Putto with Cornucopia. Ceramic for the “1908 Kunstschau” in Vienna, 1908

Together with Michael Powolny (1871–1954), the painter, graphic artist and designer Bertold Löffler (1874–1960) founded the ceramics workshop Wiener Keramik in 1905. The company closely collaborated with the Wiener Werkstätte, was taken over in 1913 by Gmundner Keramik, and successfully continued under the name Vereinigte Wiener und Gmundner Keramik. This Putto with Cornucopia was designed by Löffler for a special exhibition event of Viennese Modernism, the 1908 Kunstschau. The execution of the sculpture, measuring almost 50 cm tall, was carried out by the ceramic artist Wilhelm Schleich (*1881), who worked for Wiener Keramik. The figure is holding not one, but two horns of plenty – one filled with fruit, the other brimming with flowers. The boy thus appears to be fulfilling two human needs at once, the need for sustenance and for beauty. Schleich used a white, gray and black glaze, while the Wiener Keramik occasionally executed the same object with a multicolored glaze.

MR, 2021