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Lot Essay
Robert Wilhelm Prenzel (1866-1941), woodcarver and cabinetmaker was born on 30th March 1866 at Kittliztreben, Prussia. After completing a four-year apprenticeship in woodcarving and further study and travel in Europe he arrived in Melbourne on 24th November 1888. He married Mina Schelling in 1890 and had three children.
First working for a ship builder, Prenzel operated as a furniture designer, woodcarver, and as an architectural modeller in various partnerships until entering business on his own in 1900 in South Melbourne. From 1910 to 1930 Prenzel worked as a furniture manufacturer in Toorak Road, South Yarra.
This longcase clock incorporates panels of flora and fauna created by Robert Prenzel in a mixture of the Art Nouveau and American Arts and Crafts styles.
A craftsman of great skill his early work was in the Continental Gothic, Renaissance and Rococo styles. Prenzel became immersed in all things Australian after being encouraged to carve the native floral and fauna.
Prenzel established a demand for this style of furniture when commissioned in 1906 to make a suite of bedroom furniture that incorporated Australian motifs with the flowing style of the Art Nouveau for Mrs Percy Mathias of Montreal, Canada. This demand continued until the First World War when anti-German sentiment saw many of Prenzel's affluent clients desert him.
The rectilinear design and bracketed cornice of the clock demonstrates the impact of the American Arts and Crafts style upon Prenzel's carved furniture. A similar clock dated 1921 and illustrated from the Prenzel Archive in Robert Prenzel 1866-1941: His Life and Work Terence Lane, National Gallery of Victoria, 1994, plate 51, page 29; is identical in design to this lot except for being surmounted by an owl.
The kookaburras, with their comical expressions casting an eye from the top of the clock and the sprigs of flowering gum and gum nuts, illustrates Prenzel's unique talent for carving in a distinctly Australian idiom.
First working for a ship builder, Prenzel operated as a furniture designer, woodcarver, and as an architectural modeller in various partnerships until entering business on his own in 1900 in South Melbourne. From 1910 to 1930 Prenzel worked as a furniture manufacturer in Toorak Road, South Yarra.
This longcase clock incorporates panels of flora and fauna created by Robert Prenzel in a mixture of the Art Nouveau and American Arts and Crafts styles.
A craftsman of great skill his early work was in the Continental Gothic, Renaissance and Rococo styles. Prenzel became immersed in all things Australian after being encouraged to carve the native floral and fauna.
Prenzel established a demand for this style of furniture when commissioned in 1906 to make a suite of bedroom furniture that incorporated Australian motifs with the flowing style of the Art Nouveau for Mrs Percy Mathias of Montreal, Canada. This demand continued until the First World War when anti-German sentiment saw many of Prenzel's affluent clients desert him.
The rectilinear design and bracketed cornice of the clock demonstrates the impact of the American Arts and Crafts style upon Prenzel's carved furniture. A similar clock dated 1921 and illustrated from the Prenzel Archive in Robert Prenzel 1866-1941: His Life and Work Terence Lane, National Gallery of Victoria, 1994, plate 51, page 29; is identical in design to this lot except for being surmounted by an owl.
The kookaburras, with their comical expressions casting an eye from the top of the clock and the sprigs of flowering gum and gum nuts, illustrates Prenzel's unique talent for carving in a distinctly Australian idiom.