw tin mounted in gold, beautifully demonstrates the outstanding mastery of the Dresden court jeweler Neuber: Trained as a goldsmith and stone cutter by his future father-in-law Heinrich Taddel in Dresden, Neuber was accepted into the local goldsmiths' guild in 1762, worked for the court from 1767, was responsible for the Dresden Green Vault from 1769, and was appointed court jeweler in 1775.
Width: 8.5 cm, height: 3 cm
Alexis Kugel, “Gold, Jasper and Carnelian. Johann Christian Neuber at the Saxon Court”, London 2012, No. 60, p. 344.
Provenance: 1964 in the Hallstein Collection
Tobacco tin, stone mosaic, and mounted in gold.
Large, oval lidded box with elaborate stone mosaic of various Saxon stones, imitating straw braid in the most precise trompe-l'œil manner, considering the stone pattern. The discreet gold mounting is finely ornamentally chiseled, the handle lavishly floral decorated.
This tobacco tin, which creates the illusion of a simple, finely crafted straw tin mounted in gold, beautifully demonstrates the outstanding mastery of the Dresden court jeweler Neuber: Trained as a goldsmith and stone cutter by his future father-in-law Heinrich Taddel in Dresden, Neuber was accepted into the local goldsmiths' guild in 1762, worked for the court from 1767, was responsible for the Dresden Green Vault from 1769, and was appointed court jeweler in 1775.
Width: 8.5 cm, height: 3 cm
Alexis Kugel, “Gold, Jasper and Carnelian. Johann Christian Neuber at the Saxon Court”, London 2012, No. 60, p. 344.
Provenance: 1964 in the Hallstein Collection
Display dish with olives
Paul Hannong, Strasbourg, around 1770
Faience, underglaze blue mark P H, and overglaze painting.
Green olives lie in a round bowl richly decorated with floral painting.
Very good condition.
Diameter: 25 cm
Faience, underglaze blue mark P H, and overglaze painting.
Green olives lie in a round bowl richly decorated with floral painting.
Very good condition.
Diameter: 25 cm
Large cartel clock with console
Paris, around 1760
Floral “Vernis-Martin” decoration on oak and with elaborate fire-gilt bronze appliqués
14-day movement, converted to spring suspension with lock disc control and half-hour strike on bell. Signed “LEMAIRE À PARIS” on the dial.
Literature: Cf. Kjellberg, “Encyclopédie, de la pendule française du Moyen Age au XXe siècle”, Paris 1997, p. 82.
Height: 121 cm, width: 44 cm, depth: 22 cm
Floral “Vernis-Martin” decoration on oak and with elaborate fire-gilt bronze appliqués
14-day movement, converted to spring suspension with lock disc control and half-hour strike on bell. Signed “LEMAIRE À PARIS” on the dial.
Literature: Cf. Kjellberg, “Encyclopédie, de la pendule française du Moyen Age au XXe siècle”, Paris 1997, p. 82.
Height: 121 cm, width: 44 cm, depth: 22 cm
Original faience tureen for hare pie
France, around 1790
Pie pan, faience, overglaze painted on a manganese violet dotty ground, the hare's body with finely executed fur pattern.
Height: 21 cm, width: 26 cm, length: 48 cm
Pie pan, faience, overglaze painted on a manganese violet dotty ground, the hare's body with finely executed fur pattern.
Height: 21 cm, width: 26 cm, length: 48 cm
Classicist marble lidded vase
Vienna, around 1800
Cream-coloured marble with a subtle pattern and fire-gilt bronze mountings.
Height: 25 cm, width: 24 cm, depth: 13 cm
Cream-coloured marble with a subtle pattern and fire-gilt bronze mountings.
Height: 25 cm, width: 24 cm, depth: 13 cm
Rare, museological pair of globes
John (1745-1835) and William Cary (1760-1825), London 1816/1828 inscribed and dated.
Earth and celestial globes are covered with coloured and lacquered copper engravings, in three-legged mahogany stands on castors, each with an equatorial ring with month indications, a brass meridian ring with indication of the pole height and a compass in the base. The terrestrial globe has an additional equation eighth, while the celestial globe shows the zodiac signs and a key for star sizes.
John Cary enjoyed an excellent reputation as a cartographer, as well as an engraver and publisher of maps and globes. His younger brother William specialized in the manufacture of scientific instruments. The company founded jointly by the brothers brought out the first globes in 1791 and was soon regarded as the leading globe manufacturer in London.
Height: 115 cm, diameter: 60 cm
Earth and celestial globes are covered with coloured and lacquered copper engravings, in three-legged mahogany stands on castors, each with an equatorial ring with month indications, a brass meridian ring with indication of the pole height and a compass in the base. The terrestrial globe has an additional equation eighth, while the celestial globe shows the zodiac signs and a key for star sizes.
John Cary enjoyed an excellent reputation as a cartographer, as well as an engraver and publisher of maps and globes. His younger brother William specialized in the manufacture of scientific instruments. The company founded jointly by the brothers brought out the first globes in 1791 and was soon regarded as the leading globe manufacturer in London.
Height: 115 cm, diameter: 60 cm
A pair of extremely well-preserved mirror applications
Venice, around 1750
Carved, polished mirrors in carved, gilt wooden frames, each with two curved candlesticks.
The mirrors are a fine example of the exuberant Venetian Baroque style: outstanding carving and centuries of mastery in glass production and processing complement each other perfectly.
Height 100 cm, width 54 cm, depth 27 cm.
Carved, polished mirrors in carved, gilt wooden frames, each with two curved candlesticks.
The mirrors are a fine example of the exuberant Venetian Baroque style: outstanding carving and centuries of mastery in glass production and processing complement each other perfectly.
Height 100 cm, width 54 cm, depth 27 cm.
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