A German gold bowl, Emil Lettré, 20th century

 Emil Lettré (1876-1954) was born in Hanau, Germany into a family of long standing goldsmiths. After his father's premature death, Emil Lettré was sent to an orphanage. Thanks to family contacts he was also trained as a goldsmith and technical drawer at the "Zeichenakademie" in Hanau. Lettré travelled through Europe for several years, afterwhich he started his own workshop in Berlin in 1900. In this period he also worked for a Frankfurt jeweller named Schürmann, becoming master goldsmith there whilst studying under the goldsmith Fritz von Miller and the sculptor Ludwig Dasio. After completing this phase of his education he returned to Berlin. From 1905 until 1907 he worked as part of the team that was commissioned to make the silver wedding present given by the Prussian people to the Royal German couple Wilhelm and Cecile von Mecklenburg-Schwerin .

Prior to the First World War, Lettré launched a form of modern Classicism. His style was unique and demonstrated great craftsmanship. Although very modern, his style contained enough characteristics from Wilhelm’s period to appeal to a broad public.

The gold bowl now offered is a superb example of Lettré’s craftsmanship. The Greek inscription should be read in a more classical sense as: for a good personal spirit. Around 1928 Lettré had become so successful that he was able to expand his atelier with a shop. His career continually grew and in 1933 he was nominated as the successor of Hugo Levens, to lead the Staatlichen Goldschmiedeschule in Hanau. A few years later he was asked to become a member of the Preussische Akademie der Kunste. He was furthermore given the title of Professor and he received a Grand Prix at the World Exhibition in Paris.