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View: Bull
Menagerie
Form attributed to: Josef Hoffmann (Austrian (born in Pirnitz, Moravia), 1870–1956)
Decoration designed by: Michael Powolny (Austrian, 1871–1954)
Retailed by: J. & L. Lobmeyr (Vienna, active 1823–present)
Decoration designed by: Michael Powolny (Austrian, 1871–1954)
Retailed by: J. & L. Lobmeyr (Vienna, active 1823–present)
Austrian
about 1913
Medium/Technique
Glass with frosted and bronzite decoration
Dimensions
Overall (h x Diameter): 18.7 x 7.9 cm (7 3/8 x 3 1/8 in.)
Credit Line
Museum purchase with funds donated by Frances H. Colburn in honor of Alan Shestack
Accession Number1993.629
NOT ON VIEW
CollectionsEurope
ClassificationsGlass
No glass was produced at the Wiener Werkstätte; instead, designs were sent to manufacturers in Bohemia. These glasses are decorated with a continuous scene in a frosted and "bronzite" finish. Bronzite is a costly, labor-intensive technique in which glass is coated with a metallic alloy that is subsequently acid etched to create the pattern. The style of the patterns here-strong contrasts of silhouettes within panels-had become synonymous with the Wiener Werkstätte. The self-consciously naïve depiction of animals reveals the interest in folk art shared by many Werkstätte designers.
DescriptionWine glass with a round foot, tall thin graduated stem with a swelling in the middle and a straight-sided round bowl. The outer surface of the entire glass is matte and the inside surfaces are polished. The foot of the glass is decorated at the edge with a delicate black zig-zag pattern. The bowl is decorated in bronzite (black and white) with a continuous double band of animals and flowers divided by a zig-zag pattern and bordered at top and bottom with a straight black band. The animals include a bull, rooster, ducks, dog, stag, rabbit, horse and bird.
Provenance1993, sold by Pruskin Gallery, London, to the MFA. (Accession Date: October 27, 1993)
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