Ludwig Mies van der Rohe
(German-American, 1886-1969)
Early Barcelona Coffee Table
USA, circa late 1940s
chrome-plated metal, likely brass, glass
17 1/2 h x 38 3/4 w x 38 3/4 d in
This lot is located in Philadelphia.
Note
A Philadelphia architect, Helen Pratt married Roger Sherman Pratt in 1962, while they were both in graduate architecture school at the University of Pennsylvania. Mr. Pratt was the son of Trude Lash, the political activist and close associate of Eleanor Roosevelt. According to Ms. Pratt, the present lot was custom ordered by Philip Johnson for Ms. Lash after her divorce from Eliot Pratt in 1943 and remarriage to Joseph Lash in 1944 (Ms. Lash reputedly engaged Johnson to furnish her New York apartment in the late 1940s). The fabricator of the table is unknown, but the profile of the leg joints and thickness of the glass top (approximately 7/8 in.) distinguish it from both earlier German production examples and both period and contemporary Knoll production examples.
Custom commissioned pre-Knoll production
Provenance
Commissioned by Philip Johnson for Trude Lash, by repute
Acquired as a gift from Trude Lash to her son, Roger Sherman Pratt
The Collection of Helen Pratt, by marriage
