NEW YORK, NY.- Christie’s announces a single-owner sale of Art Deco masterpieces on December 17 in New York. This sale will be among a series of four design sales held on December 17 and 18. An Important Private Collection of Art Deco Masterpieces will include works by the artists universally acknowledged as the great tastemakers of their day, led by Jean Dunand, Eugène Printz, Albert-Armand Rateau, Emile-Jacques Ruhlmann, Katsu Hamanaka and Diego Giacometti. Comprised of 44 lots, the full formal repertoire of Art Deco is represented, from the highly stylized figural, animal and plant motifs of Rateau to the geometric modernism of Dunand or the clean-lined silhouettes of Printz. Included in this exquisite tribute to French creativity in the inter-war years are examples of the fine craftsmanship associated with this high point of the applied arts, notably fine lacquer work, dinanderie, cabinet-making, and bronze casting. Each work in this focused collection has been selected with great rigor as regards the quality, condition and provenance of each work. Featuring museum quality objects that are fresh to the market, the sale is expected to appeal to collectors of rare masterworks.
Leading the collection is a masterpiece sideboard created circa 1937, by Eugène Printz and Jean Dunand (estimate: US$700,000–1,000,000), originally in the personal collection of Eugène Printz. Perfect artistry and faultless technique characterize every aspect of this exceptional example of French Art Deco. The work is the result of a collaboration between two significant and distinct talents, Eugène Printz and Jean Dunand, both of whom rank among the foremost creators associated with this style. Printz made his mark as a furniture designer and his strength, as well evidenced in this piece, was in the alliance of simple, perfectly balanced forms and meticulous execution. The long but relatively shallow rectangular cabinet seems to float above the ground on its scrolling feet and is at once impressive and elegant. The distinctive open-grain palm wood is a material very much favored by Printz. The inlaid and patinated metal facade is the work of Jean Dunand, who in the 1920s established his reputation as the foremost dinandier, or worker in non-precious metals, of his era.
The pair of `Col de Cygne’ sconces by Armand-Albert Rateau are an exceptionally rare and fine example of the artist’s craftsmanship and the model has never before been seen on the auction market. The poetic use of the swan motif and the highly sophisticated execution epitomize the creativity and splendor of Rateau’s work in the Art Deco period.
