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ONLINECOLLECTION

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

Leopold Museum,
Vienna
Ceramic (glazed black-white-gray)
48.2×40×21.6 cm

Artists

  • Wilhelm Schleich

    (Graz 1881 – [?])

  • Bertold Löffler

    (Nieder-Rosenthal [today: district of Liberec] 1874–1960 Vienna)

  • Wiener Keramik
Currently on display at OG4
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.

Object data

Artist/author
  • Execution: Wilhelm Schleich
  • Design: Bertold Löffler
  • Execution: Wiener Keramik
Title
Putto with Cornucopia. Ceramic for the “1908 Kunstschau” in Vienna
Date
1908
Art movement
Art Nouveau, Wiener Werkstätte
Category
Sculpture
Material​/technique
Ceramic (glazed black-white-gray)
Dimensions
48.2×40×21.6 cm
Signature
Monogrammed on the bottom: H. B.; punched: LÖ; signet of Wiener Keramik, no. 156
Credit line
Leopold Museum, Vienna, Inv. 6081
Inventory access
Accession 2017
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).
  • Thomas Arlt/Arthur Weilinger: Wiener Keramik. Berthold Löffler. Michael Powolny. Werkverzeichnis, Wien 2018.
Catalogue raisonne
  • Arlt/Weilinger 2018: WK156
Keywords

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Provenance

Provenance research
Leopold Museum i

Privatsammlung Leopold, Wien; (1)
Leopold Museum-Privatstiftung, Wien (2017);

  1. Archiv des Leopold Museums, Kaufvertrag und Rechnung Nr. 1/2017 vom 03.07.2017

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