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1970s Mid-Century Modernist Ward Bennett Silver-Plated Brass Crescent Bowl

About the Item

An iconic, sculptural Mid-Century Modernist centerpiece bowl designed by the legendary American designer Ward Bennett, circa 1970. This highly recognizable form showcases Bennett's signature mastery of minimalist, geometric precision, featuring a perfectly rounded bulbous base that seamlessly pinches up into a striking, squared-off rim. This juxtaposition creates dramatic, crescent-shaped swoops on the sides, maximizing the interplay of light and shadow across its surfaces. Unsigned. The heavy, substantial bowl was masterfully manufactured from solid brass and originally finished with a thick layer of high-polished silver plating. While it is unsigned, the silhouette is an absolute signature Ward Bennett archetype. The bowl is offered in authentic vintage condition, showing an honest, extensive loss to the silver plate across the outer body. This wear beautifully exposes the warm, glowing brass beneath, creating a mesmerizing, two-tone "mixed metal" aesthetic that gives the piece an incredibly rich, wabi-sabi architectural character. A commanding decorative object, it serves as a stunning focal centerpiece on a brutalist credenza, dining table, or post-modern library shelf. Hailed by The New York Times as a designer who transformed the look of corporate and residential America, Ward Bennett was a true polymath whose career spanned interior design, furniture, textiles, and decorative arts. A self-taught genius who left school at age 13, Bennett studied fashion in Paris, worked with the pioneer modernist Constantin Brâncuși, and ultimately brought a clean, industrial, yet highly sensual refinement to post-war American design. Bennett’s design philosophy was rooted in absolute functionalism and the elimination of superfluous decoration. He spent his life scaling back objects to their barest structural truths. His metalware designs—most notably his highly collectible series of geometric brass and silver-plated bowls—are coveted by international collectors for their heavy material presence and architectural gravity. Today, Bennett's masterworks are immortalized in the permanent collections of elite cultural institutions worldwide, including The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) and the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum.

Creator:
Ward Bennett (Designer)
Dimensions:
Height: 3.88 in (9.86 cm)Width: 7.5 in (19.05 cm)Depth: 7.5 in (19.05 cm)
Style:
Mid-Century Modern (Of the Period)
Materials and Techniques:
Brass,Silver Plate
Place of Origin:
United States
Period:
1970-1979
Date of Manufacture:
1970s
Condition:
Wear consistent with age and use. Minor losses. in well used condition, loss to silver plate , little dings to rim as seen in photo.
Seller Location:
St. Louis, MO
Reference Number:
1stDibs: LU820250902062

Shop All Ward Bennett

Ward Bennett

Ward Bennett created everything from interiors and furniture to textiles and flatware. The unsung New York City-born modernist designer drew on the work of Le Corbusier and Auguste Rodin, studied art with the likes of Abstract Expressionist painter Hans Hofmann and counted legendary American luxury house Tiffany & Co. among his clients. For decades, Bennett created and filled spaces that were elegant, minimalist and deeply appealed to everyone who laid eyes on them.

Bennett left home and school at the young age of 13. He found work in Manhattan’s Garment District, and within a few years, Bennett traveled to Europe on behalf of a clothing manufacturer to gather ideas for modern garments. He lived abroad as a young man, and when he returned to New York, during the early 1940s, he assisted fashion entrepreneur Hattie Carnegie as a window dresser.

Bennett would also go on to share a sculpture studio with artist Louise Nevelson. He ventured into the world of jewelry design, creating necklaces, bracelets and other pieces with Richard Pousette-Dart. The Whitney Museum of American Art exhibited his sculptures, and it wouldn’t be long before the Museum of Modern Art included Bennett’s personal adornments with accessories by the likes of Alexander Calder, Harry Bertoia and Anni Albers in its 1946 “Modern Handmade Jewelry” show.

Bennett didn’t take the plunge into interior design work until he was 30 years old — his inaugural project was an apartment in Manhattan and his clients were family members. He had no formal training in architecture or decorating — and would ultimately design a mere handful of houses in his life — so for his inviting leather office chairs, marble-topped tables and sleek storage cabinets, Bennett relied only on what he learned in the fashion world. Soon, every time he redecorated his own home — an elaborate apartment comprising former maids’ quarters in New York City’s magnificent Dakota building — it earned splashy coverage in the newspapers.

Bennett’s client list eventually included David Rockefeller and Chase Manhattan Bank, Tiffany & Co., Sasaki, Italian industrialist Gianni Agnelli, and others, and during the 1970s he became in-house designer for Brickel Associates, a role that would endure for more than two decades. His work is on permanent view at the Museum of Modern Art and the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum in New York.

On 1stDibs, find vintage Ward Bennett seating, decorative objects and more.