The Thousand and One Nights
Object NameSculpture
Designer
George Thompson
(American, 1913-1981)
Designer/Engraver
Zevi Blum
(American, b. France, 1933-2011)
Engraver
Max R. Erlacher
(American, b. Austria, 1933-2022)
Manufacturer
Steuben Glass, Inc.
(1903-)
Made FromLead Glass, Sterling Silver
Date1974
Place MadeUnited States, NY, Corning
TechniqueBlown, cut, copper-wheel engraved, assembled
SizeOverall H: 27 cm, Diam (max): 17.5 cm
Accession Number2021.4.16
Credit LineGift of Marion Wyatt
Curatorial Area(s)
Not On View
Physical DescriptionSculpture, "The Thousand and One Nights". Colorless lead glass, sterling silver frame; cut, blown, copper-wheel engraved, assembled. Seven-part colorless glass sculpture in the form of a crystal palace supported by a silver frame. Six colorless arched prisms, each engraved with a different scene from the “One Thousand and One Nights” narrative, fit within silver frame to form the walls of a palace; a blown teardrop-shaped Isfahan dome (h) tops the sculpture. Three of the wall prisms (c, e, g) depict the storyteller, Scheherazade, dancing between two trees as she spins the tales by which she saved her life; three depict characters from her tales: (d) Prince Houssain, riding his flying carpet, from the story of Prince Ahmed and Periebanou, (f) the Sultan of Harram, father of Codadad, holding a sword, and (b) a jinn or genie. The sculpture is held together with custom silver brackets and screws and comes with custom red leather Steuben Glass box and accompanying booklets.Provenance
Source
Patricia Ali
- 2020-05-28-2021-08-17
Susie Silbert was contacted in 2020 by Patricia Ali, daughter of the work’s owner Marion S. Wyatt. The piece had been the cornerstone of her mother’s small collection of Steuben and Ali and her brother were both under the impression that the work had been left as a promised gift to the Museum. However, after checking with Brandy Birch, Registrar, we learned that while the Museum had been contacted about the steps to establish a promised gift, none of them had been taken. According to Ali, the piece had been purchased by her father from Steuben and displayed in a special cabinet which may also have been purchased from Steuben. Ali’s parents played bridge with Jeanne Buechner and her husband, relatives of Thomas Buechner who lived in Birmingham, Michigan, as did Ali’s parents. Ali recalls her mother telling her that someone from the Museum came to evaluate the work sometime, likely in the 2000s. Also, Marion Wyatt (Ali’s mother) traveled to the Museum with Buechner’s Michigan relatives sometime between 1987 and 1990 and may have spoken with the Museum about donating the piece at that time. We were unable to recover records of this conversation. The proposed sculpture may be the piece put up for auction and passed in 2009 or 2010:Passed, DuMouchelles Fine Arts Auctioneers & Estate Appraisers, Detroit, Michigan, November 12, 2010. Auction at the Gallery, lot 110005. Passed, estimated $4,000-$5,000. Passed, Bonhams, Los Angeles, California, September 29, 2009. 20th Century Decorative Arts Sale, lot 1173. Passed, estimated $15,000-$20,000.
Susie Silbert was contacted in 2020 by Patricia Ali, daughter of the work’s owner Marion S. Wyatt. The piece had been the cornerstone of her mother’s small collection of Steuben and Ali and her brother were both under the impression that the work had been left as a promised gift to the Museum. However, after checking with Brandy Birch, Registrar, we learned that while the Museum had been contacted about the steps to establish a promised gift, none of them had been taken. According to Ali, the piece had been purchased by her father from Steuben and displayed in a special cabinet which may also have been purchased from Steuben. Ali’s parents played bridge with Jeanne Buechner and her husband, relatives of Thomas Buechner who lived in Birmingham, Michigan, as did Ali’s parents. Ali recalls her mother telling her that someone from the Museum came to evaluate the work sometime, likely in the 2000s. Also, Marion Wyatt (Ali’s mother) traveled to the Museum with Buechner’s Michigan relatives sometime between 1987 and 1990 and may have spoken with the Museum about donating the piece at that time. We were unable to recover records of this conversation. The proposed sculpture may be the piece put up for auction and passed in 2009 or 2010:Passed, DuMouchelles Fine Arts Auctioneers & Estate Appraisers, Detroit, Michigan, November 12, 2010. Auction at the Gallery, lot 110005. Passed, estimated $4,000-$5,000. Passed, Bonhams, Los Angeles, California, September 29, 2009. 20th Century Decorative Arts Sale, lot 1173. Passed, estimated $15,000-$20,000.
