Designer: Michael Graves (1934 – 2015)

Item: Fleur-De-Lis Vase

Manufactured by: Limoges

Country of origin: France

Year made: 1989

Materials: Glazed Porcelain

Dimensions: 7” x 8” x 3 ¼”

Condition: Very good to excellent.  It appears to have been used lightly as a vase, but cleaned up well. No faults found.

References: Tapert, Annette, SWID POWELL: Objects by Architects, Thames and Hudson (1990); Gura, Judith, Postmodern Design Complete: Design, Furniture, Graphics, Architecture, Interiors, Thames and Hudson (2017), pg 335, ill.

Description:  An extremely scarce object; we understand that this vase was only in production for one year and very few were made and even fewer were sold.  We confirmed with someone directly involved with its production that it was prototyped at several factories in Limoges, France and finally went into a very limited production in just solid white and solid cobalt blue. It is believed that less than 100 examples in total (both colors combined) were made.  It was designed in 1987 and went into production in 1989. It is also our understanding that although a few different Swid Powell objects were prototyped at different factories in Limoges, France, this is the only Swid Powell porcelain object actually put into production, and the only Swid Powell object that was manufactured in Limoges, France.

There is a photo in the Tapert book (page 43) of Graves at his studio holding a white example while in conversation with Marc Hacker, Swid Powell’s Vice President for Design and Development.  It also appears in a photo in the Tapert book on page 15 prominently displayed on a shelf above Addie Powell sitting at her desk in her office.  Examples in the cobalt blue can be found in the permanent collections at the Yale University Art Gallery donated from Nan Swid’s personal collection, and in the collection of the Indianapolis Museum of Art where it is also on permanent display.