Corbels, Brackets & Ornament · Victorian (Queen Anne, Eastlake)
Adler & Sullivan Terra-Cotta Ornament from the Lindauer House Chimney (1885)
An unglazed terra-cotta ornament from the chimney of the Benjamin Lindauer House in Chicago, designed by Adler & Sullivan in 1885, carved with Louis Sullivan's swirling foliate motifs.
Design characteristics
Louis Sullivan developed one of the most original ornamental languages in American architecture, combining geometry with curling plant forms. This block, about 14 inches across, came from the chimney of a Chicago house his firm designed in 1885. Its deep relief of overlapping leaves around a central spiral is a good model for a carved corbel, a mantel bracket, or an end block on a range hood. Sullivan's ornament reads well at a distance, which is exactly what a feature bracket needs.
Classification
- Category
- Corbels, Brackets & Ornament
- Material
- Terra cotta
- Motifs
- Sullivanesque ornament
- Date
- 1885
- Maker or designer
- Adler & Sullivan American, 1883-1896
- Recorded medium
- Unglazed Terra-cotta
- Dimensions
- 35.6 × 40.7 × 38.1 cm (14 × 16 × 15 in.)
- Evidence
- Documented historical object
- Source
- Art Institute of Chicago
Architectural context
Carved mantels, layered trim and dark, decorative hardwoods. Britain and the United States · c. 1837–1901.
