展品专文
The firm of Edward F. Caldwell & Co. was the preeminent designer and retailer of fine lighting fixtures to the captains of industry who heralded America’s Gilded Age. Known for their European-inspired decorations which often rivaled the best French foundries, the firm received commissions from a host of affluent clientele whose lavish homes lined Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue and sprung up on the shores of Newport and Long Island’s ‘Gold Coast’. As chief designer at Archer & Pancoast Manufacturing Co., producers of fine gaslight and electric fixtures, Caldwell oversaw designs provided to the renowned architectural firm McKim, Mead & White. Caldwell’s genius certainly left a lasting impression on the architectural titan, Stanford White, particularly following their collaboration on fixtures for the New York State Building at the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893. The pair would often collaborate on residential and commercial projects following the establishment of Caldwell’s New York foundry in 1895.
The design for the present lot, modeled with reclining tritons recalling Italian Renaissance works such as the iconic Cellini salt cellar (c. 1542), first appears in the Company client ledger on 4 January 1905 (A5) for Isaac Guggenheim. Intended for his Long Island mansion 'Villa Carola' (1907), the center-bowl is shown in situ in the Summer Dining Room circa 1920 (illustrated left). Another example of this model sold Christie’s, New York, 25 October 2007, lot 308 ($97,000).
The design for the present lot, modeled with reclining tritons recalling Italian Renaissance works such as the iconic Cellini salt cellar (c. 1542), first appears in the Company client ledger on 4 January 1905 (A5) for Isaac Guggenheim. Intended for his Long Island mansion 'Villa Carola' (1907), the center-bowl is shown in situ in the Summer Dining Room circa 1920 (illustrated left). Another example of this model sold Christie’s, New York, 25 October 2007, lot 308 ($97,000).