“Mikrokosmos” Urn in Original Ultramarine Blue by Olof Hult for Nafveqvarns Bruk

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“Mikrokosmos” Urn in Original Ultramarine Blue by Olof Hult for Nafveqvarns Bruk

About the Item

“Mikrokosmos” (“Microcosm”) urn designed by Olof Hult (1892-1962) for Nafveqvarns Bruk, in cast iron with original ultramarine blue paint, Sweden, designed 1922, executed 1923-early 1930s. A microcosm, the relief depictions include the Sun, Moon, a planet with a ring, stars, a bird, and a little flora. After graduating from the Royal Institute of Technology in 1919, Olof Hult (1892-1962) worked under influential architects Lars Israel Wahlman and Ivar Tengbom. During his tenure in the Tengbom office, he workd on two of the most important commissions of the 1920s, the landmark Stockholms Konserthus and the infamously luxurious “Matchstick Palace” headquarters of safety match monopolist Ivar Krüger. Like most Swedish architects who worked into the 1930s, Hult’s work would eventually became more “Functionalist” (as the local Swedish modernist movement described itself) in tone. Hult designed several models for the Näfveqvarns Foundry, most notably, this urn model, “Mikrokosmos” and the “Snäckurnan” model, both designed in 1922 and put into production the following year. Both of Hult’s urn designs are unique among the Foundry’s artistic offerings in their almost mystical narrative on nature and the universe (in contrast to the light-hearted classicism that characterizes most of this production. “Mikrokosmos” (“Microcosm”) uses symbols of the natural world and the cosmos to represent a self-contained universe. (“Snäckurnan” was inspired by the spiraling of a shell.) Literature: Christian Björk, Näfveqvarns Bruk Konstnärer och Arkitekter Till Industrin, Stockholm, 2013, pgs. 60-61(cf.: Christian Björk, Näfveqvarns Bruk Konstnärer och Arkitekter Till Industrin, Stockholm, 2013, pgs. 60-61)

Creator:
Olof Hult (Designer),Nafveqvarns Bruk (Maker)
Dimensions:
Height: 7.5 in (19.05 cm)Diameter: 15 in (38.1 cm)
Style:
Art Deco (Of the Period)
Materials and Techniques:
Iron,Paint,Cast
Place of Origin:
Sweden
Period:
1920-1929
Date of Manufacture:
1920s
Condition:
Wear consistent with age and use.
Seller Location:
New York, NY
Reference Number:
1stDibs: LU91412722372