American Aesthetic Movement
Hubert, Pirrson & Co.
Fireplace Surround from Hotel Chelsea
Manhattan, NYC
Wrought iron, bronze
Circa 1882-1883
DIMENSIONS
Height: 30.5 inches (77.47 cm) Width: 30.5 inches (77.47 cm) Depth: 1 inches (2.54 cm)
ABOUT FIREPLACE SURROUND
We are pleased to introduce an exemplary representation of the American Aesthetic Movement in the form of a fireplace surround originating from the Hotel Chelsea in New York City. This exquisite piece was crafted by the esteemed architectural firm of Hubert, Pirrson & Company. It features intricate detailing reflective of a night and day motif, including a prominent bronze sun set amidst a cast iron surround embellished with torches and log fires, all against a backdrop of a starlit night sky. Dating back to approximately 1883-1885, this elegant fireplace surround stands as a testament to the creative vision and craftsmanship prevalent during the conception and construction of the Hotel Chelsea in Manhattan. Its historical significance is unparalleled, intimately connected to one of the most esteemed residential landmarks in New York City.
ABOUT HUBERT, PIRRSON & COMPANY
Hubert, Pirrson & Company was a New York City architectural firm, founded by Phillip Gendembre (1830–1911) and James W. Pirrson (1833–1888), which was active from c.1870 to 1888. It was later known as Hubert, Pirsson and Company and Hubert, Pirrson & Haddick from 1888-1898. Active during New York City's “Gilded Age”, the firm produced many of the city’s finest buildings, including hotels, churches and residences, and were especially noted for their luxury co-operative apartments and residential hotels.
The French-born Hubert and the New York City-native Pirrson, who was trained by an English architect, established their partnership around 1870; the former’s father was the architect and engineer Charles Antoine Colomb Gengembre, while the latter’s father was a well-connected "piano-forte manufacturer and musician who helped to found the New York Philarmonic Society.
In 1870, both men were "listed as the architects for two third-class tenements erected on East 49th Street between First and Second Avenues under the first name Hubert & Pirrson.Their partnership lasted until Pirrson’s death in 1888.
The firm initially designed typical single-family rowhouses and tenements. However, the firm is credited with the Episcopal Church of the Blessed Disciple in 1870. Still listed as Hubert & Pirrson, the firm submitted designs for The Appleby in October 1879, a French flathouse on the southeast corner of West 58th Street and Seventh Avenue. The Landmarks Preservation Commission of New York City explained that "It was the firm’s designs for this type of building which gained for them fame and prestige." Some of their most famous apartment houses are the Central Park Apartments or Spanish Flats (now demolished) which had stood on the southeast corner of Seventh Avenue and Central Park South, and the Chesea (1883) on West 23d Street, a designated New York City Landmark. The firm incorporated some innovative concepts into their apartment plans such as the "mezzanine plan" or split level apartment, and they provided a greater degree of light and air for their apartments than did most of their contemporaries. Hubert & Pirrson were also actively involved in encouraging the growth of cooperative ownership of apartments.
"The Queen Anne style, which characterizes this row, is an American variant of the interpretation of early 18th-century English brick architecture Specific details associated with this style include Tudor roses, sunflowers, multi-paneled wood doors and various classical motifs such as swags and wreaths, which often appear on the sheet-metal roof cornices. The characteristic details of the style were frequently combined with other architectural styles. Upon Pirrson’s death, the firm operated under the name Hubert, Pirsson & Haddick until 1893 when Hubert retired to California.
$6,000
Italian Renaissance Revival
Knight Armor Easel
Mahogany Wood
Mid-19th Century
DIMENSIONS
Height: 80 in (203.2 cm) Width: 32 in (81.28 cm) Depth: 33 in (83.82 cm)
ABOUT
This rare Italian Renaissance Revival monumental easel in hand-carved mahogany wood was handmade in Italy, in the mid-19th century.
The impressive jousting lances with elaborately carved ornamental acanthus leave foliage form the legs and a large knight helmet finial crowns the top of the easel. This unique piece is in remarkable well-preserved antique condition with original patina and minimal age-appropriate wear.
