Eda Lord Dixon

Cranbrook Academy of Art, Bloomfield Hills, MI
Sotheby Parke-Bernet, New York, May 2, 1972, lot 34
Acquired from the above by the present owner

7th Annual Arts and Crafts Exhibition, Original Designs for Decorations and Examples of Art Crafts of Distinctive Merit, Art Institute of Chicago, December 8-22, 1908, no. 840

Overall in excellent original condition. All of the enamel panels are intact and in excellent condition presenting with exquisite detail and coloration. The silver elements are fully tarnished displaying a beautiful aged patina that accentuates the exquisite design and workmanship of the hand mirror. The peacock panel with very light surface scratches and gentle rubbing to the high points of the design. With one 2 ¼ inch stable hairline crack to the ivory extending vertically down the front of the handle. This hairline is superficial and only visible on the front of the hand mirror, and does not extend to the reverse side of the handle. The handle is slightly loose where the mount is attached. The circular mirror glass is original, with some very small and minor scattered scratches to the central mirror surface. This piece is an award-winning masterwork of enamel work executed by the artist with bright jewel tones that accentuate the peacock, floral and butterfly motifs. The champlevé and cloisonné enamel techniques are displayed in the peacock and floral motifs medallions on the front and reverse of the mirror.
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.

Eda Hurd Lord was born in Chicago in 1876.  In 1908, she exhibited the present lot at the Art Institute of Chicago’s 7^thAnnual Arts and Crafts Exhibition under her married name, Eda Lord Young.  A year later she married Lawrence Belmont Dixon, and by 1910 the newlyweds had settled in Riverside, California.  This mirror was exhibited again in 1915 at the Panama-California Exposition in San Diego.  Later, it seems to have been acquired by the renowned crafts patron, George G. Booth for the Detroit Institute of Arts.  The mirror came to the collection at the Cranbrook Academy of Arts (founded by Booth) in an exchange with the Detroit Institute of Arts and was subsequently among the Cranbrook Academy of Arts sale items at Sotheby Parke-Bernet in 1972.

Eda was trained by two of the leading teacher artist-practitioners in their fields:  the London enamels artist, Alexander Fisher, and the Chicago jeweler, James Winn.  Three enamel techniques taught by Fisher are seen in the mirror: cloisonné for the lily pond roundel, translucent painting for the butterflies, and champlevé on the mirror’s frame.  The embossed circular repeat of a peacock and tree bordering the pond was in the concurrent mode of British and American graphic decoration.  In 1911, the Boston Society of Arts and Crafts publication, Handicraft, observed, “Mrs. Eda Ford [sic] Dixon was for three years a pupil of Alexander Fisher of London, and to her naturally, critical and sensitive taste has been added under his inspiring influence a sound technique founded on the best traditions of the craft.”

The mirror was illustrated in Palette and Bench in March 1909 and in House Beautiful in January 1915.  This article also commented on a necklace by the couple: “Here the enamel is French, but Mr. and Mrs. Dixon are also working to charming purpose in the Japanese cloisonné, proving that an art once distinctive of Western Europe and later almost exclusively Chinese and Japanese, can be successfully practiced in modern America.”  A year later the mirror was illustrated in Hazel H. Adler’s book, The New Interior:  Modern Decorations for the Modern Home.  Added recognition came in 1916 at the Artists’ Guild of Chicago’s exhibition, where the Dixons took the top price of $50.00.  More importantly, the couple joined the elite eleven craftspeople to receive the Boston’s Society of Arts and Crafts highest recognition, and with it, the Medalist award. 

While raising a family and maintaining orange groves in Riverside, the couple created silverware and jewelry that they exhibited in both solo and group exhibitions in Chicago, Detroit, Boston and elsewhere until Eda’s death in 1926.

— W. Scott Braznell, Art Historian