Art deco ceramics, glass, posters, bronzes and furniture to be auctioned later this month are expected to fetch more than £250,000 sterling (€396,000).
Dubbed by Christie's the "decadent deco" sale, the London auction on February 15th includes an outstanding piece "Dancer of Kapurthala". Carved from a model by D.H. Chiparus, the cold-painted 56 centimetre high bronze and ivory figure stands on a brown striated and green onyx base. Life-like, beautiful, and incised "Chiparus" on its base, it is expected to fetch £20,000 to £25,000.
Mr Daniel Gallen, continental decorative arts specialist, describes art deco as a colourful and frivolous style running from just before the first World War into the 1930s.
The term "art deco" only came into use in 1966 with an exhibition held at the Musee des Art Decoratifs subtitled "Art Deco". "The style was not so named when it was in vogue. It was simply referred to as `moderne' or `contemporain'."
Women in art deco are at times portrayed as "the chic girl with animals" or "the 1930s sophisticate with her dyed platinum hair and figure-hugging dress".
Images of women portray their new independence of the time, "by turn as athletic or Amazonian, theatrical, or most often as erotic nudes with long, slender limbs".
Art deco began "as a specifically French, even Parisian, creation and remained essentially a French style".
The movement's high point came with the Exposition des Arts Decoratifs et Industriels Modernes in Paris, which was held from April to October 1925.
The movement's achievements include "the exquisitely inlaid furniture of Jacques Emile Ruhlmann, the glorious paintings of Jean Dupas and Tamara de Lempicka, and the fantastic interiors of movie palaces by Timothy Pfleuger," he says.
Art deco includes the "feminine fripperies" of Louis Icart and the "architectural nudism" of Le Corbusier. Its themes and motifs include stylised flower clusters, young women, deer, gazelles and a strong contrasting colour palette.
A polychrome pottery figure of two dancing sailor girls, standing 38 centimetres high, is estimated at £2,000 to £3,000. Made by Austrian firm Goldscheider, it one of a series of lithe figures "mostly in period attire, often dancing". An attractive dancing nude holding a colourful drape in the same series is estimated at £800 to £1,200.
A cold-painted bronze and ivory figure of a male archer drawing back to fire an arrow, with the base modelled as castle battlements, is estimated at £6,000 to £8,000. Another archer, a patinated bronze figure on striated marble carved from a model by R. Kaesbach, is estimated at £800 to £1,200.
An Edgar Brandt wroughtiron lamp, with two internally mottled Daum glass shades, stamped Brandt in the metal, is expected to realise £5,000 to £8,000. Among other Edgar Brandt works is a wrought-iron uplighter table lamp, with acidetched yellow glass with gilt inclusions, estimated at £1,800 to £2,200.
A Lalique glass lamp Cariatides in clear and frosted glass, engraved R. Lalique France, standing 33 centimetres high, is expected to fetch £4,000 to £6,000.
Meanwhile, a 30-centimetre diameter rare Madagascar Lalique glass bowl in frosted, opalescent and blue-stained glass, marked R. Lalique, is estimated at £4,500£5,000.
In the furniture section, a Hille satin-birch and mirrorglass mounted cocktail cabinet on a stepped plinth base is estimated at £2,500 to £3,500. [SBX]
"The Irish Auctioneers & Valuers Institute advanced fine art course starts on Wednesday February 14th at the IAVI headquarters, 38 Merrion Square, Dublin. It comprises nine two-hour evening lectures and costs £175. For further details, contact the IAVI. Telephone 016611794.
"The Dublin toy and train fair takes place in the Rochestown Lodge Hotel, Dun Laoghaire, on Sunday, February 18th, from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
jmarms@irish-times.ie
