Bacchus Antik: Part 4 - The Swedish Stoneware

Bacchus Antik – A Series of Themed Auctions
Bacchus Antik is the title for a series of ongoing themed auctions this autumn and spring, where large parts of Bacchus Antik’s rich and diverse inventory will go under the hammer. Owner Michael Strömquist has decided to scale back, and at Formstad Auktioner we are both proud and delighted to present these auctions in close collaboration with Bacchus Antik.
Bacchus Antik has long held a unique position among Stockholm’s antique dealers. The shop was established in Stockholm in 1994, after seven years in Kivik on Österlen, and has become a true meeting place for anyone interested in 20th-century design and decorative arts. It is the kind of place where one can step inside and immediately find oneself discussing anything from Danish lamps to Berndt Friberg’s exquisite ceramics. The shop has also served as a school of sorts for many aspiring collectors and dealers.
The atmosphere is refreshingly unpretentious. Exclusive design classics stand side by side with vinyl records in plastic crates. This coexistence between the everyday and the distinguished is rare in Stockholm, and part of what makes anyone who steps inside feel instantly at home. Perhaps this has to do with the owner himself always keeping his feet firmly on the ground. His father was an ICA grocer, as were his grandparents, who each ran their own store, one in Tommarp and the other in Gärsnäs. From that side of the family came the sense for buying and selling, while the love for objects themselves was shaped at home by his mother. When the choice was between a new teak table and an old farmhouse table, the latter always won – because that’s what she wanted.
Michael inherited the best of both worlds and became an antique dealer almost by destiny – one who acquired through his own passion, and who insists on “looking properly” at an object before letting it leave the shop. Some items, he admits, he still hasn’t finished looking at. “I was born a collector,” he says. “In a way, the shop is my collection. As a child I collected everything – film stars, matchboxes, spent rockets, movie tickets, coins, Merry bottle caps… I kept everything that was nice.”
Now, a significant part of all these “nice things” will be offered at auction, for you to bring home and look at yourself. It is a unique opportunity – one that will never come again.

Part IV - The Swedish Stoneware

For connoisseurs and collectors of Swedish stoneware, a visit to Bacchus Antik and Michael Strömqvist is “part of the whole thing”. The auction’s rather outstanding selection shows with all the desired clarity that this is a favourite area for Michael. When he was asked “Which ceramists are on your top 5 list?” he had a very difficult time at first choosing just five of all the fine stoneware artists who exist and have existed in Sweden, and then ranking them among themselves… well, it was almost insurmountable. But his list was finally topped by Wilhelm Kåge (Gustavsberg) followed by Berndt Friberg (Gustavsberg), Carl-Harry Stålhane (Rörstrand & Designhuset), Ingrid and Erich Triller (Tobo) and Gunnar Nylund (Rörstrand).

It’s not a bad list. The auction features a rich selection of all these masters of stoneware. And for those who wish to delve further into Friberg's artistry, a special auction dedicated entirely to Berndt Friberg awaits later this autumn.

A warm welcome to explore, discover and acquire works from some of the most significant artists in Swedish stoneware!