Hans Przyrembel

Collection of the artist
Thence by descent
Christie's Amsterdam, October 26, 1989, lot 487

Dr. Klaus Weber, Die Metall Werkstatt am Bauhaus, Berlin, 1992, p. 244
Torsten Bröhan and Thomas Berg, Avantgarde Design: 1880-1930, Cologne, 1994, p. 100
Renée Price, New Worlds: German and Austrian Art, 1890-1940, New York, Neue Galerie, 2001, p. 541 Galerie Ulrich Fiedler, 20 Items from 20 Years, Cologne, 2006, no. 8 
Kristina Marie Köhler, Hans Przyrembel: Die Werke eines Schülers der Metallwerkstatt am Bauhaus, Master's Thesis, Hamburg University, 2006, p. 6, pl. 7

Very good overall condition. Minor surface scratches from light polishing and use. Some oxidization and residue to the inside from use that could be cleaned.
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Hans Przyrembel was born 1900 in Halle, Germany. In 1915 he was apprenticed as a locksmith and in 1923 he began his studies at the Bauhaus where within the first six months he began attending a preliminary course run by Laszlo Moholy-Nagy.

Later on he entered the metal workshop, where he made objects for daily use such as the famous tea caddy and lamp designs, for which he later became known. Sometime between the years 1926 and 1927 he created a lamp with Marianne Brandt which was used in the classrooms in the new school building in Dessau. This was to become one of the many famous Bauhaus lamps produced industrially by the German company Schwintzer & Graff.  In 1928 after his final examination he took over Wolfgang Tümpel's workshop in Halle where he began producing appliances under Tümpel's name. 

In 1929 Przyrembel founded his own workshop in Leipzig, where over the following years he made various utensils and appliances such as coffeepots, silver candlesticks, jewelry and lamps. He took part in many fairs and became one of the most well known gold- and silversmiths in Germany.

In 1942 Przyrembel was called up to fight in World War II, and he died in 1945 as a  Russian prisoner of war.  Because of his early death and the sudden end of his career Przyrembel`s works didn't get the attention they deserved for a long time.  It is only recently that he has become known and has been recognized as a talent on a par with some of the more famous Bauhaus artists like Marianne Brandt, and that his contribution to the history of 20th century design has become clearer as an important element.

Hans Przyrembel created the tea caddy in 1926. Because of the simplicity and functionality it is one of the best examples for the new design developed by the artists of the Bauhaus. It was produced in silver-plated brass and alpaca.
Today most of the works are only known from photos, but from time to time pieces appear in the international market.

 Kristina Köhler, M.A., Munich

By repute there are only six known examples of this iconic tea caddy including the present lot.  The five other examples are at the Bauhaus Archiv, Berlin, the Neue Galerie, New York, the St. Louis Museum of Art and two examples are presently in private hands.