On Thursday 24 May 2018, Sotheby’s in New York will offer some 180 works of 20th-century European and American design, both pre- and post-World War II, in a sale titled 'Important Design'.
Featuring works by a glittering roll call of leading international designers, the pre-war selection includes five important clerestory windows from Frank Lloyd Wright’s Avery Coonley Playhouse, masterworks by the Scottish Arts and Crafts silversmith Archibald Knox from a Manx collection, and a section dedicated to the leaded glass works of Tiffany Studios, as well as one carpet of appropriate period and pedigree.
Produced by Morris & Co. Art-Workers Ltd., London, lot 393 is an outsize mid-1930s version of the McCulloch ‘Hammersmith’ carpet, originally designed circa 1900-1902 for the London (Queensgate) home of the successful Australian mining engineer George McCulloch by John Henry Dearle, which sold in 1989 for a then world record price (long surpassed) of $133,960 (HALI 71, p.161). The present carpet, which measures 5.80 x 9.30 m and shows a multiple repeat of the original design, appears to be in very good overall condition, with a number of isolated instances of restoration or minor damage. It is estimated at $30,000-50,000.
