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Anna Petrus

(Sweden, 1886-1949)
Estimate
10 000 - 15 000 SEK
907 - 1 360 EUR
985 - 1 480 USD
Hammer price
50 000 SEK
Purchasing info
For condition report contact specialist
Camilla Behrer
Stockholm
Camilla Behrer
Head of Design/ Specialist Modern & Contemporary Decorative Art & Design
+46 (0)708 92 19 77
Anna Petrus
(Sweden, 1886-1949)

a pewter wall sculpture of a lion, Firma Svenskt Tenn, Stockholm probably 1920s-30s.

With mounting for hanging, unmarked. Height 18.5 cm, width 21 cm, depth 4.5 cm.

Provenance

Has been in the same family's possession since it was purchased at Svenskt Tenn many years ago..

Literature

Bukowskis Modern Art + Design, auction 598, spring 2017, catalogue no 138, compare the mirror by Uno Åhrén with Anna Petrus' lion sculpture as a crest.
Marie Rehnberg, "Anna Petrus - Skulptör och industrikonstnär", Signum 2009, see the same mirror with crest ill. p. 96.

According to the Svenskt Tenn archives the model was also sold as a wall sculpure like this.

Designer

Anna Petrus was a sculptor, industrial designer, and artist active in the early 20th century. She was born as Anna Petersson, the daughter of a professor of medicine and a countess, and adopted her surname while studying at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts. She inherited a modest fortune at the age of 11 when her mother passed away, which allowed her to pursue her education in London and travel to Italy and France.

Anna Petrus's major international breakthrough came with the Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes in Paris in 1925, where she showcased items in pewter and cast iron, in the Swedish Grace style. Pewter was considered an outdated material at the time, but its popularity grew as designers like Petrus recognised its advantages. In 1924, she began a collaboration with the then newly established Firma Svenskt Tenn. The lion became a recurring motif in Anna Petrus's work, both as sculptures and as stylised decorations.

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