OSCAR BACH (1884 - 1957) Important sculptural Florentine door, New York, 1930; Steel, bronze, copper, with silver and nickel plating; Stamped OSCAR BACH FECIT 1930; 83" x 37 3/4" x 2" (door only), 85" x 45 1/2" x 8 1/2" (with frame); Provenance: Michael E. Paterno, Lincoln Building (60 E. 42nd St.), New York; Private collection, Cherry Hill, NJ; Collection of Mr. and Mrs. William A. Royall, Jr., Richmond, VA; Michael E. Paterno, a prominent New York builder, commissioned renowned metalworker Oscar Bach (1884 - 1957) to create this magnificent entranceway door to his 50th floor penthouse apartment in the Lincoln Building. A tribute to Paterno's success and career, Bach depicts him as a master builder of medieval Florence with the following Italian inscription bordering the scene, translated: "Only a man of high character and noble genius obtains honor, command, power, and glory." The door is part of the distinguished collection of Pamela K. and William A. Royall, Jr., who not only avidly collected Bach's work, but pursued the identification, documentation and interpretation of his oeuvre, including the lobby panel for the Empire State Building.
