News

Auction 099 on 25.10.2011

Art Nouveau - Art Déco - Modern Art

 

Post-auction report

 

This auction saw particularly lively interest in our Art Nouveau and Art Deco offerings. Numerous bidders in the room, on the telephone, and online ensured an exciting auction day with many sales in all sections. Around 60% of the highly varied selection of lots went under the hammer.

Interest was particularly strong in French glassware, where notably Daum Frères vases appealed to the international collector community. The highest selling item in this section was the 1919 ‘Primevères’ vase, which was bid up from €8,000 to €17,000 by a private collector from Switzerland. A lovely ceiling lamp, c.1905, with mounting by Louis Majorelle was auctioned for €10,000 – also above its valuation of €7,000 to €8,000. A Japanese customer was willing to spend €8,400 on the ‘Intercalaire’ vase featuring a heath landscape. The bidders’ favourite motifs evidently included the violets decorating vases that all sold at their respective estimates. The Emile Gallé items also animated bidders from Europe and Japan. A collector from England made the winning bid of €9,800 for a Gallé juice-serving set with playing card décor c.1880 valued at €3,000 to €4.000. In addition, nearly all the pâte-de-verre objects by Argy Rousseau and Almaric Walter were sold at their estimated prices.
American and German-speaking bidders secured the loveliest items in the offering of rare Tiffany vases. The 1908 ‘Peacock vase’ was knocked down to a German collector for € 14,000. The ‘Jack in the Pulpit’ vase is going to the USA for €16,000, and the book ‘The Art Work of Louis C. Tiffany’ with a dedication by Louis Comfort Tiffany will grace a collection in Switzerland (hammer price: € 3,700).

Among the highlights in the porcelain figure category were indisputably the two Greek female figures from the KPM Berlin, 1910 ‘Hochzeitszug’ (‘Wedding procession’) which were eventually sold for €26,000 after fierce bidding in the auction room and on the telephone. The KPM Meissen ‘Dame mit Cape’ went for €9,000, exceeding its estimated price. The most spectacular increase in the ceramics section was for a little duck by Théodor Deck, which climbed from an estimated €400 to €500 up to €2,400. Particularly high increases were also experienced by vases from the Zsolnay manufactory. Two vases with handles estimated at €600 to €700 climbed to €6,800 and €3,400 respectively. A collector from Hungary validated the estimated price of a particularly decorative Zsolnay vase in strong red, green and blue.
Camille Faure’s vessels with their metallic foil coatings also proved highly popular. The ‘Peacocks’ vase valued at €1,500 to €1,800 was sold for €4,800, and the 1930s lidded vessel changed owners for €13,000. The bidders’ keenness to buy didn’t stop at furniture: a four-piece bedroom suite from 1900-1905 went for €14,000, while a dining table with six chairs from Nancy and a Blüthner grand piano fetched €8,000 respectively.