A PAIR of AUSTRIAN COLD-PAINTED BRONZE BOOKENDS, signed CHOTKA, c. 1925

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A PAIR of AUSTRIAN COLD-PAINTED BRONZE BOOKENDS, signed CHOTKA, c. 1925:
$1595.00

A Pair of Austrian Cold-Painted Bronze Bookends, signed Chotka, c. 1925

This is a fine pair of Orientalist Austrian cold-painted bronze bookends, depicting a man and a woman respectively, going to a well for water. The man has one leg raised on the bottom step of the well, drinking deeply from a flask. She stands, legs astride, tipping back a large, gourd-shaped urn on the well ledge. Both figures wear traditional tribal dress and head-coverings.

The form of the bookends consists of rectangular platform bases with curved fronts and shallow relief backdrops with a pair of palm trees framing a skyline of mosques and minarets, behind the stone wells, which extend onto the platform. The raised, finely detailed figures are in the foreground, before the well, in the centre of the platform. The bookends are richly decorated with polychrome paint and gilt highlights. The applied colouring remains vivid, and is in excellent condition.

This particular set was made for Birks, an important Canadian jeweller and giftware store.

There were over 50 Austrian shops producing cold-painted bronzes in the 1920s. Paintresses (mostly, women did this work) skillfully applied the colourful \"dust pigment\" to the surface of the bronzes, after casting.

These rare and unusual bookends would make a fine addition to either a collection of cold painted bronzes, or Orientalist art .

Marked: Signed by the artist: \"Chotka\" for Anton Chotka (1881-1955) on the left-hand side and stamped \"Ryrie Birks\" Austria on the back, indicating they were manufactured for Canada\'s per-eminent jewellery and giftware store (pictured).

Measures: Dimensions: 6 1/4\" H x 4 1/2\" W x 4\" D.

Excellent Condition: Minimal wear and patination to the paint and gilding. No damage, or repairs (pictured).

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