$12,000
English Regency
A Pair of Fireplace Andirons
Cast & Gilt Iron
Early 19th Century
DIMENSIONS
Height: 7.5 in (19.05 cm) Width: 10 in (25.4 cm) Depth: 6 in (15.24 cm)
ABOUT
Made in England during Regency period in the early 19th Century, this impressive pair of black cast iron and partially gilt fireplace andirons in form of monkeys atop decorative octagonal bases depicts monkeys have very expressive faces and holding fruit in their paws although tied up with a rope around their backs.
$6,300
Stile Floreale ~ Italian Art Nouveau
Carlo Zen
Octagonal Side Table
Walnut, Mother-of-Pearl & Brass Thread Inlay
Italy, circa 1900
DIMENSIONS
Height: 28.75 inches Width: 20.5 inches Depth: 20.5 inches
ABOUT
Compositionally very complex, this octagonal-top walnut side table richly decorated with mother-of-pearl & brass thread inlay can certainly be considered one of the most striking examples of Zen’s furniture.
The table is in excellent condition with no losses or restorations.
CARLO ZEN (Italian, 1851 – 1918)
From 1880, Carlo Zen, the world-famous Italian Cabinetmaker directed the most crucial furniture workshop in Milan. He was active in the Stile Floreale, which had continued after the 1902 Turin ‘Espozicione Internazionale d’Arte Decorativa Moderna’; to be known for his Art Nouveau and Symbolist motifs. Zen was not a designer himself but instead a factory owner and manager. From 1898, his firm was associated with Haas of Vienna, whose designers included Otto Eckmann (1865 - 1902), known German painter and graphic artist who was a prominent member of the "floral" branch of Jugenstil (German Art Nouveau movement); and who became for creating the ‘Eckmann typeface’, which was based on Japanes calligraphy and medieval font design.
Carlo Zen maintained his prominence by manufacturing furniture based on Art Nouveau and symbolist motifs that appealed primarily to feminine tastes. Using inlays of mother-of-pearl, his artisans’ elegant, often asymmetrical patterns became more geometric towards 1910 and showed the simplification typical of German and Austrian forms. Zen, who understood how the Stile Floreale could be influenced and nurtured by foreign designs, remained one of the more skilful Italian manufacturers of the twentieth century.
$6,500
Wenzel Friedrich
ATTRIBUTED
Adirondack Rustic Style Side Table
USA, circa 1880-90’s
DIMENSIONS
Height: 31.5 inches Top diameter: 17.25 inches
WENZEL FRIEDRICH (Bohemian/American, 1827–1902) was famous horn furniture maker, born in Grünthal, Bohemia, on July 2, 1827. In 1853 he immigrated to the United States and first landed at Indianola, Texas, and then settling in San Antonio. He soon established himself in cabinetmaking, a trade he had learned in Bohemia. He became a founding member of San Antonio's first volunteer fire department and later was a charter member of the Number Two Fire Company. On December 8, 1854, he married Agnes Urbaneck.
The couple had seven children; their youngest son, Albert Friedrich, was founder of the Buckhorn Saloon*.
In 1880 Friedrich expanded his cabinetmaking business to include the manufacture of horn furniture. It has not been established whether he originated horn furniture, but over the next ten years he crafted some of the most innovative. His works received awards of merit at the Cincinnati Industrial Exposition of 1883, the New Orleans Industrial and Cotton Centennial Exposition of 1884–85, and the Southern Exposition at Louisville, Kentucky, in 1886.
Between 1880 and 1890 his furniture, noted for its quality, was sold throughout the United States and Europe. His patrons included Queen Victoria, Otto von Bismarck, and Kaiser Wilhelm I. Friedrich died in San Antonio on November 7, 1902. Today, his furniture is displayed in museums throughout the United States.
