Henry Van de Velde

Julius Stern, Berlin, 1902
Thence by descent
Sotheby's Monaco, October 6, 1985, lot 208

This settee was part of an interior commissioned from van de Velde in Berlin by the banker and collector Julius Stern.  The project was an ambitious one comprising the decoration of several large rooms on one floor of a villa in the upscale Tiergarten section of Berlin.  These interiors were published several times in trend-setting journals of the day.  The designs for Julius Stern's city residence represented the most important and large scale commission the Belgian designer received in Germany.  Later in 1912-1913 he also designed Stern's country estate at Geltow near Potsdam. 
This banquette is one of the only surviving pieces from the Berlin residence.