Lot 278 D α

Philipp Konrad Moritz Geiss (1805 Berlin 1875) is considered the founder of the zinc casting industry. His father owned the internationally renowned “fer de Berlin” factory, producing finest cast iron works. Philipp Geiss visited the Royal Decorative Arts Institute (Königliche Gewerbe-Institut) in Berlin and then spent one year learning the practicalities of the trade in Gleiwitz/Gliwice and Malapane/Ocimek. Following a two-year educational sojourn to England and France, he began his experiments in zinc casting in the late 1820s. He founded his own zinc casting factory near the Oranienburger Tor in 1832 and soon gained renown after Karl Friedrich Schinkel placed several commissions for architectural sculpture. His repertoire included statues, casts of antiquities, furniture, and large-scale sculpture. He worked together with numerous contemporary artists such as Rauch, Schinkel, Stüler, Persius, Kiss, and Schadow. Geiss published illustrations of these works under the title "Zinkguß-Ornamente nach Zeichnungen von Schinkel, Stüler, Persius etc." (Berlin 1841 - 52, 21 volumes). The design for this gueridon can be found in volume 14, published in 1846.