Lot Essay
Examples of Columbine and Harlequin are known with the signatures of both Otto Poertzel and Ferdinand Preiss, a testament to the fact that these two artists worked closely on the models produced by Preiss-Kassler. This Comedia d'el Arte group was marketed in the 1930s in London at the Phillips & MacConnal Gallery of Fine Arts at 16 Conduit Street where it was sold for 28 guineas.
Cf. V. Arwas, Art Deco Sculpture: Chryselephantine Statuettes of the Twenties and Thirties, New York, 1975, p. 92 and B. Catley, Art Deco and Other Figures, Suffolk, England, 1978, p. 237 and A. Duncan, ed. The Encyclopedia of Art Deco, New York, 1988, p. 36 and V. Arwas, Art Deco Sculpture, London, 1992, p. 158
Cf. V. Arwas, Art Deco Sculpture: Chryselephantine Statuettes of the Twenties and Thirties, New York, 1975, p. 92 and B. Catley, Art Deco and Other Figures, Suffolk, England, 1978, p. 237 and A. Duncan, ed. The Encyclopedia of Art Deco, New York, 1988, p. 36 and V. Arwas, Art Deco Sculpture, London, 1992, p. 158