Eliel Saarinen

Gene Watson, Washington, DC, 1975

The Architect and the Industrial Arts:  An Exhibition of Contemporary American Design, New York, 1929, p. 61 and pl. 8
House & Garden, December 1931, p. 67
J. Stewart Johnson, American Modern 1925-1940:  Design for a New Age, New York, 2000, p. 45 (for the larger model)
Jewel Stern, Modernism in American Silver, New Haven, 2005, p. 105 (for the larger model)

Overall excellent condition. With only a few minute scratches. Recently professionally polished. A superb example of an extremely rare form.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

For the eleventh installation of The Metropolitan Museum of Art exhibition series entitled The Architect and the Industrial Arts in 1929, Eliel Saarinen designed a dining room, the focal point of which was a large prototype silver bowl surrounded by four place settings.  The present lot was part of a limited commercial design based on the bowl.  Offered in three sizes, the present lot is the smallest measuring eleven inches in diameter.  Only three other examples of this bowl are presently known to exist, including a thirteen-inch example in the Cranbrook Museum of Art and a fifteen-inch example in the collection of John C. Waddell.

The flatware offered in lot 257 is a larger manufactured service based on one of four prototypes shown by Saarinen in the same 1929 exhibition, which was commercially produced by Dominick & Haffe.