Collection Wolfers & Petrucci: Hidden Treasures

Philippe Wolfers
Orchidée planter, 1897
Glazed stoneware
Dimensions: 10 × 8 cm
Signed: “PWolfers” and “E. Müller” on the top edge
Marked: “T.6” and “N°5” on the bottom
Provenance:
Philippe Wolfers
Marcel Wolfers and Clairette Petrucci collection
(by descent)
Exhibited:
Ostend, Museum voor Schone Kunsten, 03/06–
30/09/1967, cat. No. 409.
Brussels, Galerie l’Ecuyer, 13/10–12/11/1972, cat. No. 36
Ghent, Museum voor Sierkunst, 12/05–10/06/1979,
cat. No. 13
Lissabon, Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, 05/11–
05/12/1991, cat. No. 136
Brussels, Koninklijke Musea voor Kunst en
Geschiedenis, 15/02–15/04/1992, cat. No. 136
Prague, Musée des Arts Décoratifs, 1995, cat. No. 161
Ghent, Design museum Gent, 16/12/2006–09/04/2007
Bibliography:
Europa 1900, Brussel, Ed. de la Connaissance, 1967, p. 73
Philippe Wolfers 1858–1929 Précurseur de l’Art Nouveau
Statuaire. Exposition Rétrospective, Galerie l’Ecuyer,
1972, s.p.
Philippe Wolfers : juwelen, zilver, ivoor, kristal
(1858–1928), Gent, Museum voor Sierkunst, 1979,
p. 18 (with photo)
Philippe & Marcel Wolfers – De l’Art Nouveau à l’Art
Déco, Bruxelles, K.M.K.G., 1992, p. 91
Belgická Secese 1893–1905 Wallonie-Bruxelles, Prague,
Musée des Arts Décoratifs, 1995, p. 82
Adriaenssens W., Beredeneerde Catalogus van
het persoonlijke oeuvre van Philippe Wolfers in
De Wolfers Dynastie – van art nouveau tot art deco,
Gent, Design museum Gent, 2006, p. 318 (No. 15)
The “Orchids” planter is one of the first fully art nouveau objects that Philippe
Wolfers designed. The small planter was designed in 1895 and first executed
in bronze. A year later Philippe Wolfers showed the plaster model of the large
planter in Paris.
According to family history, Wolfers was approached by Emile Müller of the
“Grande Tuilerie d’Ivry – Emile Müller & Cie.” at the Brussels exhibition of 1897.
Müller was not a stranger to the Belgian market and besides Wolfers, he also
edited pieces by other Belgian artists, most notably by Isidore De Rudder. Müller
asked Wolfers to edit some
models in glazed earthenware
or stoneware. From 1897
onwards, Emile Müller got the
rights to edit several models by
Philippe Wolfers: the small and
large version of the “Orchidée”
planter, the ewer “Le Vin”, the
vase “Fantasia” and maybe
some other models that have
not yet been rediscovered.
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