Incollect Magazine - Issue 10

68 www.incollect.com Rare and important Bathers cabinet, circa 1968. Engraved, patinated bronze and pewter with decorated doors and intricate top surface patterning. Very few are known to exist, as this was a complex and time-consuming piece to produce. The Bathers design is a clear departure from the earlier illustrative Chinoiserie and Etruscan motifs, moving toward abstraction. It draws clear inspiration from the works of early modern masters, Cezanne and especially Matisse; the curved and segmented body contours of the Bathers showing distinct parallels to Matisse’s Blue Nude III. “The Chi Liang (tr. Broad Mindfulness) coffee table was created in the 1960s in patinated bronze and pewter with engraving and hand-painted vibrant enamels in blue, green, orange, and white; hand-formed in an undulating, multi-level shape. As described by Kelvin LaVerne: ‘The design is from a painting in China made many centuries ago. It depicts and symbolizes the Sky (representing heaven, mortality, spirituality, and the universe), the Earth (representing growth, nature, and material needs), and the River that runs through (representing fate, life, and destiny). The paintings with pastoral scenes symbolizing the religious and philosophical concepts inherent in the narrative, as well as the beauty in the artwork, is what we found so fascinating and gave us the inspiration and determination to represent these ancient Eastern civilizations and histories visually on a sculptural modern platform. The many philosophies and religions in China throughout the centuries, although similar, offered slightly different mythologies, depending on the ruling dynasty. So we created a table with a sculptural form that gives voice to all, in its dimension and shape the platforms that rise and fall in an undulating movement suggesting the uncertainties and vagaries of life. Although extremely contemporary, the form maintains the integrity of a Chinese presence.’”