Art Nouveau Bronze Inkwell with an Owl
Price:5500 SEK490 EUR528 USDChange Currency
Dimensions: Height 18 cm (8 inches) x Width 38 cm (15 inches) x Depth 16 cm (7 inches)
An Art Noveau or Jugend patinated bronze pen and inkwell with an owl sitting in the center. The owl have inset glass eyes. Made ca.1900. Possibly Swedish.
Symbolism of the owl: The modern West generally associates owls with wisdom and vigilance. This link goes back at least as far as Ancient Greece, where Athens, noted for art and scholarship, and Athena, Athens' patron goddess and the goddess of wisdom, had the owl as a symbol.
Art Nouveau, the french term, or "New Art" is an international style of art, architecture, and applied art, especially the decorative arts. The style is known by different names in different languages: Jugendstil in German, Stile Liberty in Italian, Modernisme in Catalan, and also known as the Modern Style in English. It was popular between 1890 and 1910 during the Belle Époque period, and was a reaction against the academic art, eclecticism and historicism of 19th century architecture and decoration. It was often inspired by natural forms such as the sinuous curves of plants and flowers.