Erik Magnussen

comprising coffee pot, creamer, covered sugar and tray

Barbara D. Burck (Mrs. Gail J.), Pasadena, CA
Butterfield’s, San Francisco, May 26, 1982, lot 40
Acquired from the above by the present owner

New York Art Center, September 28-October 5, 1930
Architecture and Allied Arts Exposition, 46th Annual Exhibition of the Architectural League of New York, Grand Central Palace, New York, April 18-25, 1931
AUDAC, Exhibition of Modern & Industrial Art, The Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, May 1-June 1, 1931
Contemporary Industrial and Handwrought Silver, The Brooklyn Museum, November 19, 1937-January 23, 1938
At Home in Manhattan: Modern Decorative Arts, 1925 to the Depression, Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, November 10, 1983-February 5, 1984

Walter Rendell Storey, "Fine Art and Design in New Furnishings," New York Times Magazine, September 28, 1930, pp. 14-15 (for the present lot illustrated); an original edition of this article illustrating the set accompanies this lot
"Gifts Must Be Smart," Jewelers' Circular 101, November 1930, p. 83 (for the present lot illustrated)
Year Book of the Architectural League of New York and Catalogue of the Forty-Sixth Annual Exhibition, New York, 1931, p. 106 (for the present lot illustrated); an original edition of this catalogue illustrating the set accompanies this lot
Walter Rendell Storey, "A Return to Unity in Decorative Arts: Architecture and Allied Arts Exposition Shows Results of Cooperative Efforts," New York Times, April 19, 1931, pp. 12 and 16
Walter Rendell Storey, "Arts and Crafts Attuned to the Hour: Exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum Shows Designs Adapted to the Latest Needs of Moderns," New York Times, May 3, 1931, p. 14
Leone B. Moats, "Supper after the theatre," House & Garden, November 1932, p. 32 (for the present lot illustrated)
Contemporary Industrial and Handwrought Silver, Brooklyn, 1937
Karen Davies, At Home in Manhattan : Modern Decorative Arts, 1925 to the Depression, New Haven, 1983, p. 32 (for the present lot illustrated)
W. Scott Braznell, "The Advent of Modern American Silver," The Magazine Antiques, January 1984, p. 236 (for the present lot illustrated)

Overall in very good condition. When viewed in person, the silver presents with a delicate lightly hand-hammered surface and the jade with an even more saturated and brilliant greenhue . The side of the pieces not visible in the catalogue illustration with the monogram BDB. The surfaces with a few minor discolorations, minor surface scratches and minute edge abrasions consistent with age and gentle use. The interior of the pieces are in very good condition. The top of the tray with expected concentrated minor surface scratches, not visually distracting. The jade is in very good condition with very shallow surface scratches and pinhead edge abrasions consistent with age and very gentle use. An extraordinary set that epitomizes Magnussen high artistry and technical mastery. The modern lines of the luminous silver is beautifully complemented by richly saturated green jade handles. When viewed firsthand, it is clear that Vogue was correct in 1931 where it described the set as the “epitome of chic”. -----
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Soon after Erik Magnussen arrived in America in 1925, the Gorham Manufacturing Company hired him to introduce a line of modern silver designs. As Charles Venable stated in his 1994 publication Silver in America 1840-1940, “Magnussen was well known when he came to America. Consequently, at Gorham “he was treated as an important personality, and given his own atelier away from the rest of the designers.” When he appeared in the 1929 edition of the  Enclopaedia Britannica hand-chasing a sterling silver vase, he was characterized as a “noted European designer now devoting himself to development of artcrafts in America …A New and modern motif is expressed in his work.” In 2005 the silver scholar, Jewel Stern stated, in her comprehensive survey Modernism in American Silver "Erik Magnussen introduced modern design to silver manufactured in America."

But in late 1929, Magnussen resigned from Gorham to begin an affiliation with August Dingeldein and Son, founded (as and Sons) in New York City in 1924. The Dingeldeins were manufacturers and importers based in the sumptuous new art deco Fred F. French Building at Fifth Avenue and 45^th Street. Magnussen furnished them with designs for a line of hollowware and giftwares hand made in sterling silver mounted with semi-precious stones, including this one-of-a-kind coffee set. The use of semi-precious stone handles for a coffee set is rare other than a circa 1922 design with lapis lazuli by the French silversmith Jean Puiforcat. On October 24, 1929 the Jewelers’ Circular reported on the Dingeldein wares noting, “Every piece was unique” and “while all the designs were created in this country and were strictly American in spirit, it was necessary to have the items made abroad.” This practice has become commonplace in the world of today.   Indeed, Magnussen stated in his correspondence with the Brooklyn Museum for their huge 1937 exhibition Contemporary Industrial and Handwrought Silver, he executed the set himself at the Dingeldein factory in Hanau, near Frankfurt, Germany, a city which had been long noted as a center for goldsmithing and gem craft. Magnussen probably brought the set with him when he arrived in New York on September 4, 1930 on the S.S. Bremen from Cherbourg. This would have been in time for the set’s simultaneous appearance in the New York Times on September 28, 1930 and in an exhibition at the ArtCenter in New York.

The coffee set elicited critical acclaim when it was first introduced. Walter Rendell Storey wrote in the New York Times  that the “curve of an old Grecian oil lamp may have been the suggestion of this design, but the need of today for smartness, individuality and usefulness has played a larger part in its development.” Storey also noted the carefully matched New Zealand jade handles that he described as an “exotic and original touch.” Storey discussed the set again in the New York Times for April 19 and May 3, 1931 when it was exhibited at the Architecture and Allied Art Exposition and later at the American Union of Decorative Artists and Craftsmen at the Brooklyn Museum in 1931.  Magnussen echoed the lid handles of the vessels in those of the distinctive long- and- narrow tray. A notice in Vogue for July 1, 1931 shows the tray holding a row of six cocktail glasses described as “the epitome of chic.”  The ingenious choice of deep green nephrite jade for handles is both opulent and spectacular and testifies to Magnussen’s skill for compositional grandeur. The color and texture of the sawn, polished, and carefully matched jade act as a foil to the subtly hammered silver.

By January 1932, Magnussen had left New York, first for Chicago and a year later for Los Angeles. In November 1932, the set appeared in House & Garden with Black, Starr & Frost-Gorham of New York City noted as its retailer. It seems likely that Magnussen brought the set West. It was owned by the Pasadena socialite Barbara Bruce Douglas whose wedding to Gail J. Burck on  June 28, 1934 at “Brucemore” in Cedar Rapids was attended by over 600 guests.  As documented in the Brooklyn Museum 1937 silver exhibition archive, Mrs. Burck lent the set to the exhibition at Magnussen’s request. The set was last exhibited in 1983 at the Yale University Art Gallery.