Lot 52 : VIKTOR SCHRECKENGOST
Auction Location: United States of America - 2006
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Description:
PROPERTY FROM A FLORIDA FAMILY
''JAZZ'' PUNCH BOWL
measurements note
9 1/4 in. (23.5 cm) high 17 1/8 in. (43.5 cm) diameter
manufactured by Cowan Pottery Studio, Rocky River, OH
ca. 1931
from Cowan's second production series
the interior decorated with a band of bubbles and stars
underside of ring base impressed COWAN with firm's mark, and with foundation tag marked with serial number 8915
glazed earthenware
PROVENANCE
Grant Powers, artist and illustrator for the New York Daily News, ca. 1930s
Thence by descent
LITERATURE
The Cowan Potters, Inc., March 17, 1931, p. 2
Karen Davies, At Home in Manhattan: Modern Decorative Arts, 1925 to the Depression, New Haven, 1983, p. 81
Henry Adams, Viktor Schreckengost and 20th-Century Design, Cleveland, 2000, pp. 90 and 95 (for other examples of the flared-rim ''Jazz'' bowl presently offered) and pp. 88-95 (for a detailed discussion of the three variants of Schreckengost's ''Jazz'' bowls)
NOTE
Sotheby's is delighted to participate in the national celebration of Viktor Schreckengost's 100th birthday this June. This spring, over 100 institutions, historical societies and galleries are exhibiting the work of this American icon, from pedal cars to dinnerware. Many surviving examples from the Jazz Bowl series will be on view in museums, including in New York the Cooper Hewitt Museum of National Design (meg, check titles) and The New York Historical Society.
The bold imagery that wraps around the walls of Schreckengost's iconic "Jazz" punch bowl evokes the sights and sounds of New York's classic Jazz Age. The punch bowl presently offered is from Cowan's second production series, and is distinguished by its flared rim, a minor design adjustment implemented to prevent the bowl from loosing its shape in the kiln. In comparison to the third variant offered in the following lot, the decoration on the firm's first two series was achieved through sgraffito, a technique which involves scratching through a black engobe or colored clay slip to reveal the unfired clay surface below, creating a design in black and white. The sgraffito marks vary in depth, which distinguish these bowls by their textured, hand-worked surfaces. The bowls were then fired and glazed twice to achieve the firm's deep Egyptian electric blue glaze. Since the small stencils used to delineate the patterns were only used as rough guides, the bowls show great variation in their decorative imagery.
This bowl has been authenticated by The Viktor Schreckengost Foundation and is registered under the serial number 8915.
Other Lots from Schreckengost:
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