Arts & Crafts Bronze Trench Vases WWI Dirk Van Erp San Francisco




Item History & Price

Information:
Reference Number: Avaluer:148414
Original Description:
A FANTASTIC matched pair of bronze/brass vases, hand-made in the early 20th century from the empty casings of used munition shells. Original patina and excellent condition overall (bits of whitish paint, perhaps very slight rim dents or unevenness -- see pics).
These folk art pieces were sometimes made during and after World War I and referred to as "trench art, " after the notoriously brutal battlegrounds of that conflict that spent so many shells, and lives.
But these vases wer...e also made before the war by various craftsmen, notably Dirk van Erp, the Dutch immigrant who later became famous for his copper and mica lamps. From 1900 to 1908 van Erp worked at the Mare Island Naval Yard in San Francisco Bay. In 1907 he started selling vases he had hand-hammered out of shell casings. He did not sign his shell vases, but he is thought to have used casings made by at least three manufacturers: Washington Naval Yard (WNY), UMC, and Winchester.
I don't know who made these particular vases, and I can't make out all the markings on the underside. I can say, however, that the workmanship is very fine and detailed. They are the work of a sensitive artist and exceptional metalworker. It is also unusual to find a matched pair. 
 Whoever made them, there is something poignant about objects of destruction refashioned into vases for flowers.



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