Sugar Bowl with Lid

Designer Margarete Heymann-Löbenstein (German, 1899 - 1990)

Manufacturer Haël-Werkstätten für künstlerische Keramik (German, 1923 - 1934)

Dateca. 1930

MediumAlpacca (silvered metal alloy) with synthetic resin

DimensionsOverall: 3 1/4 × 5 × 7 1/2 inches (8.26 × 12.7 × 19.05 cm)

Credit LinePurchase: the Charlotte and Perry Faeth Fund

Object number2005.26.2 A,B

MarkingsEngraved monogram of the manufacturer on the underside of the base of each piece, consisting of a combined uppercase "H" and "L" with a half-circle formed below the horizontal bar of the "H" and extending to the left of the "H", the pieces are also stamped on the underside of the base of each with the word "ALPACCA".

On View

On view

Gallery Location

Collections

Architecture, Design and Decorative Arts

Terms

DescriptionAlpacca is a silver-white metal alloy of copper, zinc, and nickel. The tea service is comprised of a teapot with lid, a sugar bowl with lid, and a milk jug. Each piece is of a conical shape with the narrow end of the cone resting on a circular base. The handles on each piece are composed of a larger circular disk of ebony with a smaller disk of ivory below. The sides of the disks of ebony and ivory are attached flat side parallel to the side of the conical body with an arced partial metal mount with small brads. The lids of both the teapot and the sugar bowl have an additional disk of ebony, smaller than the ivory disk, which functions as the handle, situated off to the side, towards the ebony and ivory handles. The lid of the sugar is a flat, single plane of metal that covers the entire opening of the bowl. The lid of the teapot is circular and is inset, off-center, into a flat, fixed, single plane of metal that covers the opening of the pot.Exhibition History

Exhibition History

Grete Marks: When Modern was Degenerate, Milwaukee Art Museum, September 6, 2012–February 17, 2013, no cat.

Gallery Label

Designed by Margarete Heymann-Löbenstein, this is a rare metal example of a tea service most often executed by her in ceramic. Heymann-Löbenstein studied at the Weimar Bauhaus from 1919-1921, as one of the first female students. She was trained by artists and craftsmen who emphasized both the aesthetic and technical merits of functional works. In 1923 she and her first husband, Gustav Löbenstein, set up their workshop, the Haël-Werkstätten, near Berlin. She soon achieved international acclaim with her use of bold shapes and subtle, elegant ornamentation such as the sculptural ebony and synthetic resin handles seen in this tea service. This tea service embodies the modernist ideal that promoted a unity of form, decoration and materials suitable for the object's intended purpose.

Provenance

Private Collection, London, England by 2005 [1];

Purchased from Sotheby’s by The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 2005.

NOTES:

[1] This piece was offered for sale at Fine and Decorative Arts & Design from 1870, Sotheby’s, London, September 22, 2005, lot 59, but failed to sell.

Published References

Similar model, Keramik und Bauhaus / [herausgegeben für das Bauhaus-Archiv von Klaus Weber] (Berlin: Bauhaus-Archiv, 1989), 209-210 (repro.).

Similar model, Hans Wichmann. Neu Donationen und Neuerwerbungen 1988-89: Industrial Design, Unikate, Serienerzeugnisse. (München: Die Neue Sammlung Staatliches Museum für angewandte Kunst, 1990), 80 (repro.).

Similar model, Ursula Hudson-Weidenmann and Judy Rudoe, “Grete Marks, Artist Potter,” in The Decorative Arts Society 1850 to the Present V.26 (2002): 101-119, 111 (repro.).

Fine and Decorative Arts & Design from 1870 (London: Sotheby’s, 2005), 63 (repro.).

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