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Metz & Co. A private collection The present collection (lots 369-381) originates from family of the directors of the Amsterdam shop of Metz & Co., a renown company for its extensive cooperation with famous designers. In the 18th century the firm was founded as a fabric store. Around 1900 Joseph de Leeuw became the new director of Metz for which he acquired the General Agency for the Netherlands of the British store of Liberty. Fashion, fabrics and interior furnishings from the Arts & Crafts movement, the Wiener Werkstätte, the De Stijl movement up to Modern Design by national and international artists have been part of the Metz stock. For example, throughout the years products by the hand of the Viennese Dagobert Peche and Josef Hoffmann (lots 369 and 370), the Finnish architect Alvar Aalto (lot 375) and Dutch architect Gerrit Th. Rietveld (lot 381) were on display in the firm's shop-windows. Also designs by the firm of Thonet were sold at Metz, in particular the chromium plated tubular steel furniture by Marcel Breuer, Mart Stam and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. By offering such a wide variety of items, Metz & Co. proved to be an outspoken avant-garde company. Dutch designer Willem Penaat worked for the company for over thirty years from 1924 onwards, as head of furniture also responsible for the interior decoration of the shop itself. The fitting-mirror by his hand was exclusively designed for Metz & Co. (lot 373) During the 1920's Joseph and his son Henk de Leeuw, director in charge after the Second World War, travelled to Morocco regularly where they had opened a carpet factory. A remarkable Moroccan carpet is shown in lot 377. For Henk de Leeuw it proved not easy to rebuild the firm of Metz & Co. during the post-war years. Designers such as Sonia Delaunay, Gerrit Rietveld and Bart van der Leck continued their work for the shop but also new designers were attracted. Amongst them were Franco Albini (lot 374), Gio Ponti and Poul Kjaerholm. Henk de Leeuw introduced two American brands: Knoll International and Herman Miller. By doing so Metz was the only Dutch representative of these furniture manufacturers. Unfortunately competition appeared strong and the business changed. In 1973 the firm was sold back to Liberty, the company it all started with at the beginning of the 20th Century. As Petra Timmer concludes in her book Metz & Co., de creatieve jaren, Rotterdam 1995: "Metz & Co. [was] first and foremost the creation of De Leeuw: of Joseph de Leeuw who set forth this artistic policy, of Henk de Leeuw who continued the line marked out by his father, adapting it to suit the changes of the day." The following lots come from the collection of Henk de Leeuw, thence by descent to the present owner.

(4) A glazed pottery footed bowl

DAGOBERT PECHE FOR WIENER WERKSTÄTTE

Details

(4) A glazed pottery footed bowl
DAGOBERT PECHE FOR WIENER WERKSTÄTTE
The octagonal ribbed bowl supported by a circular foot, painted with a medieval couple within tralliswork
10 cm. high; Together with a white glazed waisted cylindrical vase, 15 cm. high, by the same hand; and Two openworked black glazed pottery baskets, 20-25 cm. diam., by Josef Hoffmann
Impressed Wiener Werkstätte monogram (4)

Special notice

Christie's charges a Buyer's premium calculated at 23.205% of the hammer price for each lot with a value up to €110,000. If the hammer price of a lot exceeds €110,000 then the premium for the lot is calculated at 23.205% of the first €110,000 plus 11.9% of any amount in excess of €110,000. Buyer's Premium is calculated on this basis for each lot individually.

Sale room notice

The present lot was on loan to the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam in the 1960s.

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