Prussia Auction and Berlin Salon – Gropius & Meyer and KPM at the top
In addition to the Prussian Auction, held very successfully by Lempertz Berlin for a number of years, this season saw the introduction of a new format: Berlin Salon. This auction focused on the highest quality design objects, the incunabula of modern furniture construction.
The outstanding highlight was the museum-quality - complete and in original condition – drawing room by Walter Gropius and Adolf Meyer, a unicum produced in 1923 in the Bauhaus workshop. The only furniture ensemble not in museum possession, it was acquired by a German private collector for € 113,000. The lot also included the written correspondence between Gropius/Meyer and the contractor, Georg Hanstein, as well as the the original 1:1 design plans (lot 300, € 100/150,000). An equally museum-quality seat by Patriz Huber, made in 1901, was pushed up from € 6/9,000 to € 25,000.
The Prussian Sale of 297 lots included the first part of the collection of the art historian Dr. Annedore Müller-Hofstede, who died in 2017; the collection was crowned by lot 56 which comprised five pieces of a service with copies of Dresden paintings which rose from an estimate of € 6/8,000 to € 27,500 (lot 56).
A further top lot took the form of a KPM vase with two views of Berlin from 1837 which was pursued by a German collector from € 22/25,000 up to € 66,000 (lot 180).
Amongst the many objects ordered by Friedrich II for his court, a pair of candlesticks from the ‘new silver service’ stood out with a hammer price of € 47,500. Friedrich II had commissioned the candlesticks from Lieberkühn after the end of the Second Silesian War. The silver service, which later underwent numerous additions, originally comprised 50 to 60 place settings, with each setting assigned one of the small, single-flame candelabra (lot 7, € 38/40,000).
Splendid individual pieces originated from the reign of Friedrich Wilhelm III. A hoop chandelier from the wood bronze manufactory of Carl August Mencke, created in around 1825-35 after a design by Karl Friedrich Schinkel, sold for € 37,500 (lot 163, € 20/30,000), and a published KPM Berlin vase painted on two sides with mythologies in 1815-16 reached € 30,000 (lot 139, € 20/25,000). A Collection of Decorations for the two Royal Theatres in Berlin was also by Schinkel. Presented in two cloth folders, 28 of the etchings were in colour; they advanced from € 17/20,000 up to € 37,500 (lot 162).
Amongst the paintings, a portrait of King Friedrich Wilhelm II of Prussia by Johann Heinrich Schröder succeeded with a hammer price of € 24,000 (lot 109, € 8/12,000). An unfinished portrait by Johann Friedrich August Tischbein of Crown Princess Luise of Prussia, later Queen Luise, brought € 25,000 (lot 111, € 20/25,000).
Auction Dates
Auction 1193 - The Prussian Sale
Auction
Saturday, May 7
11 am: Lot 1 - 297
3 pm: Lot 300 - 317
The auction will be streamed online. We kindly ask you to place your bids online, by phone or as absentee bids. Online bids at least 48 hours before the auction.
Kunsthaus Lempertz
Poststr. 22
10178 Berlin (Mitte)
T +49.30.27876080
F +49.30.27876086
Preview
Friday 29 May to Thursday 5 May:
11 am - 5 pm
Friday 6 May:
by appointment
Auction 1193 - Berlin Salon
Auction
Saturday, May 7
11 am: Lot 1 - 297
3 pm: Lot 300 - 317
The auction will be streamed online. We kindly ask you to place your bids online, by phone or as absentee bids. Online bids at least 48 hours before the auction.
Kunsthaus Lempertz
Poststr. 22
10178 Berlin (Mitte)
T +49.30.27876080
F +49.30.27876086
Preview
Friday 29 May to Thursday 5 May:
11 am - 5 pm
Friday 6 May:
by appointment
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me at 0221/92 57 29–30.
Edgar Abs
Press and public relations
Cologne, May 2022