Lady's Writing Desk and Armchair (designed for the Eisler von Terramare apartment, Vienna), in Thuya wood, inlaid with satinwood and brass, designed by Koloman Moser, made by Caspar Hrazdil, 1903.

A writing desk and concealed upholstered armchair made from Thuya wood, inlaid with satinwood and brass to form geometric patterns, engraved and inked; gilt-metal feet; mahogany interior and oak drawers. Paper label of maker under lower right drawer.

Once thought to have been commissioned by Dr. Armand Hölzl (or Hötzl) for his Vienna apartment, further research confirms that these pieces were commissioned by a young couple by the name of Gerta Loew and Dr. Hans Eisler von Terramare, soon after their marriage in 1902. The desk was part of the integrated scheme for the breakfast room of the apartment for which Moser designed at least seven pieces of furniture, all richly inlaid and decorated with identical materials and motifs.
The marriage was short-lived and they divorced after the death of their child, Gertrude, in 1905. Upon the dissolution of their home in 1906, some items of furniture were sold by Gerta to Dr Hötzl, who was a medical director of the sanatorium she had inherited from her father in 1907, Dr Anton Loew, upon his death. The confusion arose here as to who the original commissioners of these pieces were, and was further embedded in 1981 at the Museum for Applied Arts in Vienna (MAK) after they received a sliding table from the dressing room of the apartment with the provenance of it having belonged to Dr. Armand Hötzl in the 1900s.

The following excerpt from Pichler's essay gives further information (Pichler, Gerd, and Leopold, Rudolf. Koloman Moser: 1868-1918. Vienna: Leopold Museum, 2007, p.174):

"A comment by Berta Zuckerkandl [who first described the apartment in a 1904 June edition of Dekorative Kunst magazine] did not seem consistent with this attribution. She noted that the stylized dolphins and the doves holding an olive branch in their beaks decoration of the dining room furniture were intended to correspond to an "ornamental interpretation of the title of nobility which the family bears." Dr. Hotzl was never in possession of an aristocratic title. Furthermore, the monogram on the toiletry set of the young wife was 'TM', or 'MT', which was incompatible with the initials of Dr. Hotzl's wife lrene, née Cziner...
In its uncompromising modernity, its consistency of ornament and symbolism and the high quality of its overall design as regards materials and craftsmanship in all fields, the furniture and design of the Eisler von Terramare apartment is one of the best and most convincing examples of the new design for living and artistic style in the 20th century.... [They] must be included among the educated and aesthetically discriminating members of Viennese society in the early 20th centry, who were among the patrons of the early modern style in Vienna".

The idea of a desk with an integrated or hidden chair was part of the revival of the early nineteenth-century Biedermeier style and was used by Moser numerous times. Biedermeier furniture designers had adapted such forms from French Empire models; however, other precedents could be found in the elaborate and carefully fitted constructions of the eighteenth-century Russian cabinet-maker Heinrich Gambs (1765-1831). Although both German and French examples frequently had the chair attached (and released) by mechanical means, Moser simply inserted a large brass-line handle into the back of the chair.

This desk with its 'disappearing chair' was based on various earlier models. These included early 19th century French desks in the Empire style, and German ones in the more solid and homely Biedermeier style. In these earlier models the chair was usually attached and released by mechanical means. In this example, however, Koloman Moser (1868-1918) decided that a large brass handle inserted into the back of the chair would perform the task equally well. He designed numerous chairs and desks of this kind. This particular example was part of a commission to design two rooms for an apartment at Schottengasse 10, Vienna. The straight lines, flat surfaces and stylized ornament are all typical of Moser's work.

W.8 to B-1982