Lot 95

František Bílek (1872 - 1941) VASE WITH A FREE SCULPTURE

At the first glance of the vase with the unmistakable handwriting of František Bílek, it is obvious that this is a timeless mystical work. František Bílek engraved and shaped his works as if he had torn them out from his own soul. Although he is associated primarily with Christian themes, his work is more a picture of humanity and internal experiences than of Christian realities themselves. The twisted female sculpture, succumbed to the painful loss, touches the body of the vase and points to a number of motifs that refer to the religious traditions of ancient Egypt and its Book of the Dead. The engraved motif puts the human figure in front of ancient deities and a winged scarab - a motif of cyclical life and rebirth. Ancient Egypt, as the cradle of biblical stories, fascinated Bílek and inspired him to model the facade of his villa according to the columned courtyard of Amenhotep III. in Luxor. The archaic style perhaps imitates the pre-Christian Etruscan pottery "bucchero", on which mythical motifs are often encountered and accompanied by zoomorphic or anthropomorphic sculptures. Analogical vase exists in the collections of Prague City Gallery under inventory number P - 1480.