Lot 247: ROBERT PRENZEL (1866 - 1941) AN AUSTRALIAN BLACKWOOD TABLE AND THREE SIDE CHAIRS

ROBERT PRENZEL (1866 - 1941)
AN AUSTRALIAN BLACKWOOD TABLE AND THREE SIDE CHAIRS
the table with a solid rectangular top, gumnut and leaf decorated above the frieze carved with the dedication 'For God and Country. In memory of Margaret. E. Crocker Third President A.W.N.L. 1922 to 1927. Presented by league Members 1931.' the supports carved as Waratah branches with Waratah flowers and leaves in high relief to each side, the base united by cross stretchers, Impressed signature 'R. Prenzel 'to the base of one leg

the set of three chairs in the art nouveau style, each with a serpentine back flanked by relief carved Waratah flowers and leaves, the back with a triple splat above a slatted seat raised on stylised supports, one chair carved with the dedication "In Memory of Marion Booth Hon. Treas. A.W.N.L. 1920 to 1933" underside of the seat stamped 'Robert Prenzel, 30 Red Bluff Street Black Rock"

the table 183cm wide, 84cm deep, 85.5cm high

In 1930 Robert Prenzel closed his Toorak Road shop. Although now in his sixties, the artist remained professionally active for another ten years, continuing to work from the studio of his Black Rock home on selected civil, ecclesiastical and domestic commissions. The Australian Women's National League table and chairs are among these late works.

The artist's stamp and dedicatory inscription to Margaret Crocker give the table a sure date of 1930-1931. Later than the spectacular AWNL President's chair (Lot 246), it was nevertheless evidently conceived by the League (and by Prenzel himself) to be continuous with or at least complimentary to the earlier piece, not only in terms of overall style, but in the specific use of the waratah motif. The chairs are probably later again, from after 1933, but their general proportions and the particular formation of the waratah leaves are very closely allied to those of the Crocker table.

This handsome harlequin suite is a particularly fine example of Prenzel's late style, its significance enhanced by the historical and political associations of its AWNL origins.