£2,250
Auction: Design Since 1860
pewter with inset turquoise and garnet-coloured cabochon stones, comprising a EWER, stamped maker's marks OSIRIS 656, 37.5cm high; a BASIN, unmarked, 43cm diameter; and a SOAP DISH & COVER, stamped maker's mark 731, 14.2cm diameter
Provenance: Property from an Important Private Collection
Literature: Kinchin, Juliet The Wylie & Lochhead Style, The Journal of the Decorative Arts Society 1850 - the Present, No. 9, Aspects of British Design 1870 - 1930 (1985), pp. 4-16
E. Cumming (ed.) Glasgow 1900: Art and Design, Van Gogh Museum 1993
Note:A similar toilet set, designed by George Logan for Wylie & Lochhead, was exhibited by them at the Glasgow International exhibition of 1901, and at the pioneering Turin exhibition in 1902, marking the first and only time Logan’s work was exhibited alongside the designs of Charles Rennie Mackintosh. There are only two other known examples of this set, and both are currently in public collections, one belonging to The National Trust, Standen and the other to Glasgow Museums and Galleries.
Wylie & Lochhead collaborated with many designers in the Glasgow Style, such as John Ednie and E. A. Taylor, however it was Logan who had the earliest and longest partnership with the company. For the 1901 exhibition, Logan designed the library and bedroom, and the ewer and basin would have been displayed on the washstand which formed part of the interior scheme. The full extent of Wylie & Lochhead’s involvement in the production of the set is not yet known. However, the stamped marks to the ewer indicate the set was sub-contacted out to Walter Scherf’s company. Indeed, the company would have been familiar to UK firms and retailers; following the prominence of the Art Nouveau aesthetic in 1899, Liberty’s began trading a range of pewter-wares manufactured by German firms, including Scherf’s ‘Osiris’ brand. The ewer at Standen is similarly marked and decorated with turquoise cabochon stones, which are lacking from the Glasgow example. Uniquely, the present lot has also survived with its matching soap dish.