M&B Stock No. 138 "The Connoisseur"

General Comments
“The Connoisseur” employs an artistic technique known as trompe l’oiel (French for “fool the eye”) that uses realistic imagery to create the optical illusion that the depicted objects exist in three dimensions. In this case, the man is wearing clothing the same color as the background making his body “invisible.” While the term only dates to the beginning of the 19th century, the technique had long been employed by artists; there is an ancient Greek story concerning a contest between two renowned painters. Zeuxis (born around 464 BC) who produced a still life painting so convincing that birds flew down to peck at the painted grapes. A rival, Parrhasius, asked Zeuxis to judge one of his paintings that was behind a pair of tattered curtains in his study. Parrhasius asked Zeuxis to pull back the curtains, but when Zeuxis tried, he could not, as the curtains were included in Parrhasius's painting—making Parrhasius the winner.

Incorporation of an illusionistic quality, such as seen in this design, to trompe l’oiel arose in the Renaissance when many Italian painters of the late Quattrocento (1400 to 1499), such as Andrea Mantegna (1431–1506) and Melozzo da Forlì (1438–1494), began painting illusionistic ceiling paintings, generally in fresco, that employed perspective and techniques, such as foreshortening to create the impression of greater space for the viewer below.

This is one of two trompe l’oiel designs American Art Works produced; the other being “Right to the Point” (No. 141) shortly after this one. We also recall two non-stock designs by other manufacturers employing this technique; a Ph. Kling Brewing tray by H.D. Beach and one for Birk Brothers Brewing of Chicago, by an unknown manufacturer (possibly also American Art Works).

A connoisseur (French meaning 'to be acquainted with' or 'to know somebody/something'), is a person who has a great deal of knowledge about the fine arts; who is a keen appreciator of cuisines, fine wines, and other gourmet products; or who is an expert judge in matters of taste. In many areas, the term nowadays has an air of pretension, and may be used in a partly ironic sense, although here we think it was intended to adhere to the original meaning. It is hard to imagine this design appealing to anyone other than brewers and venters, in fact, other than stock samples, all of the examples we are aware of are from breweries.

The acknowledged artist of No. 138 is Coles Phillips, who was born in Springfield, Ohio in 1880. After his graduation from Kenyon College with a degree in Art, he started his own Advertising Agency along with his college roommate, Edward Hooper. He soon became well known for his unique style of painting which featured the “fadeaway girl.” He soon began creating his “fadeaway” paintings for many of his agency clients including the American Art Works, Charles Shonk Co. and magazine ads for Overland Cars and others. He died at age 47, in 1927. Artist detail courtesy of Bill Carlisle.

Sahling does not have an entry in his workbook that appears to correspond to this design.

Size, Shape and Advertising Placement
We have only ever seen this as the new, narrow oval shape with the steep rims, which are either black with gold advertising text or gold with black advertising text.

Hager & Price
Hager stopped commenting on individual trays after No.136 so he has no discussion of this tray, although he does have it in his date of introduction table (1913). Prices for average and better condition brewery examples range from the low triple figures to mid-triple figures. Stock samples in similar condition tend toward the high double figures.