Lot 54

TWO BOXES

The lid of one box features the motif of St. George's Rotunda on Říp Mountain (similar in: Artěl, Umění pro všední den 1908-1935, Jiří Froněk, Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague, pp. 192–195). The lathe-turned, carved and painted boxes are an example of the production of Artěl, one of the most significant institutions of Czech applied art and design in the first half of the 20th century. Artěl (from the Russian word for “cooperative association”) was established in Prague in 1908 and focused on designing and producing small applied and decorative objects made of wood, ceramic, metal and other materials. Artěl later expanded its scope to include residential and commercial interior design, and it can be considered an integral part of the European modern style alongside Wiener Werkstätte in Austria and the Bauhaus in Germany.