*BUCKHORN SALOON
Albert Friedrich of San Antonio began his exotic horn collection in 1881, three years before the founding of the Lone Star Brewery, the future home of the Buckhorn Saloon. Friedrich, whose father made horn furniture, began to display his collection at a saloon that he acquired on Dolorosa Street. He moved his business to what became the Buckhorn Saloon, at Soledad and West Houston streets, in 1896. There he maintained one of the most respectable saloons in San Antonio during one of the city's rowdiest eras and acquired the antler collection of a famed hunter, Capt. Ernest Dosch. As a result of prohibition, in 1922 Friedrich moved his business to 400 West Houston Street, where it was first known as Albert's Curio Store and subsequently as the Buckhorn Curio Store and Cafe.
Three decades later, in 1956, the Buckhorn Saloon, with its mirrored back bar intact and a facsimile of the main bar, was restored at the Lone Star Brewery. Quaint machines and trick mirrors were brought from the old Buckhorn, along with the Friedrich collection, which was housed in the adjacent Hall of Horns. The collection included trophies of big game hunts throughout North America, Europe, Asia, and Africa. The Texas Room, crowned by a chandelier composed of over 4,000 horns from the old Buckhorn Saloon, featured such world champions as a longhorn with an eight-foot spread and a deer head with seventy-eight-point antlers. Stuffed freaks of the animal world were found alongside a huge gorilla and memorabilia of the "world's greatest" sharpshooting team, San Antonians “Plinky” and Adolph Toepperwein.
A number of unusual framed artistic designs at the saloon were made by Friedrich's wife, who was a rattlesnake-rattle artist. A shark collection, the Hall of Fins, was added in 1964 and a bird collection, the Hall of Feathers, opened in 1973. In 1977 the Lone Star Brewing Company was sold to Olympia Brewing Company. The Buckhorn collection was sold five times over the next twenty years. In 1997 Albert Friedrich's granddaughter, Mary Friedrich Rogers, and her husband, Wallace, purchased the collection and entered into a lease agreement with Twisthorn Holdings and the Buckhorn Museum and Saloon Limited to manage the enterprise. The Buckhorn collection was moved from the Lone Star Brewery to a 33,000 square foot site at the corner of Houston and Presa streets in 1998. In addition to the collections, the Buckhorn hosts live entertainment and features the Hall of Texas History Wax Museum, a gift shop, and an arcade.
sold
Turner’s Chair
Old Saxon Manner
England, Late 19 Century
ABOUT
This Old Saxon style chair is made at the end of 19th Century of ebonized oak. It is in a fantastic shape and will enhance any corner it is placed. Turned chairs, also known as thrown chairs or spindle chairs, represent a distinct style of furniture that was popular during the late 16th and early 17th centuries in England, New England, and Holland, particularly during the Elizabethan and Jacobean eras. The Turner's chairs take their name from earlier chairs of this type with bobbin-turned legs/struts. They were also popular in Victorian times, with many copied from a celebrated 17th Century example at Lord Leycester's Hospital in Warwick, England (also known as the "Saxon Chair").
DIMENSIONS
Height: 35.75 inches Width: 25.5 inches Depth: 20.5 inches Seat Height: 18 inches
$2,800
German Jugenstil
Grand Silvered Vanity Mirror
Ca. 1900
Dimensions: Height: 18-3/4 inches Width: 28-1/2 inches Depth: 14-15/16 inches
This grand vanity mirror in the secessionist taste features three laconically designed but highly functional sections. The upper section is a large round swiveling pane of mirrored glass with beveled edges. The middle section is decorated with a head of a mythical animal, drinking water from a semi-circular reservoir, which is a removable vide poche. The bottom section is a large and semi-circular compartment, deep-indented into the base of the mirror.
$6,500
French Belle Époque
Wall Mirror
in Hand-Carved Gilded Wood Frame
~ ca. 1875-1914 ~
Dimensions
2 ft. 11 in. H x 19 in. W x 3 in. D 89 cm H x 48 cm W x 8 cm D
This very unusual wall mirror has most non-trivial design in the playful style of La Belle Époque. In all likelihood, it hung in the foyer of some elegant Paris apartment sometime in the last quarter of the 19th century. The hand-carved and 24-carat gilded wooden frame in the form of a pair of crossed cornucopia encircles the original oval reflecting glass. Despite the fact that the old gilding showered in some places and the state of the glass is not ideal, it is this untouched original state and the patina of time that gives this object a unique charm of antiquity.
$3,500