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Vienna DorotheumThe Vienna Dorotheum is the oldest of the major auction houses. Emperor Joseph I founded the "Versatz und Fragamtes zu Wien" in 1707. It took it's current name thanks to its early location in the Dorotheum convent. In 1901 the Auction House moved to the Palais Dorotheum, and proudly celebrated the location's 100 year anniversary in 2001. The Dorotheum holds upwards of 600 auctions a year covering the spectrum of collectibles from master works, jewelry, and contemporary art to name a mere few. The Auction House is noted for holding four separate important auction weeks each year and one of these famed weeks is fast approaching. There are a multitude of auctions during this week including Furniture and Decorative Art, 19th Century Paintings and Watercolors and Silver. The Vienna Dorotheum goes that extra step to help patrons make their selections. "During the viewing of selected objects of our fourth major auction week in November 2003 Specialists of the Dorotheum Vienna will make themselves available to offer highly informed counseling in all major fields free of charge." Auction WeekNovember 24-28, 2003The Vienna Dorotheum hosts an important week of activities during it's final sale in 2003. Furniture and Decorative ArtNovember 24, 2003Important writing furniture is the prime focus of the Furniture auction at the Vienna Dorotheum. One of the most noted pieces is a lady's writing desk by Alexandre Tahan (1813-1892) from the age of Napoleon III.
Tahan, best remembered for his incomparable ebony work, was the supplier to the Paris Court. Included within this auction are pieces made by Sormani Veuve Paul et Fils, such as a small convertible table. A secretarie de pente by Antonine Mathieu Craierd is featured, it is a lady's writing desk with an angled, unfolding writing surface and this piece is from the Louis XV mid-18th century time frame. The auctions top-lots include a rare Spanish refectory table of the 17th Century, a provincial English Renaissance commode and an Empire console table. There also is a rare Viennese Wiener Biedermeier writing desk of 1832 by August Schröder, the master cabinet-maker. 19th Century Paintings and WatercolorsNovember 24, 2003Works by Friedrich Gauermann, Ferdinand Gerog Waldmüller, Johann Knapp, Carl von Blaas, and Dominique Grenet are merely a few of the noted artists whose works are included in the Landscape, Still Life, and Beautiful Ladies pieces that form this 19th Century Paintings auction at the Dorotheum. Outstanding among the works is a Friedrich Gauermann (1807-1862) painting illustrating the watering of horses and a mounted peasant boy. This is an excellent example of a Biedermeier painting, in which nature is detailed and precise, a school of art that developed shortly after the defeat of Napoleon. The Biedermeier influences were more commonly felt in furniture but there was an impact on painting at the time.
Friedrich Gauermann was a noted Austrian painter and the son of the landscape artists Jacob Gauermann. The above painting is typical of the artist's style to depict animals within an imposing and dominating scenic background. The floral still life from Johann Knapp, Peter Mork Monsted's sunlit brook side landscape after the rain, Michel Martin Drolling's portrait of a young lady with her dog, on stairs looking onto a park landscape will be included in this auction. SilverNovember 27, 2003Noted silver and goldsmiths from all across Europe, such as Augsburg, Budapest, London, Moscow, Paris and Rome are featured in the Silver Auction. The historical significance of this collection is perhaps best demonstrated with the inclusion of a gilded silver lidded saucepan that is from the personal table service of Emperor Napoleon I. Martin Guillaume Biennais, goldsmith to the Imperial Court created this saucepan.
Also included is the London Winner's Cup of the Steward's Cup horse-race from 1801, a piece with elaborate workmanship by Robert Makepeace and Richard Cooke. The selection ranges from the Baroque up to the fine de siécle, Viennese candleholders from the Theresian period, jewelry boxes, cigarette cases and many other pieces. |
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