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Design

circa 1910 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Designs for inkwells and cigarette holders by Mewès and Davis, c.1910.

The architectural partnership was founded in 1900 by Charles Frédéric Mewès (1860- 1914) and Arthur Joseph Davis (1878-1951). Both studied at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris and became famous for their skillful reinterpretation of 18th-century styles.

They built a large practice working for rich financiers and industrialists both in France and Britain. They remodelled Luton Hoo for the diamond magnate Julius Wernher, and one of their most celebrated commission was the Ritz Hotel (1903-6) in London, the first steel-framed building in the city designed with a Parisian exterior and mansard roof, and interiors in the Louis XVI style.

Object details

Categories
Object type
Materials and techniques
pencil and wash
Brief description
Designs for inkwells and cigarette holders by Mewes and Davis, c. 1910
Physical description
Left: design for an inkwell in the Louis XV style; side view and view from the top with each compartment inscribed: colle, cigare, cigarettes, encre.

Right: design for an inkwell in the Louis XVI style; side view and view from the top.

Bottom: side view of a cigare and cigarette holder in the Louis XVI style.
Dimensions
  • Height: 311mm
  • Width: 211mm
Marks and inscriptions
Encrier LXV; encrier LXVI; colle, cigare, cigarettes, encre; Porte cigare et cigarette
Summary
Designs for inkwells and cigarette holders by Mewès and Davis, c.1910.

The architectural partnership was founded in 1900 by Charles Frédéric Mewès (1860- 1914) and Arthur Joseph Davis (1878-1951). Both studied at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris and became famous for their skillful reinterpretation of 18th-century styles.

They built a large practice working for rich financiers and industrialists both in France and Britain. They remodelled Luton Hoo for the diamond magnate Julius Wernher, and one of their most celebrated commission was the Ritz Hotel (1903-6) in London, the first steel-framed building in the city designed with a Parisian exterior and mansard roof, and interiors in the Louis XVI style.
Bibliographic reference
Cat. 14 Edwardian Opulence. British Art at the Dawn of the Twentieth Century Yale venter for British Art, 2013. ISBN: 978-0-300-19025-0.
Collection
Accession number
E.865:9-1975

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Record createdNovember 13, 2008
Record URL
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