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Lot Essay
These graceful bombé bibliothèques are exemplary of Zwiener's distinctive fin de siècle style which expertly fused the high-rococo opulence of the Louis XV period with the fashionable Art Nouveau.
Born in Herdon, Germany, in 1849, Zwiener worked in Paris between 1880 and 1895 with workshops at 12 rue de la Roquette and established himself as one of the premier haut luxe cabinetmakers of the late 19th century. Zwiener was awarded a médaille d'or at the 1889 Paris Exposition Universelle for a magnificent jewellery-cabinet which, like these bookcases, is of curvaceous Louis XV style (sold Christie's, London, 17 March 2011, lot 409, £623,650). Following this success, Kaiser Wilhelm II called Zwiener back to his native Germany to undertake a substantial commission for the Berliner Schloss, including an important bedroom suite sold Sotheby's, New York, 29 June 1989, lots 270-275, now on display at Schloss Charlottenberg.
The present bookcases are a true pair, their serpentine friezes are centered by a male and female water mask respectively. It is thought that Zwiener's Paris workshop was taken over by Maison Jansen, but the pine carcass suggests that the present bookcases are of German manufacture and thus date to after Zwiener's return to Berlin when he had workshops at 81 Gutschinerstrasse. A single bookcase of the model was removed by Kaiser Wilhelm II in exile to Haus Doorn in The Netherlands in 1918 (illustrated Kaiserlicher Kuntstbesitz, Berlin, 1991, no. 321, p. 287).
Born in Herdon, Germany, in 1849, Zwiener worked in Paris between 1880 and 1895 with workshops at 12 rue de la Roquette and established himself as one of the premier haut luxe cabinetmakers of the late 19th century. Zwiener was awarded a médaille d'or at the 1889 Paris Exposition Universelle for a magnificent jewellery-cabinet which, like these bookcases, is of curvaceous Louis XV style (sold Christie's, London, 17 March 2011, lot 409, £623,650). Following this success, Kaiser Wilhelm II called Zwiener back to his native Germany to undertake a substantial commission for the Berliner Schloss, including an important bedroom suite sold Sotheby's, New York, 29 June 1989, lots 270-275, now on display at Schloss Charlottenberg.
The present bookcases are a true pair, their serpentine friezes are centered by a male and female water mask respectively. It is thought that Zwiener's Paris workshop was taken over by Maison Jansen, but the pine carcass suggests that the present bookcases are of German manufacture and thus date to after Zwiener's return to Berlin when he had workshops at 81 Gutschinerstrasse. A single bookcase of the model was removed by Kaiser Wilhelm II in exile to Haus Doorn in The Netherlands in 1918 (illustrated Kaiserlicher Kuntstbesitz, Berlin, 1991, no. 321, p. 287).