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The Rowler Collection is the largest and most comprehensive collection of Georg Jensen silver in private hands. Housed in a country manor in Northamptonshire, England, the collection was both displayed with other works of art and used in a practical way for service and entertaining. The collection, begun in 1976 but assembled in earnest after 1997, fully represents a hundred years of the Jensen firm's design leadership. Particular strengths include fine examples of lighting, with chandeliers, candelabra, and table lamps of numerous models. Also remarkable is the array of centerpieces, particularly fish dishes, to which Jensen's designers gave full expression to their individual styles. There is also an extraordinary number of flatware services, representing more than 15 different patterns. Christie's is pleased to offer the Rowler Collection in its entirety in the first auction ever to be devoted exclusively to the works of this celebrated silversmith and the highly successful firm he founded.
The collection includes, of course, many works designed by Georg Jensen himself. While today Jensen's name is associated with groundbreaking design, excellence of craftsmanship, and financial success, his own life was that of an artist struggling to establish himself. Born in 1866 into a working-class family and trained as a sculptor and silversmith, Jensen was deeply influenced by the art nouveau and arts and crafts traditions. He originally intended to pursue a career as a sculptor, but the financial pressures of a young family necessitated a return to the silversmithing trade. In 1904, Jensen opened his first shop on a fashionable street in Copenhagen and began making silver jewelry set with semi-precious stones. In keeping with arts and crafts principles, Jensen drew inspiration from nature rather than from traditional historical sources, creating his own stylized interpretations of fruit and flowers to ornament his work.
His Blossom and Grape patterns, designed circa 1905 and in 1918, are now considered classic (lots 1-19, 111-124, 127-134). The sculptural nature of the Blossom teapot (illustrated here) reflects Jensen's training in the fine arts and also illustrates his success at creating an entirely new shape for an established silver form. The Danish Museum of Decorative Arts recognized the importance of the Blossom teapot design by acquiring it for their collection shortly after it was conceived.
Georg Jensen was a genius of silver design in his own right, yet he promoted the work of other designers to broaden the Jensen style and to push the firm to artistic leadership. It was this collaboration with innovative designers, combined with maintaining high standards of workmanship, that was the key to the firm's continued success throughout the 20th century.
One of the earliest pieces in the Rowler Collection is a sugar caster of 1908 (lot 27) made to the design of Anton Rosen, an influential Danish architect. Rosen built the Palace Hotel in Copenhagen and Jensen supplied the silver for the hotel, which was a significant commission for the new firm. This caster is one of two made and given by Jensen to Rosen in thanks for his support.
The painter Johan Rohde (1856-1935) was highly influential in developing the Jensen brand. He is best known for designing Acorn pattern flatware (lots 183-185) and the Cosmos pattern pitcher (lots 201-202). In contrast to Jensen's work, Rohde's was more spare in its use of ornament, illustrated by his incredibly sleek pitcher, designed in 1920 (lots 181-182) in the van of art deco style. This pitcher, considered by the firm to be so avant-garde that it was not produced until 1925, is today an iconic 20th century silver design.
Georg Jensen viewed his market internationally. The first foreign store opened in Berlin in 1909, followed by Stockholm and Paris in 1918, London in 1921, New York in 1924, and Barcelona in 1925. Participation in international exhibitions was also crucial to the firm. Jensen's designs garnered a Gold Medal at the 1910 Brussels exhibition, and his display at the 1914 Baltic exhibition opened the door to the lucrative Swedish market. Indeed, many pieces in the Rowler Collection bear Swedish import marks, attesting to the strength of that market in the 1920s.
Jensen made his first foray into the American market in 1915 at the Pan-Pacific Exposition in San Francisco, where he not only won a Grand Prix but also won the patronage of William Randolph Hearst. Jensen's silver was exhibited at museums in New York and the Midwest through the mid-1920s. The firm also won awards at the 1923 exhibitions in Barcelona, Brussels, and Rio de Janeiro and the highly influential Exposition internationale des arts décoratifs modernes of 1925 in Paris.
Through such exposure, Jensen's work found its way into worldwide museum collections, including the Louvre, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Detroit Institute of Arts. The firm gained further recognition for its appointment as Royal Silversmith to both the Swedish and Danish courts.
Despite winning international acclaim for its designs, the firm floundered financially, and by 1924 Georg Jensen had relinquished control of the company. This financial reversal, combined with family discord resulting from Jensen's remarriage, led to Jensen's departure to Paris in 1924. There, his first task was to prepare work for the 1925 Paris exhibition. Between late 1925 and the spring of 1926, Jensen operated his own Paris workshop. Very few pieces exist from his brief Paris period, but the Rowler Collection remarkably has two of them (lots 74 and 252). Jensen returned to Copenhagen in 1926, and assumed the role of artistic director of the firm.
