Schools of Design

At the end of the year Quittenbaum offers in its highlight sale entitled 'Schools of Design' 350 particularly exciting, exceptionally decorative and rare objects on the art market. The auction offer includes furniture, lighting and design objects from the entire 20th century.

With the representatives of the Arts & Craft movement Mackay Hugh Baillie Scott, represented at auction with a bedside table, around 1899 and Gustav Stickley, represented with a table, around 1910 the course begins through the variety of important design schools of the 20th century. This is followed by the Viennese School with significant works by Josef Hoffmann and Dagobert Peche - particularly decorative are Peche’s lidded boxes with black and white decors, which were executed in 1920 by the Vereinigte Wiener und Gmundner Keramik.

A rarity is Josef Hoffman's ‚große Stehlampe’, (1910, executed by Johann Heinrich Dockal for the Wiener Werkstaette), which is called to an estimated 6,000 - 8,000 €. The German Art Nouveau, on the other hand, shines with designs by Henry van de Velde. Twenty cutlery pieces ‚Model I’ as well as several pieces from the ‚whip lash’ service will be auctioned. A visual sensation are the figures from Adolph Amberg's wedding procession, from 1908 executed by KPM Berlin. Quittenbaum offers 28 lots, the complete set includig four candelabras of Amberg’s impressive tableware.

The highlight of the Bauhaus chapter is a complete and original seating group by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. A former employee of Mies van der Rohe’s studio, Emil Bruhn, who was also involved in the execution of the Barcelona pavilion, acquired the furniture in 1929 directly from the company Berliner Metallgewerbe Jos. Mueller. Two armchairs 'MR 20', two chairs' MR 10 'and the table' MR' come as a museum set, that is in the original condition to call up at auction. The bill from the year 1929 is available. Furniture designs by Marcel Breuer (armchair 'Wassily, B3', 1925 in a very early version), Erich Dieckmann and Erich Mendelsson as well as designs by Marianne Brandt for the Ruppelwerke and Christian Dell for the Rondella Lighting equipment factory (table lamp 'Rondella', around 1928) promise great interest.

A small collection of Thonet furniture commemorates the 200th anniversary of the company. The offer comprises nearly 30 positions, beginning with Michael Thonet’s famous coffee house chair 'chair 14' from 1865 to Verner Panton's 'S-chair', which dates a hundred years later. Anthroposophic furnishings and furniture objects enjoy great popularity with a steadily increasing collector and fan base. For the 100th anniversary of the first Waldorf School, we have succeeded in acquiring thirty extraordinary objects. Candlesticks, mirrors, picture frames and a sideboard can be bought at starting prices between € 300 and € 3,000.

The offer of Italian design impresses with designs by the Grand Master Gio Ponti. A chest of drawers, a dressing table and two coffee tables from the original furnishing of the Parco dei Principi hotel in Rome (circa 1964) and a '811' armchair (1956) make the hearts of collectors and international interior designers beat faster. From the fine Scandinavian offer stand out the two restrained armchairs 'BO 561', 1963 by Fabricius / Kastholm and the ultraelegante couch 'PK 24', 1965 by purist Poul Kjaerholm.The grandees of French design are also honored: Charlotte Perriand with objects from 'her' ski town Les Arcs (bathroom cabinet, wardrobe and bathroom door, 1960s), Pierre Jeanneret with a pair of 'scissor chairs' for Knoll, designed as early as 1948. A small Japanese design choice will make collectors look forward to the Kuramata exhibition in London in 2020.

Henry van de Velde in particular brought enormous increases to the auction room. The 20 pieces of cutlery, which were valued at € 20,000, were finally sold to different private collectors for € 77,000. Also in the Art Nouveau area the complete wedding procession by Adolph Amberg was largely sold. Here, the rare ‚Kneeling Caucasian' was particularly popular - at € 3,000, she ended up with € 14,500.

A special offer of rare objects from the Wiener Werkstätte also attracted many international collectors. Here Josef Hoffmann's 'Stehlampe groß' from 1910 was increased from € 6,000 to just under € 19,000.

The house was able to collect the high results for objects from the Bauhaus period in June for the special auction '100 Years of Bauhaus'. However, the small private collection of the architect Emil Bruhn produced some remarkable results. A five-part seating group by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe raised a good € 21,000 and the publication 'Gefesselter Blick' by Heinz and Bodo Rasch was worth almost € 8,000 to a collector (starting price € 300).

At the same time as the Bauhaus, completely different design objects were created, which have yet received little attention in the art market. A separate chapter in the auction was devoted to anthroposophical design from the circle of Rudolf Steiner. Almost all of the furniture, lights and handicraft objects offered were sold here - a desk raised € 4,500.

A trend has been confirmed again - the design of the 70s and 80s is in high demand - there were good increases for plastic furniture: the two Floris chairs by Günter Beltzig (€ 12,500) and Peter Shires Memphis armchair 'Bel-Air' - armchair (€ 13,200).

(The prices mentioned include buyer's premium / VAT)