Essential Design 
25 January 2024
Essential Design 
308

Eero Saarinen

Tulip occasional table, model 163M

Knoll International
USA, 1957 / c. 1965
marble, enameled steel 20¼ h × 19⅝ dia in (51 × 50 cm)
estimate: $500–700
result: $1,386
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Decal manufacturer's label to underside ‘Made in Italy Knoll’.
provenance: Merchandise Mart, Chicago | Acquired from the previous by the present owner
literature: Knoll Furniture: 1938-1960, Rouland and Rouland, ppg. 121, 123

This work will ship from Chicago, Illinois.

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One finds that many different shapes are equally logical—some exciting, some earthbound, some soaring. The choice has really become a sculptor's choices.

Eero Saarinen

Eero Saarinen 1910–1961

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Born in 1910, Eero Saarinen was surrounded by design his entire life; his father, Eliel Saarinen was an architect and director of the Cranbrook Academy of art and his mother, Loja Saarinen, was an acclaimed textile artist. In 1929, Saarinen traveled to Paris to study sculpture at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière before enrolling in the Yale architecture program. He returned to Cranbrook in 1934 where he met fellow designer and friend, Charles Eames. In 1947, Saarinen won a competition to design a monument for Thomas Jefferson in St. Louis. His Gateway Arch would mark one of the many triumphs of his short but incredibly productive career.

Auction Results Eero Saarinen

Eero Saarinen

Custom Tulip table from the bar of the Grill Room

estimate: $5,000–7,000

result: $45,000

Eero Saarinen

Custom Tulip table from the bar of the Grill Room

estimate: $5,000–7,000

result: $35,000

Eero Saarinen

Custom Tulip table from the bar of the Grill Room

estimate: $5,000–7,000

result: $35,000

Eero Saarinen

Custom Tulip table from the bar of the Grill Room

estimate: $5,000–7,000

result: $35,000

308