Former Collection
Marion S. Wyatt
(1919-2020) - 2020-05-28
Susie Silbert was contacted in 2020 by Patricia Ali, daughter of the work’s owner Marion S. Wyatt. The piece had been the cornerstone of her mother’s small collection of Steuben and Ali and her brother were both under the impression that the work had been left as a promised gift to the Museum. However, after checking with Brandy Birch, Registrar, we learned that while the Museum had been contacted about the steps to establish a promised gift, none of them had been taken. According to Ali, the piece had been purchased by her father from Steuben and displayed in a special cabinet which may also have been purchased from Steuben. Ali’s parents played bridge with Jeanne Buechner and her husband, relatives of Thomas Buechner who lived in Birmingham, Michigan, as did Ali’s parents. Ali recalls her mother telling her that someone from the Museum came to evaluate the work sometime, likely in the 2000s. Also, Marion Wyatt (Ali’s mother) traveled to the Museum with Buechner’s Michigan relatives sometime between 1987 and 1990 and may have spoken with the Museum about donating the piece at that time. We were unable to recover records of this conversation. The proposed sculpture may be the piece put up for auction and passed in 2009 or 2010:Passed, DuMouchelles Fine Arts Auctioneers & Estate Appraisers, Detroit, Michigan, November 12, 2010. Auction at the Gallery, lot 110005. Passed, estimated $4,000-$5,000. Passed, Bonhams, Los Angeles, California, September 29, 2009. 20th Century Decorative Arts Sale, lot 1173. Passed, estimated $15,000-$20,000.
Susie Silbert was contacted in 2020 by Patricia Ali, daughter of the work’s owner Marion S. Wyatt. The piece had been the cornerstone of her mother’s small collection of Steuben and Ali and her brother were both under the impression that the work had been left as a promised gift to the Museum. However, after checking with Brandy Birch, Registrar, we learned that while the Museum had been contacted about the steps to establish a promised gift, none of them had been taken. According to Ali, the piece had been purchased by her father from Steuben and displayed in a special cabinet which may also have been purchased from Steuben. Ali’s parents played bridge with Jeanne Buechner and her husband, relatives of Thomas Buechner who lived in Birmingham, Michigan, as did Ali’s parents. Ali recalls her mother telling her that someone from the Museum came to evaluate the work sometime, likely in the 2000s. Also, Marion Wyatt (Ali’s mother) traveled to the Museum with Buechner’s Michigan relatives sometime between 1987 and 1990 and may have spoken with the Museum about donating the piece at that time. We were unable to recover records of this conversation. The proposed sculpture may be the piece put up for auction and passed in 2009 or 2010:Passed, DuMouchelles Fine Arts Auctioneers & Estate Appraisers, Detroit, Michigan, November 12, 2010. Auction at the Gallery, lot 110005. Passed, estimated $4,000-$5,000. Passed, Bonhams, Los Angeles, California, September 29, 2009. 20th Century Decorative Arts Sale, lot 1173. Passed, estimated $15,000-$20,000.
Former Collection
Robert Wyatt
(d. 2003)
Susie Silbert was contacted in 2020 by Patricia Ali, daughter of the work’s owner Marion S. Wyatt. The piece had been the cornerstone of her mother’s small collection of Steuben and Ali and her brother were both under the impression that the work had been left as a promised gift to the Museum. However, after checking with Brandy Birch, Registrar, we learned that while the Museum had been contacted about the steps to establish a promised gift, none of them had been taken. According to Ali, the piece had been purchased by her father from Steuben and displayed in a special cabinet which may also have been purchased from Steuben. Ali’s parents played bridge with Jeanne Buechner and her husband, relatives of Thomas Buechner who lived in Birmingham, Michigan, as did Ali’s parents. Ali recalls her mother telling her that someone from the Museum came to evaluate the work sometime, likely in the 2000s. Also, Marion Wyatt (Ali’s mother) traveled to the Museum with Buechner’s Michigan relatives sometime between 1987 and 1990 and may have spoken with the Museum about donating the piece at that time. We were unable to recover records of this conversation. The proposed sculpture may be the piece put up for auction and passed in 2009 or 2010:Passed, DuMouchelles Fine Arts Auctioneers & Estate Appraisers, Detroit, Michigan, November 12, 2010. Auction at the Gallery, lot 110005. Passed, estimated $4,000-$5,000. Passed, Bonhams, Los Angeles, California, September 29, 2009. 20th Century Decorative Arts Sale, lot 1173. Passed, estimated $15,000-$20,000.
Susie Silbert was contacted in 2020 by Patricia Ali, daughter of the work’s owner Marion S. Wyatt. The piece had been the cornerstone of her mother’s small collection of Steuben and Ali and her brother were both under the impression that the work had been left as a promised gift to the Museum. However, after checking with Brandy Birch, Registrar, we learned that while the Museum had been contacted about the steps to establish a promised gift, none of them had been taken. According to Ali, the piece had been purchased by her father from Steuben and displayed in a special cabinet which may also have been purchased from Steuben. Ali’s parents played bridge with Jeanne Buechner and her husband, relatives of Thomas Buechner who lived in Birmingham, Michigan, as did Ali’s parents. Ali recalls her mother telling her that someone from the Museum came to evaluate the work sometime, likely in the 2000s. Also, Marion Wyatt (Ali’s mother) traveled to the Museum with Buechner’s Michigan relatives sometime between 1987 and 1990 and may have spoken with the Museum about donating the piece at that time. We were unable to recover records of this conversation. The proposed sculpture may be the piece put up for auction and passed in 2009 or 2010:Passed, DuMouchelles Fine Arts Auctioneers & Estate Appraisers, Detroit, Michigan, November 12, 2010. Auction at the Gallery, lot 110005. Passed, estimated $4,000-$5,000. Passed, Bonhams, Los Angeles, California, September 29, 2009. 20th Century Decorative Arts Sale, lot 1173. Passed, estimated $15,000-$20,000.
Object copyright© Steuben Glass, Inc.
