Master Art

Designed by: Henry van de Velde attr., around 1898

Mahogany solid, carved, polished, mother-of-pearl inlays, slate (top), green billiard cloth and reddish-brown ball pockets renewed, very beautiful original condition.

Playing surface: 220 x 110 cm

The decorative motif used for this table was also used on his famous “Secession desk" for Ludwig Loeffler, created in 1898 (model 1896; Germanisches Nationalmuseum Nuremberg), and on a number of small pieces of furniture, such as a side cabinet from 1897 (Klassik Stiftung Weimar), a graphics cabinet from 1899 (Germanisches Nationalmuseum Nuremberg) and the utensils cabinet for his painter friend Curt Herrmann (1900; private property).

All of these pieces of furniture reflect van de Velde's organic approach to
material, form and surface: in a programmatic departure from Historicism, the ornament is no longer an applied decoration, but rather a plastic-sculptural moment that shapes both functional and decorative objects.