Gemstone Carving of a Pair of Lovebirds by Gerd Dreher


Idar-Oberstein, GermanyPerched atop a petrified wood base imbued with a rugged naturalism, this pair of colorful love birds exhibits the exceptional quality of carving for which Dreher's work is known. The realistically textured feathers are carved of aventurine quartz, black agate, buckskin colored jasper and speckled blue-gray obsidian. The eyes are formed of natural golden agate with a bull's eye center. The eyes are rimmed with white agate while the beaks are carved of smooth polished red jasper. Each bird possesses gold vermeil feet firmly planted on the petrified wood base which has been polished to a rich sheen. Height 10in (25.4cm)
|Provenance: Purchased from Bonhams & Butterfields, Los Angeles, Natural History, Sale 14004, Lot 4226.Gerd DreherThe exquisitely detailed animal carvings of Gerd Dreher make his works among the most sought-after masterpieces of the lapidary arts. Born in 1943 in Idar-Oberstein, Gerd was a fourth generation animal figure carver. Dreher's family has been involved in the art of engraving and carving gemstones for nearly two hundred years. A long-established family tradition of producing hardstone and gem animal carvings was begun in the 19th Century and by the early 1900s their name was synonymous with that of the jeweler, Carl Fabergé. The Russian master, on his frequent trips to Idar, would provide plaster models of whimsical animal carvings, which the Dreher family would create out of jasper, agate and jade. Fabergé then sold them in his famed salons in St. Petersburg, Moscow and London. Gerd was a keenly observant naturalist who maintained a massive library of videotapes of animals in motion. His devotion to realism in muscle and animation is what sets his carvings apart. In 2004 a major retrospective exhibition of 60 works entitled The Gem Carvings of Gerd Dreher: A Fabergé Legacy, was held at the Houston Museum of Natural Science. In the words of Joel Bartsch, Curator of Gems and Minerals for the Museum, "Dreher's ability to breathe life into stone has made him one of the most famous practitioners of the craft in the world today. His work is a marriage of art and science."