STYLE: Furniture, Silver, Ceramics
STYLE: Furniture, Silver, Ceramics
A GERMAN HARDSTONE, 18K GOLD, AND GEM-SET BIRD, MANFRED WILD, IDAR-OBERSTEIN, 20TH CENTURY
Lot Closed
October 21, 04:26 PM GMT
Estimate
5,000 - 7,000 USD
Lot Details
Description
A GERMAN HARDSTONE, 18K GOLD, AND GEM-SET BIRD, MANFRED WILD, IDAR-OBERSTEIN, 20TH CENTURY
carved bird figure in blue chalcedony with a red aventurine beak and wearing a black obsidian jacket, a white chalcedony dress shirt with sapphire cabochon buttons, an opal cravat, and red jasper pants, mounted on a circular black obsidian base with 18K gold rim
the obsidian base signed M. Wild, the gold rim marked 750 and EB/OHG for the Emil Becker workshop
height 6 in.
15.2 cm
Born in 1944, Manfred Wild is an eighth-generation gem cutter; the family has been fine stone-cutters since 1630. His wife Ute is the granddaughter of Emil Becker, who was the owner of a well-known stone-cutting workshop in Idar-Oberstein, which the couple now run. Wild's works are in numerous museum collections including the German Gemstone Museum in Idar-Oberstein, the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., the Harvard Museum in Boston, the Carnegie Museum in Pittsburgh, and the Iksan Jewellery Museum in Korea.