Jan 26, 2017 - Sale 2435

Sale 2435 - Lot 201

Price Realized: $ 812
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 400 - $ 600
D'APRÈS ALPHONSE MUCHA (1860-1939) [WHITMAN'S CHOCOLATE.] Group of 3 tin boxes and one print advertisement. Circa 1920s.
Sizes vary.
Condition varies, generally B+. Print framed.
It is unclear whether Stephen F. Whitman, the confectioner and chocolatier behind Whitman's Chocolates, ever officially licensed Mucha's image for Zodiac to use in advertising his chocolates, yet throughout the 1920s, Mucha's famed image appeared in magazine ads and on tin boxes filled with a variety of chocolates for the company. For the poster, the central figure has all of the hair, ornate jewelry and stars of Mucha's original, but has lost the zodiac references and gained a prominent mosaic background and border. rare. We have found no other copies at auction.