Item number: 58198
A rare Art Déco 835 grade silver footed bowl Voorschoten 1928,
by Christa Ehrlich for Zilverfabriek Voorschoten
Tapered and vertically ribbed central base, the curved bowl shape is decorated with alternating floral patterns.
Beautifully shaped and, despite its age, extremely modern looking work designed by Christa Ehrlich and executed by Zilverfabriek Voorschoten, who, along with Emmy Roth and Paula Straus, is one of the most important European female artist silversmiths of the Art Déco period. The footed bowl is part of a series of different vessel types that Christa Ehrlich designed for the Zilverfabriek Voorschoten. The unadorned design resulting from the reciprocation of stereometric elements – a cone and ball shape both cut off at the top – is loosened up by the scattered flower decoration and shows Christa Ehrlich’s artistic proximity to the designs of Josef Hoffmann and the works of the Viennese Art Nouveau.
Cf. a somewhat larger counterpart in the collection of the Bröhan Museum, Berlin and shown in: Dedo von Kerssenbrock-Krosigk (ed.): Metallkunst der Moderne (Catalogues of the Bröhan Museum VI), Berlin 2001, p. 498 and in: Christa Ehrlich, Weens ontwerpster in Nederland (reprint of the sales catalogue of 1952, printed in 1988 (no location), p. 28 and p. 31).
The designer Christa Ehrlich
Christa Ehrlich studied at the Wiener Kunstgewerbeschule (Vienna School of Applied Arts) from 1920/21, initially under Michael Powolny, where she focused on the design of ceramics and later moved on to the architecture class where she studied under Josef Hoffmann until 1925. Afterwards Christa Ehrlich became Hoffmann’s assistant in his architectural office and as her first important commission she designed the showcases in the Austrian pavilion designed by Hoffmann at the World Exhibition in Paris in 1925 and in 1927 the Austrian section to be designed by Hoffman again at the exhibition “European Arts and Crafts” at the Grassimuseum in Leipzig. At this exhibition she was discovered as an artist by Carel S. Begeer, the head of the Dutch department at this exhibition and director of the Koninklijke Nederlandsche Edelmetaalbedrijven (KNEB) (Royal Dutch Precious Metal Companies) and was recruited as a designer for the Zilverfabriek Voorschoten, a subsidiary of KNEB. In 1927, at the age of 24, Christa Ehrlich took up her position and created first important designs in the same year, including the foot bowl shown here, which varied in different sizes and were also produced as lidded bowls in silver.
8.0 cm / 3.14″ tall (to the rim), 9.4 cm / 3.70″ diameter; 106,5 g / 3.42 oz
