PROPERTY FROM THE CORPORATE COLLECTION OF LENOX/GORHAM (LOTS 223-228) The names Gorham and Lenox resound not only because of their reputations for exemplary craftsmanship, but also for their quintessentially American approach to design, which was inspired by the events, people and scenes of America. The following six lots by Gorham, and the fifty-two lots of Lenox that begin the afternoon session, are part of an unprecedented collection of sculpture, silver, porcelain and decorative arts from the former corporate collection of Lenox/Gorham to be sold in these rooms. Included among the offerings are prized specimens that were on display at the respective corporate headquarters. The collection is being made available, for the first time, by the Brown-Forman Corporation, which was the parent company of Lenox from 1983-2005. After Lenox purchased Gorham in 1991, nearly 2,000 pieces of the company's most significant work in silver, plus fifty presentation drawings and 1,500 working drawings, went to the Rhode Island School of Design Museum. Brown-Forman continued the work of preserving archival material by placing further donations with regional institutions near the original factory sites, including a selection from the Gorham archives, which went to the Brown University Library. The Gorham Manufacturing Company, established in 1831 in Providence, Rhode Island, was at one time, the world's largest manufacturer of silver. Gorham's extensive bronze-casting division, which developed out of their ecclesiastical offerings, afforded native sculptors the opportunity to work at home in America rather than abroad. The company's first large-scale non-ecclesiastical sculpture, cast in 1885, was a Civil War memorial designed by Frederick Kohlhagen for Gettysburg. When the sculpture was erected, it generated nationwide interest (C. H. Carpenter, Gorham Silver, San Francisco, 1997, pp. 115-116). Compared to marble, bronze was seen as stronger and more practical for both public monuments and domestic statuettes. Beginning in the early 20th Century, the firm began to produce a great many art bronzes, designed for the home and garden, modelled after designs by an array of well-known sculptors. A testament to the importance of bronze-work for Gorham, it was bronze relief plaques (see lots 223 & 225) that greeted visitors to the company's new location at Elmwood at the end of the 19th century (Bronzes and Bronze Casting, Gorham Manufacturing Company, Providence, 1893, p.1).

Two American patinated bronze portrait roundels of Michelangelo and Cellini

CAST BY GORHAM, PROVIDENCE, LATE 19TH CENTURY

Details

Two American patinated bronze portrait roundels of Michelangelo and Cellini
Cast by Gorham, Providence, Late 19th Century
Each cast in relief, one inscribed MICHL ANGELO, the other with an outer frame, inscribed BENVO CELLINI
Michelangelo: 26 in. (66 in.) diameter, Cellini: 31½ in. (80 cm.) diameter, overall (2)

Literature

Bronzes and Bronze Casting, Gorham Manufacturing Company, Providence, 1893, p.1.

John Webster Keefe and Samuel J. Hough, Magnificent, Marvelous Martelé: American Art Nouveau Silver, 2001, p. 2, illustration of Michelangelo

Lot Essay

These two roundels graced the vestibule of the Gorham Manufacturing company. The Michelangelo plaque can be seen in a late 19th Century photograph of the Gorham Design Room (see illustration on the previous page).

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