Tag: Phillips (Phillips de Pury & Company)

The Phillips auction house that formerly was known as Phillips de Pury and Company

Armchair by Hans Vollmer

Rare Armchair by Hans Vollmer

Another rare early 20ieth century armchair: One by Hans Vollmer. Hans Vollmer was a pupil of Josef Hoffmann at the Kunstgewerbeschule in Vienna in 1898/9

HANS VOLLMER

Very rare armchair, ca. 1901

Oak, leather, brass. 27 5/8 in. (70.2 cm.) high Possibly executed by Prag-Rudniker Korbwarenfabrik, Austria.

ESTIMATE $30,000-40,000

via Phillips de Pury & Company.

Pillips de Pury refers by way of provenance to an auction of Christie’s on 29 October 1997 in London, King Street, where this chair fetched $4,615, just before the big increase of auction results for early 20ieth century furniture. Again interesting to see the result of this chair….

Armchair by Josef Hoffmann

Armchair by Josef Hoffmann

And another rare and important armchair by Josef Hoffmann for sale at the NYC Wiener Werkstätte auction of March 3, 2011.

JOSEF HOFFMANN

Rare armchair, ca. 1903

Wood, leather, brass. 40 1/4 in. (102.2 cm.) high

ESTIMATE $70,000-90,000

via Phillips de Pury & Company.

Die Zeit Armchair by Otto Wagner

Die Zeit Armchair by Otto Wagner
Die Zeit Armchair by Otto Wagner is another chair in the important Wiener Werkstätte auction in NYC coming March 3, 2011:

OTTO WAGNER

Rare armchair, for the dispatch bureau of Die Zeit, Vienna, ca. 1902

Beechwood, nickel-plated metal, aluminum, cord, fabric. 30 3/4 in. (78.1 cm.) high Produced by Jacob & Josef Kohn, Austria. Underside stamped with “J. & J. Kohn/Teschen Austria.”

ESTIMATE $35,000-45,000

via Phillips de Pury & Company.

My view: It seems very similar to the Postsparkasse chair….and already Art Deco.

See for instance the one that was auctioned, but probably held up at Wright in 2006:

Armchair by Otto Wagner for the Vienna Postsparkasse

According to Wright made by:

Thonet
Austria, 1906
stained beech wood, aluminum, upholstery
21.75 w x 23.25 d x 31 h inches

Vienna’s Postparkasse, or Post Office Savings Bank, is Otto Wagner’s most important public commission and a landmark of modern architecture. This project illustrates Wagner’s pioneering use of aluminum as a new and modern material in architecture and design. Produced in a small series exclusively for the board room of the Post Office Savings Bank, this armchair utilizes aluminum both as a durable material for everyday use, and as a detail that fuses the design with overall architectural concept. Signed with manufacturer’s paper label to underside: [Thonet Wien] and stamped: [Thonet].

Otto Wagner Armchair NYC Christies
In 2008 a similar chair fetched $16,250 at Christie’s in a NYC sale.

Two Leather Otto Wagner Armchairs
In London at Christies there was not much interest in two leather upholstered ones in 2007 ($2,559) See Lot.

In 2000 at Christie’s (again NYC) this ebonized with aluminum one fetched $35,250.

Cord versus upholstery vs leather?  Thonet vs J&J Kohn – who, mind you, later acquired the certain parts of the Thonet portfolio? New World loving this chair more than the Old World? Many questions…

Curious what this one will fetch in NYC.

Acrylic Stool by Shiro Kuramata

Acrylic Stool by Shiro Kuramata
Acrylic Stool by Shiro Kuramata

103

SHIRO KURAMATA

‘Acrylic Stool’, c. 1990

Acrylic, aluminum, feathers. 54 x 33 x 41 cm (21 1/4 x 13 x 16 1/8 in) Manufactured by Ishimuri, Japan. Number 25 from the edition of 40. Together with a certificate of authenticity from Meiko Kuramata.

ESTIMATE £30,000-40,000 †

via Phillips de Pury & Company.

Bloemenwerf Chair by Henry van de Velde

Bloemenwerf Chair by Henry van de Velde
Bloemenwerf Chair by Henry van de Velde. It always amazes me how on the turn of the 19th to the 20ieth Century the Art Nouveau movement in which Belgium based Henry van de Velde was one of the famous architects, spread all over the world but also seemed to wrestle with stern design principles.

“Bloemenwerf” chair, ca. 1898

Elm, leather, brass tacks. 37 5/8 in. (95.5 cm.) high Manufactured by Société Van de Velde & Co., Belgium.

ESTIMATE $15,000-20,000

SOLD AT a whopping $33,750

PROVENANCE Private Collection, Antwerp, Belgium; Private Collection, Berlin, Germany

LITERATURE Klaus-Jürgen Sembach, Henry Van de Velde, New York, 1989, pp. 44–45 for the original model; Wendy Kaplan and Elizabeth Cumming, The Arts and Crafts Movement, London, 1991, p. 203, fig. 164 for the original model; Amy F. Ogata, Art Nouveau and the Social Vision of Modern Living: The Belgian Artists in a European Context, Cambridge, 2001, p. 97 for the original model.

via Phillips de Pury & Company.