Physical description
[Inkstand] Inkstand, rectangular, veneered with rectangular plaques of mother-of-pearl and inlaid with horizontal stringing of ebony, with hollowed-out areas to support candlestick and penholder.
[Candlestick] Candlestick, rectangular, veneered with rectangular plaques of mother-of-pearl, the whole length inlaid with 2 vertical strings of ebony per side, the top with circular silver-plated inset to hold a candle.
[Penholder] Penholder, rectangular, veneered with rectangular plaques of mother-of-pearl, the whole length inlaid with two vertical strings of ebony per side, the top with circular silver-plated inset to hold pens.
[Seal] Seal, rectangular, veneered with rectangular plaques of mother-of-pearl, the whole length inlaid with one vertical string of ebony per side, the top with square silver-plated inset.
[Card holder] Card holder, rectangular with one side higher than the other, the sides veneered with rectangular plaques of mother-of-pearl, and inlaid with vertical stringing of ebony, the sloping top with a rectangular inlaid pocket of leather.
Place of Origin
Vienna, Austria (made)
Date
ca. 1910 (made)
Artist/maker
Hoffmann, Josef, born 1870 - died 1956 (designer)
Wiener Werkstätte (manufacturer)
Materials and Techniques
Veneered in mother-of-pearl and ebony, with bases in black cloth, and other elements of leather, glass and silver plate
Marks and inscriptions
[Inkstand] 'WIENER WERKSTÄTTE MADE IN AUSTRIA'
[Inkstand] 'WW No 1035 200'
[Candlestick] 'WIENER WERKSTÄTTE MADE IN AUSTRIA'
[Penholder] 'WIENER WERKSTÄTTE MADE IN AUSTRIA'
[Seal] 'WIENER WERKSTÄTTE MADE IN AUSTRIA'
[Card holder] 'WIENER WERKSTÄTTE MADE IN AUSTRIA'
Dimensions
[Inkstand] Height: 7 cm, Width: 25 cm, Depth: 12.5 cm
[Candlestick] Height: 10.5 cm, Width: 4 cm
[Penholder] Height: 10.5 cm
[Seal] Height: 10.5 cm, Width: 4 cm
[Card holder] Height: 4.5 cm, Width: 7.5 cm, Depth: 13.5 cm
Historical context note
Small luxury objects veneered in mother-of-pearl were produced in great numbers in Vienna in the Biedermeier period between 1815 and 1840. Their Wiener Werkstätte successors from about 1900 were doubtless consciously echoing those prototypes. However while Biedermeier products delighted in mother-of-pearl for its simple gaudiness, it seems likely that Hoffmann and his contemporaries also savoured its voluptuous suggestiveness. This taste is nicely exemplified in a painting of 1909 by Oskar Zwintscher (1870-1916), 'Gold and Perlmutter', in which a reclining symbolist femme fatale bedecked only in gold jewellery reclines beside a casket of mother-of-pearl. In 1912 the Österreichisches Museum für angewandte Kunst paid 300 crowns to the Wiener Werkstätte for a cigarette box with very similar decoration to this desk-set. Another matching set is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York (1977.72.1-5).
Bibliographic References (Citation, Note/Abstract, NAL no)
Jervis, Simon: Furniture Of About 1900 From Austria & Hungary In The Victoria & Albert Museum, London: Victoria & Albert Museum, 1986, no.14, p. 40, 41
NB: Objects not examined
Deutsche Kunst und Dekoration, XXV, 1909-1910, p. 231, illus.
Painiting by O. Zwintscher.
Der Wiener Kongress, Vienna, 1965, p. 395, clock, illus. plate 70
Mother-of-pearl frame, view of Karlsplatz by Balthasar Wigand, about 1820.
Die Wiener Werkstätte, Österreichisches Museum für angewandte Kundt, Vienna, 1967, p.41, No.37
Cigarette box by Josef Hoffmann.
Karen Livingstone and Linda Parry, eds., International Arts & Crafts (V&A: V&A Publications, 2005), p.240.
Materials
Glass; Leather; Cloth; Mother-of-pearl; Ebony; Plated metal
Techniques
Weaving; Veneering; Plating
Collection code
FWK
