The End of History: January 2015

Saturday, January 31, 2015

Victory

An Art Deco Bronze Sculpture of a Triumphant Man on a black marble base. Unsigned and most likely French or German from the 1920s, 24" tall.

Wednesday, January 28, 2015

Golden Catch

A beautiful mid century gold glazed ceramic fish by Aldo Londi for Bitossi. 12 inches long.

Sunday, January 25, 2015

Citrus Sensations

Blenko bottle in "Amberina" - sometimes called "Tangerine" - with an air twist stopper 23"

Blenko collection (left to right): Amberina stopper 18" , Rare "Lemon" (a color only made in 1968) with flame stopper 22" , shorter Amberina stopper (also rare) 16"

Saturday, January 24, 2015

A small selection of favorites from our vast Bavarian porcelain collection. The Gemmo series is from the Heinrich factory of Germany, made in the 1950s/60s. This particular line is quite coveted. The artisans used a diamond cutting wheel to carve into the porcelain and then hand gild the grooves with 24k gold - an ingenious process Heinrich pioneered.
(top 10" x 12", center 8", bottom 12" & 8")

Sunday, January 18, 2015

Bronze Hand

An exquisite patinated bronze hand of a Buddhist deity, Indian 17th or 18th Century, 7.5 inches long.

Saturday, January 17, 2015

More Big Bitossi

A great example of a classic 1950s graphic design by Bitossi for Raymor, 18 inches tall. Manufactured by Bitossi exclusively for the American luxury market in the post war boom years.

Wednesday, January 14, 2015

Mexican Abstract Futurism

A Beautiful example of the fluid organic sculpture that Mexican artist, Leonardo Nierman (born 1932) is known for. Dating to the middle of the 20th Century and carved from fine green Mexican onyx with a black marble base, 21 inches tall.

Tuesday, January 13, 2015

Punk Rock Vessel

We always felt that the prominent repeating pattern found incised here resembles safety pins - hence our punk reference. A rock star piece of mid-century Italian pottery by Bitossi - 16.5 inches

Monday, January 12, 2015

Cleopatra's Bottle

A bit of Egyptian Revivalism is at play with this palm leaf stoppered bottle from Barbini, circa 1950. We have never seen this particular design from the venerable Murano factory - so rare and unique - that we believe that it was likely a special custom order or a limited edition. The off-white glass is laden with gobs of gold and accented with a salmon colored ring at the base and topped with ball detail on the stopper. Fantastic at 25.5 inches.

Thursday, January 8, 2015

Aldo Londi Meets Marco Polo

Another great example of a cross-cultural curiosity, this fantastic and large Indian elephant is carrying what appears to be a Ming dynasty Chinese bronze lidded jar.
Attributed to Aldo Londi for Bitossi from the 1960s. 14 inches tall and 15 inches wide.

Wednesday, January 7, 2015

Bitossi Beauty

Another beautiful example of the famous stylized horse by Aldo Londi for Bitossi, from the 1960s. This time in lemon and gray, 10 inches tall and 10 inches wide.

https://soundcloud.com/history-glass/sets/on-hudson-street

Monday, January 5, 2015

Mod Milano

Long before Ettore Sottsass created his famous Memphis line, a factory in Empoli, Italy produced this massive modernist lidded cased glass number in orange with a giant black bubble stopper.
Circa 1960s
27 inches to the top

https://soundcloud.com/history-glass/sets/on-hudson-street