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Auction No. 72: Art Nouveau - Art Déco - 29.04.2008

Auction No. 72 - 29 April 2008, 12 noon CET
Art Nouveau & Art Déco - Anniversary Auction

 

Post auction sale until 29 May 2008

 

Post auction report

The 72nd auction celebrating Quittenbaum’s tenth anniversary was a great success. On the evening of the auction, 50% of all objects were sold. 70% of all objects in the section ‚French glass’, featuring a total of 200 lots, were sold. The gross revenue fetched was more than 1.000.000 €.

 

The high quality of the French glass was duly honoured with the highest sales quote of the entire auction. The three objects featured on the frontpage of the catalogue commanded especially strong interest and were hotly fought for: The highest bid for the Daum table-lamp with a design influenced by classic japanese block print, ‚Cerisier en fleurs’ (22.000 €, estimated at 18.000 €) came from a Munich-area collector and was accepted in a dramatic and exciting bidding war over the phone lines between several bidders from in- and outside of Germany. The pâte-de-verre bowl depicting a chameleon was secured by a West-German bidder at 12.000 €, which was also its estimate. The beautiful bowl with mushrooms was taken by a North-German collector for 6.500 €. A telephone bidder from Paris bought the Daum vase with trees for 5.000 €.

 

The highest bid among the Gallé vases (8.200 €) came from a Viennese telephone bidder for the symbolistic vase (Estimate: 6.600 €). The pâte-de-verre writing set by Joé-Descomps showing a bathing girl (sold for 4.400€ to a New York bidder via phone) and the great Lalique ‚Poissons’ vase (sold for 5.800 €) both fetched prices far higher than their estimates (1.500 € and 2.500 € respectively).

 

Particularly sought after were the French ceramics. Very successful was the "Ducks" mocha-set by Sandoz, which was sold after a strenous bidding-war to a New York phone-bidder for 4.100 € (Estimate: 2.400 €). A large vase by Dalpayrat was sold for the estimated price of 7.000 € to yet another New York collector. The beautiful tankard with silver-mount, also by Dalpayrat went for 7.400 € to a bidder present in the room (Estimate: 1.500 €). Other highlights of the auction included three vases by Camille Fauré, Limoges, among them a large vase which, sold at 8.200 €, easily doubled in price from its estimate (sold to a West-German collector). The pair of gilded figurine-lamps by Bonnefond even experienced an increase from 2.000 € to 5.400 €. At the close of the French section, a Munich-bidder secured the large valise by Louis Vuitton for 4.600 € (estimated at 2.500 €).

 

Excitedly anticipated were the offerings of the Austrian section and the Wiener Werkstätte. A ‚girls-head’ sculpture and a lamp by Gudrun Baudisch with original lampshade out of folded paper were sold for 6.000 € each to a Munich-collector. A coffee-set designed by Hoffmann in 1926, executed by Bruckmann & Söhne, Heilbronn, of which previously only the draft was known, came under the hammer for 7.700 €. Further three ceiling-lamps with shades by Lötz were successfully sold; the bids reached 6.600 €. A beautiful vessel with silver-appliques by Lötz went for 4.000 € to an internet-bidder. An extremely rare design of a large ceramic vase by Dagobert Peche was driven by a viennese bidder from 2.400 € to 3.400 €, even though it had previously been repaired. The rare cachepot by Zsolnay was sold for double its estimate at 7.600 € to a telephone-bidder in Budapest. Finally a Gurschner vase, estimated at 1.800 €, was sold to a phone-bidder in Los Angeles for 3.800 €.

 

After the intermission the auction continued with German Art Nouveau. A silver container from Darmstadt, with blue glass inset was sold to an american telephone-bidder for 3.200 € (was estimated at 2.000 €). A pair of vases by Otto Eckmann (9.000 €) will also be traveling to their new owner in the USA. A collection of ceramics by Max Laeuger was auctioned next: The lidded-vase ‚Elephant’ was sold to a swiss collector for 5.500 €, the ‚nude with dolphin’ for 3.800 € and the monumental group ‚Elephant with acrobat’ (10.000 €) will remain in Southern-Germany. Henry van de Velde’s silverware set (for fish) sold for 11.500 € (Estimate: 9.000 €) to a bidder present in the room who could also secure other pieces from that set.

Among the pieces of figurative porcelain two specimens from the wedding march by Adolf Amberg fetched the best bids. The ‚arab with bagpipes’ (5.000 €) and ‚african with Waldhorn’ (4.000 €). Both were bought by a West-German collector. Ferdinand Preiss’ bronze-pilot was sold to a collector from Norway for 3.800 €

 

Towards the end of the auction, objects from Northern- and Southern-Europe as well as american Art Nouveau were offered. A beautiful candleholder by Wolfers Frères, Brussels, was sold for 5.100 € (Estimate: 2.500 €) to a North-German collector. A lidded porcelain box by Rozenburg, painted by J. v. Rossum will travel home to its place of origin (5.600 €). An 1874 painting by Spain’s Luis Ricardo Falero depicting a musically-inclined egyptian woman will also return home to Madrid (3.400 €, was estimated at 1.000 €). At the end of the auction the highest bid and the biggest increase were achieved. An armchair designed by Louis C. Tiffany and Samuel Colman, ca. 1892, executed in solid oak, adorned with celtic and scandinavian ornaments cautiously estimated at 6.000 € - after a long bidding-war between six american bidders the hammer fell at 44.000 € (approx. 70,000 USD) for a collector in New York.