Josef Albers - A glass, chromed-steel and ebony teacup, 1926

Together with porcelain saucer and glass stirrer, the heat-resistant - glass made by Jenaer Glaswerke Schott; the saucer by Staatliche.  Porzellan-Manufaktur Meissen; the steel ring by Krupp AG; the saucer stamped with Meissen factory mark, the steel ring stamped V2A Krupp - Estimate: $70,000-90,000

Provenance : Metallwerkstatt, Bauhaus, Dessau.
Acquired directly from the above in 1928 or 1929 by the parents of the present owner.

Bibliographie : cf. N. F. Weber and M. Filler, Josef + Anni Albers: Designs for Living, exhibition catalogue, Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, New York, 2004, p. 107 for an illustration of a teacup, saucer and stirrer of this model from the collection of the Museum of Modern Art, New York and another example without the stirrer and with a slightly different saucer from the Bauhaus-Archiv, Berlin and p. 45 for information on the piece.

T. Bröhan and T. Berg, Avantgarde Design 1880-1930, Cologne, 1994, p. 99 for an illustration of a teacup, saucer and stirrer of this design.

M. Byars, The Design Encyclopedia, London, 1994, p. 17 for an illustration of the teacup, saucer and stirrer of this design from the collection of The Museum of Modern Art.

K. Weber, Die Metallwerkstatt am Bauhaus, exhibition catalogue, Bauhaus-Archiv Museum für Gestaltung, Berlin, 1992, p. 130 for illustrations of the two versions of this teacup in the Bauhaus-Archiv collection which do not have the stirrer and have a slightly different saucer and two additional versions complete with stirrer and identical saucer.

The Museum of Modern Art, New York: The History and the Collection. New York, 1984, p. 429 for an illustration of a teacup, saucer and stirrer of this model in the collection of The Museum of Modern Art, New York.

H. M. Wingler, Bauhaus Archiv Museum: Architektur, Design, Malerei, Graphik, Kunstpädagogik, Berlin, 1981, p. 123 for an illustration of a teacup of this model without the stirrer and a slightly different saucer in the collection of the Bauhaus-Archiv, Berlin.

H. M. Wingler, The Bauhaus Weimar Dessau Berlin Chicago, Cambridge, MA, 1969, p. 319 for an illustration of a teacup of this model without the stirrer and with a slightly different saucer.

H. Bayer, ed. Bauhaus 50 Years, exhibition catalogue, Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1968, p. 106, no. 226 for an illustration of a teacup of this model without the stirrer and with a slightly different saucer.
H. Bayer, W. Gropius and I. Gropius, eds., 1919-1928 Bauhaus, exhibition catalogue, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1938, p. 135 for an illustration of two teacup, saucers and stirrers of this design.

Biographie : In 1923, after three years as a Bauhaus student, Josef Albers was promoted to instructor. He initially worked parallel to Lazlo Maholy-Nagy and oversaw the "material classes" of the preliminary course. After Moholy-Nagy's departure from the Bauhaus in 1928, Albers assumed responsibility for the entire preliminary section remaining at the school until 1933 when pressure from the Nazi party forced the Bauhaus to close its doors.

Albers joined the Bauhaus staff at a critical turning point in the schools mission and served as an important and influential force in support of the new vision. At the schools founding in 1919 Walter Gropius, the original director, believed that the base for any art was to be found in handcraft. However the reality of technical civilization required a reevaluation of handcraft and, as reflected in the new 1923 Bauhaus motto "art and technology - a new unity," industry, mass production and the machine were to be embraced.

Albers's iconic teacup embodies the Bauhaus's evolved philosophy. The visually simple, utilitarian and functional piece is made from a combination of heat-resistant laboratory glass, steel and porcelain, all materials typically used for industrial products. The piece clearly unites art with industry and celebrates the machine aesthetic.

In the exhibition catalogue, Josef + Anni Albers: Designs for Living, Martin Filler describes that there are two variants of the 1925 teacup and explains how the piece relates "to tea glasses in silvered bronze holders with ebony handles made by the Bauhaus metal workshop student Max Krajewski a year earlier (1924)." He further explains how "both Krajewski's and Albers's designs refer back to vernacular types common both in Eastern Europe and Russia, where tea is customarily drunk from glass rather than ceramic vessels. Albers's teacup differs from Krajewski's in having two handles: a horizontal disc for the server to hand it and a vertical disk for the drinker to receive it, reflecting the designer's belief that a single handle made passing a cup too awkward."

Few examples of Albers' teacup are known to survive. The present teacup, identical to the one in the collection of The Museum of Modern Art, has a flatter, Meissen china saucer used only in the early phase of production and also is complete with the stirrer. Two examples at the Bauhaus-Archive no longer have their stirrers and porcelain saucers which differ in shape and are believed to be of a slightly latter design.

Christie's. Important 20th Century Decorative Art & Design. 18 December 2007. 20 Rockefeller Plaza, New York