A sheet silver buckle brooch
Disc shaped brooch with repoussé P monograms. The brooch findings of zinc plated silver attached with a small strip of pewter. Unsigned. Minor soldered repairs on the reverse. Minor dents. Diameter 5.7 cm.
Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, Dangast, around 1910.
Schmidt-Rottluff created this brooch in 1910 for the artist Emma Ritter (1878 – 1972) from Oldenburg. In 1909 – 1912 she spent her summer holidays in the small North Sea resort of Dangast and got to know the members of the Brücke artists' association who had retreated there to paint. The group's Expressionist style greatly inspired the young artist and she took drawing lessons with Schmidt-Rottluff. This developed into a lifelong friendship with him and his wife Emy. Schmidt-Rottluff immortalised her in several of his works, and she also depicted him. This brooch is one of Schmidt-Rottluff's earliest items of jewellery. The flowing lines of the abstract relief are still clearly rooted in the Art Nouveau style. The design of the brooch is reminiscent of an ex libris sheet he created for Emma Ritter's sister Lulu.
Provenance
Former collection of Emma Ritter, Oldenburg. Acquired in 1983 from her niece and heir; subsequently in Rhenish private ownership.
Literature
Published and illustrated in Wietek, Schmidt-Rottluff, Werkverzeichnis Plastik und Kunsthandwerk, München, 2001, p. 441, no. 355. With further reading and sources. Illustrated in catalogue Maler der Brücke in Dangast von 1907 - 1912, Oldenburger Kunstverein 1957, cat. no. 230, illus.