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A very large Faunal and floral carved oak mirror frame by…
Sale Title:
Auction House:
Auction Location:
Melbourne
Date:
24-Jul-2023
Lot No.
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Description:
A very large Faunal and floral carved oak mirror frame by Robert Prenzel, 1905-1910, a plate frame of 'Sansovino' type, the toprail with a figure of a cockatoo alighting on a crest of two overlaid escutcheons pierced by a spray of fruiting foliage and flanked by clusters of fruit and foliage, the sides with scrolls supporting pendants of fruit and foliage, the lower rail centred on a grotesque cat mask flanked by clusters of flowers and foliage, the mirror plate bevelled, 225 cm high, 122 cm wide. Provenance: Reg Riddell (d. 1980), Melbourne, Sold from the Estate of Reg Riddell, 1981, purchased by the mother of the present vendor. Other notes: in addition to its exceptional size, this frame is notable for its unusual combination of styles and motifs. It is basically a 'Sansovino' frame' a sixteenth-century Venetian type characterised by its raised crest, projecting upper corners, and exuberant carved decoration of classical motifs including large scrolls, figures and masks, and pendants of fruit but with Prenzel here seemingly combining old world fruits and foliage with their more exotic Australian counterparts, then strengthening the status of the latter by crowning the whole with the emphatically Australian element of the cockatoo. The combination of a historical European style, a mode in which Prenzel worked almost exclusively up to around 1900, and the Australian motifs, which began appearing in his work between 1900 and 1905 and soon became dominant, suggests a date for this frame around 1905. The cockatoo to the top of this frame is near-identical to that perched to the top of the chest of drawers in Prenzel's 1908 suite of bedroom furniture for Thomas and Margaret Laidlaw (sold Leonard Joel, decorative Arts, 8 August 2022, lot 83). A date for this mirror frame around 1905 is further supported by the treatment of the stems and foliage to the lower parts of its sides which shows the influence of the European Art Nouveau, an influence especially pronounced in Prenzel's work between 1900 and 1905. Terence Lane, who suggested that this frame dated to the 1910-1920 period, thought that its unusual combination of styles and motifs was likely attributable to Prenzel making it to the specifications of an unidentified private commission (private correspondence with the owner in 2012).
Estimate:
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Price:
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Category:
Furniture: Mirrors - Overmantlel/Wall/Consoles