ECKART MUTHESIUS | FLOOR LAMP

Commissioned directly from the artist by the Maharaja of Indore for the Manik Bagh Palace, India

Sotheby's Monaco, May 25, 1980, lot 208

Private Collection, Europe

Sotheby's Paris, May 3, 2018, lot 5

Robert Descharmes, "En Inde, Un Palais 1930," Connaissance des Arts, September 1970, p. 52 (for a period photograph of the model in the Maharaja's bedroom)

Anne Bony, Les Années 30, Paris, p. 959 

Reto Niggl and Eckart Muthesius, The Maharaja's Palace in Indore: Architecture and Interior, Stuttgart, 1996, pp. 54, 73, 114 (for the original design drawing)

Elio Schenini, On the Paths of Enlightenment: The Myth of India in Western Culture, 1808-2017, Milan, 2017, p. 280 (for period photographs of related models in the Maharaja's palace)

Moderne Maharajah: Un Mécène des Années 1930, exh. cat., Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris, 2019, pp. 114 (for a period photograph of the model in the Maharani’s boudoir), 135 (for a drawing of the model in the Maharani’s boudoir), 146 (for the production sketch of the model)

It was in 1928 that Yashwant Rao Holkar II met Eckart Muthesius, a young German architect and designer. The prince, having studied in Great Britain and traveled to France and Germany, was fascinated by the Western avant-garde culture and the fresh breath of modernity that swept through Europe. Within this context, the young prince commissioned Muthesius to design his palace, Manik Bagh in Indore. From 1929 to 1932, Muthesius dedicated his energy to the creation of this modernist mansion. The architecture of the palace was finalized in 1931. While incredibly spare on the exterior, the palace was filled with European avant-garde masterpieces. The Maharaja, who was coronated in 1930, acquired works by Eileen Gray, René Herbst, Émile-Jacques Ruhlmann, Louis Sognot and Ivan Da Silva Bruhns. He also took an interest in the early beginnings of industrially manufactured furniture, as seen in the lounge chair by Charlotte Perriand, Pierre Jeanneret and Le Corbusier the Maharaja placed in his private bedroom and pieces by the British manufacturer PEL used in the guestrooms.

The core furniture, lighting and interior was designed by Muthesius himself in accordance with his modernist architectural vision with the intent to create a complete work of art. The present example is one of six different floor lamp designs created specifically for the palace. In 1980, Sotheby’s Monaco organized a landmark auction of furniture from Manik Bagh Palace, in which the present lamp was previously offered. The present floor lamp design was displayed in the bedrooms of the Maharaja and Maharani. Based on Muthesius’ notes on the original production sketch, two examples of this model appear to have been produced—one originally intended for the Maharaja’s dressing room, the other for the Maharani’s. Recently, the floor lamp was requested by the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris for their ongoing exhibition focusing on the Maharaja Indore, Moderne Maharajah, Un Mécène des Années 30.