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拍品專文
GEORG JENSEN
The Georg Jensen Silver firm enjoys worldwide acclaim for its history of ground-breaking design and excellence of craftsmanship. While Georg Jensen (1866-1935) was a genius of silver design in his own right, he promoted the work of other designers to establish the firm as an artistic leader. It was this collaboration with other innovative designers, combined with consistently fine workmanship, that was the key to the firm's continued success throughout the 20th century.
HENNING KOPPEL
By far the firm’s most significant mid-century designer was Henning Koppel (1918-1981), whose work in the Scandinavian Modern style is as relevant to today’s contemporary interiors as when it was introduced in the 1950s.
Danish-born Henning Koppel trained as a sculptor and, surprisingly, did not study as a silversmith. As a refugee in Sweden during the Second World War, Koppel supported himself, in part, by making jewelry and painting. Following the war, Koppel was hired by the Jensen firm to produce new jewelry designs, which were completely abstract in form and full of movement.
Koppel’s hollowware designs for Jensen were strikingly original and reflected the influence of contemporary sculpture. He was a master of abstraction, emphasizing sculptural qualities rather than surface ornament. Koppel continued on to design not only silver flatware, hollowware and lighting, but also porcelain and glass until his death in 1981.
Number 1054, the Eel Dish
Koppel’s most important work remains his Eel and Cod Fish dishes, created in the tradition of the firm’s foremost designers such as Johan Rohde and Harald Nielsen, who also designed signature serving dishes as their masterpieces. Koppel wrote passionately about his Eel and Cod Fish designs:
Things should be worth looking at. It doesn’t matter a whit whether they cost more or less. I am sick to death of all this talk of functionalism. Practicality is not the primary goal when you make a serving dish like this. If you want to eat cod, you can certainly find something else to put it on. Of course, a ladle should be able to function, so you can toss it back into a drawer, when you are done with it. But my serving dish is a work of art, and it should be a delight to see. You display it, look at it, enjoy it every single day. It is not supposed to be put away in some cupboard. In my opinion, beauty is the first thing to strive for in everything. To make something functional and practical is not so terribly difficult as some people make it out to be. In reality, that is the easiest thing. But to make something beautiful, so people say: ‘Oh my God, how beautiful!’ – that’s where the problem is (see Niels-Jorgen Kaiser: The World of Henning Koppel, 2000, pp. 79-80).
Koppel’s resulting silver objects were marvels of silversmithing, requiring 400-500 man hours to produce at extraordinary cost. His Cod Fish dish of 1953 was named because its platter had oversized edges resembling fish lips. The Eel dish of 1956, with its sleek proportions and the stylized mouth design of the handles, conveys its function as a fish or eel serving dish. The brilliance of this design was immediately recognized, and the Eel dish received a Gold Medal at the 1957 Milan Triennale. Today it is an icon of mid-century modern design.
The Georg Jensen Silver firm enjoys worldwide acclaim for its history of ground-breaking design and excellence of craftsmanship. While Georg Jensen (1866-1935) was a genius of silver design in his own right, he promoted the work of other designers to establish the firm as an artistic leader. It was this collaboration with other innovative designers, combined with consistently fine workmanship, that was the key to the firm's continued success throughout the 20th century.
HENNING KOPPEL
By far the firm’s most significant mid-century designer was Henning Koppel (1918-1981), whose work in the Scandinavian Modern style is as relevant to today’s contemporary interiors as when it was introduced in the 1950s.
Danish-born Henning Koppel trained as a sculptor and, surprisingly, did not study as a silversmith. As a refugee in Sweden during the Second World War, Koppel supported himself, in part, by making jewelry and painting. Following the war, Koppel was hired by the Jensen firm to produce new jewelry designs, which were completely abstract in form and full of movement.
Koppel’s hollowware designs for Jensen were strikingly original and reflected the influence of contemporary sculpture. He was a master of abstraction, emphasizing sculptural qualities rather than surface ornament. Koppel continued on to design not only silver flatware, hollowware and lighting, but also porcelain and glass until his death in 1981.
Number 1054, the Eel Dish
Koppel’s most important work remains his Eel and Cod Fish dishes, created in the tradition of the firm’s foremost designers such as Johan Rohde and Harald Nielsen, who also designed signature serving dishes as their masterpieces. Koppel wrote passionately about his Eel and Cod Fish designs:
Things should be worth looking at. It doesn’t matter a whit whether they cost more or less. I am sick to death of all this talk of functionalism. Practicality is not the primary goal when you make a serving dish like this. If you want to eat cod, you can certainly find something else to put it on. Of course, a ladle should be able to function, so you can toss it back into a drawer, when you are done with it. But my serving dish is a work of art, and it should be a delight to see. You display it, look at it, enjoy it every single day. It is not supposed to be put away in some cupboard. In my opinion, beauty is the first thing to strive for in everything. To make something functional and practical is not so terribly difficult as some people make it out to be. In reality, that is the easiest thing. But to make something beautiful, so people say: ‘Oh my God, how beautiful!’ – that’s where the problem is (see Niels-Jorgen Kaiser: The World of Henning Koppel, 2000, pp. 79-80).
Koppel’s resulting silver objects were marvels of silversmithing, requiring 400-500 man hours to produce at extraordinary cost. His Cod Fish dish of 1953 was named because its platter had oversized edges resembling fish lips. The Eel dish of 1956, with its sleek proportions and the stylized mouth design of the handles, conveys its function as a fish or eel serving dish. The brilliance of this design was immediately recognized, and the Eel dish received a Gold Medal at the 1957 Milan Triennale. Today it is an icon of mid-century modern design.