Josef Frank
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For condition report contact specialist
a three pcs tea service, Svenskt Tenn 1946-48. Alva & Gunnar Myrdal's Collection.
Black lacquered finials and handles, maker's marks U8, X8. Height of the teapot 14 cm.
Wear. The teapot with repair to bottom. Wooden finials later.
Provenance
Alva & Gunnar Myrdal. Thence by descent.
Literature
Ed. Åke Huldt "Konsthantverk och Hemslöjd i Sverige 1930-1940, Förlag AB Bokförmedlingen, Göteborg 1941, p 244.
Hedvig Hedqvist, Rikard Jacobson, Jan von Gerber, "Modernt Svenskt Tenn", Atlantis, 2004, p 99.
More information
Family anecdote:
"The pewter tea-service was used frequently when having coffee and tea sitting by the pewter-top table by Uno Åhrén".
Designer
Josef Frank was born in Austria and studied architecture in Vienna. As an architect, he worked with private home areas, villas and apartment buildings. In 1925 he started his own interior design firm Haus und Garten together with two architect colleagues. In connection with the advance of the Nazis, he emigrated to Sweden and was employed in 1934 at Svenskt Tenn. After the outbreak of World War II, Josef Frank, who came from a Jewish family, was forced into exile in New York. At Svenskt Tenn, he made an impact on the product range for four decades; especially when it comes to furniture and fabric prints.
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