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Object Timeline
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1917 |
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1962 |
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2013 |
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2025 |
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Fruit Bowl Bowl
This is a Bowl. It was designed by Josef Hoffmann and manufactured by Wiener Werkstätte and produced by Wiener Werkstätte. It is dated 1917 and we acquired it in 1962. Its medium is silver. It is a part of the Product Design and Decorative Arts department.
Flute song in silver
This elegant piece of silver is both modern and ancient. Not only does it connect to designs by Hoffmann in other media, such the glass vase with fluted base he designed for Lobmeyr and a fluted sidewall paper created by his follower Dagobert Peche, but it also relates to the classic designs of ancient Greece and Rome. Look at the flutes! They mimic the flutes of marble columns from the Ionic and Corinthian orders used in Greek temples.
These orders were routinely presented in books, beginning in the Renaissance, whenever the fashion for antiquity or classical proportions resurfaced. Despite Hoffmann's interest in creating a design that was fresh, his work was based on his training in historical design, which he adapted and updated. Hoffmann also referenced designs from the neoclassical era of the late 18th century: English teapots of the 1780s had fluted sides. (Paul Revere created almost identical teapots in 1790s Boston, which reflects the widespread appeal of this decorative element.) Although Hoffmann was not looking to Paul Revere, he may have seen English fluted silver.
Despite the similarity of Revere’s and Hoffmann’s flutes, there are technical differences. Revere's flutings were formed in sheet silver, a more "modern" mechanical technique that was the latest contribution of the industrial revolution in 18th-century England. Sheets of silver were first rolled flat; the silver was then formed into a fluted cylinder shape and seamed to make a teapot body, with a separate piece soldered to the sides for the base. Hoffmann wanted to get away from mechanization, so his bowl employed an old-fashioned method of hand raising the silver, which entailed beating it out of a block of silver into the oval shape, with flutes created by pinching the silver at intervals.
This object was featured in our Object of the Week series in a post titled Flute song in silver.
This object was
donated by
Ely Jacques Kahn.
It is credited Gift of Ely Jacques Kahn.
- Textile, Notschrei (Cry for Help)
- wool.
- Museum purchase through General Acquisitions Endowment Fund.
- 1985-52-2
- A Pair of Dishes Dishes, late 19th–early 20th century
- silver.
- Gift of Mrs. Gerard P. Herrick.
- 1959-81-5-a,b
- Vase Vase
- silver.
- Gift of Ely Jacques Kahn.
- 1962-227-2
Our curators have highlighted 6 objects that are related to this one. Here are three of them, selected at random:
- Lotus Bowl Bowl, 1912–1917
- silver.
- Museum purchase from the Members' Acquisitions Fund of Cooper-Hewitt,....
- 2008-3-1
- Compote From A Console Set, 1927
- sterling silver, ivory, and ebony.
- Lent by Yale University Art Gallery, Mabel Brady Garvan Collection, by....
- 65.2016.4
- Dining Chair, from the Purkersdorf Sanatorium Dining Chair
- beechwood, leather, metal.
- Museum purchase from Combined Funds and through gift of Crane and Co..
- 1968-6-1
Its dimensions are
H x W x D: 21.7 × 39 × 34.4 cm (8 9/16 × 15 3/8 × 13 9/16 in.)
It has the following markings
On the lip of bowl: [1] Interlocking “JH”, impressed (designer’s mark) [2] Rose mark, impressed (manufacturer’s mark) [3] “WIENER WERKSTATTE”, impressed (manufacturer’s mark) [4] Interconnected “WW”, impressed (manufacturer’s mark) [5] Dianna Head with “2” and “A”, impressed (standard mark, Austria-Hungary, town mark, Vienna, 1872–1922). On the foot of the bowl: [1] Interconnected “WW”, impressed (manufacturer’s mark) [2] Dianna Head with “2” and “A”, impressed (standard mark, Austria-Hungary, town mark, Vienna, 1872–1922).
It is inscribed
Inscribed on the bowl: [1] “OP”, repoussé (monogram) [2] “MP”, repoussé (monogram) [3] “19” and “17”, repoussé (date)
Cite this object as
Fruit Bowl Bowl; Designed by Josef Hoffmann (Austrian, b. Moravia, 1870–1956); Produced by Wiener Werkstätte (Austria); Austria; silver; H x W x D: 21.7 × 39 × 34.4 cm (8 9/16 × 15 3/8 × 13 9/16 in.); Gift of Ely Jacques Kahn; 1962-227-1
This object was previously on display as a part of the exhibitions The Jazz Age: American Style in the 1920s and Making Design.
