Lot 26: GEORGE WASHINGTON MAHER

GEORGE WASHINGTON MAHER AN IMPORTANT TALL-CASE CLOCK FROM "ROCKLEDGE," THE ERNEST AND GRACE KING RESIDENCE, HOMER, MINNESOTA stained oak, copper, brass, chromium-plated metal, painted metal, glass and silk 80 x 31 1/2 x 15 1/8 in. (203.2 x 80 x 38.4 cm) circa 1912

The Art that is Life: The Arts & Crafts Movement in America, 1875-1920, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, March 4-May 31, 1987
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, August 16-November 1, 1987
The Detroit Institute of Arts, December 9, 1987-February 28, 1988
Cooper-Hewitt Museum, New York, April 5-June 26, 1988
The Ideal Home: The History of Twentieth-Century American Craft 1900, American Craft Museum, New York, October 21, 1993-February 15, 1994

Ernest and Grace King, Homer, MN
Thence by descent
Hollander Gallery, Ltd., Milwaukee WI, September 10, 1982, lot 18
Robert Edwards, Bryn Mawr, PA
Phillips New York, June 27, 1987, lot 85

In 1912 George Washington Maher designed "Rockledge," a palatial residence near Homer, Minnesota, for E. L. King, a salesman who married into the Watkins pharmaceutical empire. In 1897, Maher conceived of his original "motif-rhythm" theory, which was fully realized in his designs for "Rockledge." Landscape, house and interior decoration were unified through systematic repetition and integration of architectural elements, geometric figures and the incorporation of indigenous colors and floral motifs. The segmental arch was an important unifying device for both the interior and exterior of "Rockledge," and was boldly integrated in the furniture crest rails, the lintels above the fireplace, and in the top of the clock case offered in the present lot. The same arch device was used on the exterior for the entrance portico, the layout of the terraces and the shape of the swimming pool. Maher's commission at Rockledge demonstrated the finest craftsmanship of the Arts and Crafts movement, in a interior realized through a combination of typical English elements and American conventions.