After 1926, Jensen worked largely from his home workshop and only a few of his pieces were put into production. A tobacco canister (lot 332) shows a more functionalist approach to his work, while a pair of candelabra--his last design before his death in 1935--demonstrates his continued affection for naturalistic design (lot 100). His last years were marked by acrimony with the firm, so much so that upon his death, Jensen ordered the destruction of his most current design drawings.
While the latter years of Georg Jensen's life were marked by personal disappointment, the firm itself entered a fertile period of design, spurred by the immense creativity of its other designers.
Jensen's brother-in-law, Harald Nielsen (1892-1977), joined the firm as an apprentice in 1909 and became a prolific designer, remaining active until the 1960s. Nielsen was an accomplished draftsman and deeply versed in Rohde's and Jensen's styles. He often fleshed out their sketches to provide finished working drawings for the silversmiths. Yet, Nielsen was drawn to modernism, illustrated by his pair of five-light candelabra (lot 278) and his geometric Pyramid pattern flatware and hollowware (lots 279-294). Nielsen bridged the style of Jensen and Rohde and those designers of the 1930s whose work was influenced by modernism.
Several of Jensen's children worked for the firm. A tobacco canister (lot 274) by Jorgen Jensen (1895-1966) who trained as a silversmith and worked for the firm for over 25 years, shows modernist characteristics. Soren Georg Jensen (1917-1982), trained as both a sculptor and a silversmith, produced many novel designs (lots 398 and 432) and served as artistic director of the firm.
Sigvard Bernadotte (1907-2002), the son of the King of Sweden, joined the firm in 1931 and was the first designer to work exclusively in the modernist style. He acknowledged that his work was a reaction against the decorated styles of Jensen and Rohde. Much of his early work is characterized by a preference for engraved lines (lots 373-375, 386-389).
The period after the Second World War was a time of great creativity for the firm and many novel designs emerged. Danish-born Henning Koppel (1918-1981) is known for his highly original work in the Scandinavian modern style. Trained as a sculptor, Koppel was hired after the war to produce jewelry designs. His jewelry was completely abstract and full of movement, and his hollowware followed suit. Koppel's famous "eel" centerpiece (lot 413) is purely sculptural and entirely devoid of surface ornament. It was also incredibly difficult to produce, requiring over 500 man-hours to complete.
More recent works in the Rowler Collection include silver by celebrated designers Verner Panton (lot 439), Nanna Ditzel (lot 438), Allan Scharff (lot 442), and Minas Spiridis (lot 444). The diversity and quality of these silver designs demonstrate that the firm continues to fulfill Georg Jensen's legacy of promoting the work of master designers in the medium of silver.
SEPARATE GJ BIO HERE:
Trained as a sculptor and silversmith, Georg Jensen (1866-1935) opened his shop on a fashionable street in Copenhagen in 1904, selling jewelry of silver and semi-precious stones. Hollowware designs soon followed, incorporating myriad floral motifs, such as his now classic Blossom and Grape patterns.
Jensen's early and continued collaboration with other designers, such as Johan Rohde and Harald Neilsen, helped develop the Jensen brand and pushed the firm to stylistic leadership. This association with innovative designers was the key to the firm's success.
By 1924, financial reversals ended Jensen's tenure running the firm and he moved to Paris where he established an independent silver workshop. He returned to Copenhagen in 1926, and assumed the role of artistic director.
During the last ten years of his life, Jensen worked largely from his home workshop and his influence at the firm was limited. While some of his later work demonstrates a functionalist approach, most work put into production demonstrates his continued affection for naturalistic design.
TWO SILVER-MOUNTED GLASS JARS DESIGNED BY GEORG JENSEN
MARK OF GEORG JENSEN, COPENHAGEN, THE LARGER 1925-1932, THE SMALLER 1933-1944
Details
TWO SILVER-MOUNTED GLASS JARS DESIGNED BY GEORG JENSEN
MARK OF GEORG JENSEN, COPENHAGEN, THE LARGER 1925-1932, THE SMALLER 1933-1944
Blossom pattern, comprising two facetted glass jars, in sizes, the silver covers with blossom and pod finial, the larger no. 2, the smaller no. 2C, each marked under cover
The larger 6½ in. (16.5 cm.) diameter, the smaller 4¾ in. (12 cm.) diameter; 5 oz. 10 dwt. (185 gr.) weighable silver (2)
MARK OF GEORG JENSEN, COPENHAGEN, THE LARGER 1925-1932, THE SMALLER 1933-1944
Blossom pattern, comprising two facetted glass jars, in sizes, the silver covers with blossom and pod finial, the larger no. 2, the smaller no. 2C, each marked under cover
The larger 6½ in. (16.5 cm.) diameter, the smaller 4¾ in. (12 cm.) diameter; 5 oz. 10 dwt. (185 gr.) weighable silver (2)