Art Deco German Reverse-Painted Silhouette Pictures, Lady with Borzoi & Fairy on Hound, Pair

A charming pair of 1920s–1930s reverse-painted silhouette pictures on glass, in the German Art Deco manner popularized by makers such as Buchholz, Forster, and Stocker. Each is hand-printed in black on the reverse of the glass, with selectively applied color and a textured backing that gives the image its luminous depth. The first depicts a fashionable lady in a diamond-pattern coral skirt and wide-brimmed hat, lifting a kerchief to a leaping Borzoi at her side — a quintessentially Deco scene of elegance and motion. The second shows a young woman with streaming ribbons riding sidesaddle on a galloping hound across a moonlit hillside, set against a granular silver-flecked ground that catches the light like frost.

Reverse-painted silhouettes of this type were exported in great numbers from Germany during the interwar years and remain a favorite among collectors of Art Deco graphics, dog imagery, and small-scale decorative art. The two are not a matched production pair but read beautifully together — one in a darkened wood frame with silvered backing, the other in a slim silvered metal frame with a soft cream ground.

CONDITION

Good overall, as shown. The fairy-and-hound picture shows scattered loss and crackle to the silver foil backing along the lower edge and at the corners, visible as a natural patina to the period backing. The lady-and-Borzoi picture presents cleanly with minor edge toning to the cream ground beneath the frame lip. Frames show light wear consistent with age.

DIMENSIONS / SPECIFICATIONS

• Lady with Borzoi (silvered metal frame): 9" H × 7" W
• Fairy on Hound (black wood frame): 10.75" H × 8.75" W
• Medium: Reverse-painted on glass, framed
• Origin: Germany, circa 1920s–1930s