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ONLINECOLLECTION

War Glass, before 1916

Leopold Museum,
Vienna
Glass, enamel colors
10.3×6.7×6.7 cm

Artists

  • Wiener Werkstätte
  • Josef Hoffmann

    (Pirnitz 1870–1956 Vienna)

  • Joh. Oertel & Co.
Unfortunately not on display at the moment
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.

Object data

Artist/author
  • for the: Wiener Werkstätte
  • Design: Josef Hoffmann
  • Execution: Joh. Oertel & Co.
Title
War Glass
Date
before 1916
Art movement
Wiener Werkstätte
Category
Arts and crafts
Material​/technique
Glass, enamel colors
Dimensions
10.3×6.7×6.7 cm
Credit line of the permanent loan
Ernst Ploil, Vienna
Selection of Reference works
  • Wien 1900. Aufbruch in die Moderne, hrsg. von Hans-Peter Wipplinger, Wien 2019 (Ausst.-Kat. Leopold Museum, Wien, ab 15.03.2019).
Keywords

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Provenance

Provenance research
Leopold Museum i

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