War Glass, before 1916

With the outbreak of World War I, the Wiener Werkstätte and its associated production facilities faced personnel shortages and sales problems. Among their compensation efforts was the production of war glasses, which proved especially successful as the ministry of public works requested in 1915 that artists “express the patriotic purpose” in their works; in February of that year, an exhibition of “war memorabilia” had been held at the Austrian Museum of Art and Industry. In the case of plain, cylindrical drinking glasses, the decoration consisted of linear enamel colors, often representing the colors of the flags of the allied Central Powers. In the present example, two columns, one representing the black-white-red of the German Empire and one representing the black-yellow of the Habsburg Empire, each crowned with heraldic eagles, serve as decorative elements. Both columns are framed by rectangular black-yellow borders. The oak leaf outside of the two rectangular planes likely symbolizes the steadfastness of the brotherhood in arms.

IR, 2021