Designer: Richard Meier (born 1934)

Item: Meier Ball and Column Frame

Manufactured by: Cleto Munari for Swid Powell

Country of origin: Italy

Year made: Ca. 1986

Materials: Silverplate over brass

Dimensions: 9” x 9” x 3”

References: Tapert, Annette, SWID POWELL: Objects by Architects, Rizzoli, 1990.

Description: We are offering our second ball and column frame by Richard Meier for Swid Powell, and this second example is in better condition than the prior example we sold. The photos of the frame with glass are of the prior sale, because under this Covid-19 shutdown we are unable to get the photography done, but rest assured that the new example is in amazing, almost like new condition.

This is an important and well documented Meier design of excellent construction and craftsmanship. This is a very heavy and substantial object weighing about 5 pounds. These are getting hard to find in excellent condition and the prices seem to keep going up. Meier’s designs for Swid Powell are in many major museum collections, and the drawings for this frame are in Tapert’s book and on Meier’s website.

Condition: Excellent with original glass in excellent condition with no corner damage as we usually see on the Meier frames for Swid Powell. We would have graded this example as Near Mint had the felt on the bottom where the screw that holds the ball in place not been dented and poked through as shown. It’s appears the ball was unscrewed to polish underneath and then there was trouble putting it back. The tarnish that shows in the photos around the base of the ball are from the prior example we sold and this example has no tarnish, scratching, pitting or other issues regularly seen on some Swid Powell objects and this piece looks as if it is brand new.