Not currently on display at the V&A

Vase

1905 (designed and made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Josef Hoffmann studied architecture at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna under Carl von Hasenauer and Otto Wagner and was influenced by their theories of a functional, modernist architecture. After winning the Rome prize in 1895 and joining Wagner's office, he established his own office in 1898 and taught at the Vienna Kunstgewerbeschule from 1899 to 1936. He was a founding member of the Vienna Secession, an avant-garde group of artists and architects. In 1903 he founded the Wiener Werkstätte with Koloman Moser. Hoffmann's earliest works reflect the Vienna Secession's variant of Art Nouveau and his later work shows a pioneering use of geometric and abstract design. His most famous building, the Palais Stoclet in Brussels, built 1905-1911, exemplifies the ideal of the 'Gesamtkunstwerk' or 'total work of art'.


Object details

Category
Object type
Materials and techniques
Silver, pierced and embossed.
Brief description
Vase, silver, Vienna, 1905, mark of the Wiener Werkstätte, designed by Josef Hoffmann.
Physical description
Vase, silver, the glass liner missing. The base is an ovoid sheet of metal, pointed at both ends. A circular hole has been cut through the centre and two embossed studs protrude at each end. The sides follow the shape of the base, flaring slightly outwards. The sides as with the handle have been pierced with square perforations producing a lattice work pattern. The handle, in the form of a hoop, at first flares outwards and then returns inwards at the top. The sides of the handle and the upper edge of the basket itself have been reinforced by the rim being folded over.
Dimensions
  • Height: 25.8cm
  • Length: 10cm
  • Width: 11.8cm (Note: maximum)
Style
Production typesmall batch
Marks and inscriptions
  • Two Austrian discharge marks for silver
  • Mark of the Wiener Werkstätte
  • Maker's mark indecipherable
Summary
Josef Hoffmann studied architecture at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna under Carl von Hasenauer and Otto Wagner and was influenced by their theories of a functional, modernist architecture. After winning the Rome prize in 1895 and joining Wagner's office, he established his own office in 1898 and taught at the Vienna Kunstgewerbeschule from 1899 to 1936. He was a founding member of the Vienna Secession, an avant-garde group of artists and architects. In 1903 he founded the Wiener Werkstätte with Koloman Moser. Hoffmann's earliest works reflect the Vienna Secession's variant of Art Nouveau and his later work shows a pioneering use of geometric and abstract design. His most famous building, the Palais Stoclet in Brussels, built 1905-1911, exemplifies the ideal of the 'Gesamtkunstwerk' or 'total work of art'.
Collection
Accession number
M.15-1982

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Record createdJune 24, 2009
Record URL
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