FINE ARTS & CRAFTS

The collector Adolphe Stoclet was described by the biographer of his collection as ‘only interested in the exceptional’ and this drive would lead him, in collaboration with the architect and designer Josef Hoffmann, to create the Palais Stoclet – a building now listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Stoclet (a banker from Belguim) met Hoffmann at the Wiener Werkstätte and provided them both with their first major residential project in 1903 (constructed between 1905 and 1908). The house is now considered a great monument of the Vienna Secession and an example of Gesamtkunstwerk –a total work of art.

Hoffmann and Stoclet commissioned Gustav Klimt to design a mosaic frieze, with panels seven metres in length, the Tree of Life was his last monumental commission before his death in 1918. Contemporary photographs of the dining

Michael Jeffery +44 (0)1722 424505 mj@woolleyandwallis.co.uk

Zoe Smith +44 (0)1722 446955 zs@woolleyandwallis.co.uk

Left:

A Wiener Werkstätte silver and malachite centrepiece designed by Josef Hoffmann

Estimate £15,000–20,000

Below left:

A pair of Wiener Werkstätte silver, malachite and glass table salts designed by Josef Hoffmann

Estimate £1,500–2,000

Below right:

A pair of Wiener Werkstätte silver and malachite preserve jars designed by Josef Hoffmann

Estimate £3,000–5,000

Right: Adolphe Stoclet (1871–1949)

Below: A Wiener Werkstätte silver and malachite fruit tray designed by Josef Hoffmann Estimate £10,000–20,000

Robert Wallace Martin

POTTER, SCULPTOR, ARTIST

Michael Jeffery

+44 (0)1722 424505 mj@woolleyandwallis.co.uk

Zoe Smith

+44 (0)1722 446955 zs@woolleyandwallis.co.uk

We are pleased to organise the first ever exhibition highlighting the work of Robert Wallace Martin. The eldest of the Martin Brothers, Robert Wallace trained as an assistant to the Stonemason William Field, working for Sir Charles Barry on The Houses of Parliament.

Proud of his sculpture Robert Wallace exhibited at the Royal Academy and often signed his work RW Martin Sc.. as a nod to his artistic prowess.

The exhibition, taken from private collections, will include early historical vases and jugs, a section of clocks, face jugs, his infamous grotesques, and of course his bird jars.

Above:

A large and early stoneware bowl on ball feet by Robert Wallace Martin, dated 1880

Right:

A stoneware bird jar and cover sculpture by Robert Wallace Martin, dated 1905

Estimate £10,000–20,000

Included in the Fine Arts and Crafts auction on 21st June

Below: Robert Wallace Martin – a contemporary photograph on wood

Below right: A page of sketches by Robert Wallace Martin