Vintage Silver-Plated Brass Bon Bon Bowl by Josef Hoffmann, 1920s

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Description

Item description:
wonderful silver-plated brass candy dish, decorated on the rim with evenly spaced raised lines and raised beading, marked … Read more Item description:
wonderful silver-plated brass candy dish, decorated on the rim with evenly spaced raised lines and raised beading, marked under the base with a rampant lion and underneath an inscription that is difficult to read, which appears to be "wer\.". Although the mark is very similar to the sheffield mark of the rampant lion used in scotland, in glasgow, from 1819 to 1964, i believe that the authorship of this object can be attributed to the wiener werkstatte, specifically to josef hoffmann, one of its founders and leading exponents. In fact, the style of the bonbonniere is very similar to those made by this artist, as is the material used, silver-plated brass, which was often used by the artist. Finally, the inscription under the lion, "wer\.", could stand for "werkstatte." for all these reasons, it is highly likely that we are talking about a piece made by josef hoffmann for the wiener werkstatte. The object can be dated to the early decades of the 20th century, and the evident patina confirms our dating. The bonbonniere is in full art deco style and reflects the canons of the viennese secession. In art history, the secession (in german secessionstil) refers to the development of artistic styles that emerged between the late 19th and early 20th centuries in munich and berlin in germany and in vienna in austria. This movement was formalized with the so-called wiener secession (viennese secession), which consisted of the creation of an association of 19 artists, painters, and architects, including josef hoffmann himself, who broke away from the academy of fine arts to form an autonomous group with its own independence and headquarters: the vienna secession building.

useful information for evaluating the item:
our web research shows that the highest four auction results achieved by josef hoffmann in the furniture category range from €112,000 to over €122,000, while in the objects category, they range from €160,000 to €267,000, giving an idea of the importance of this artist. Meanwhile, objects very similar to ours, also by josef hoffmann, who created many silver-plated metal objects, from baskets to glasses, bowls, saucers, etc., of which he was probably one of the main creators, are all listed or sold at auction at very high prices, ranging from €800 to €1,500 for the smallest and simplest items to over €54,000 depending on their size but above all on the material used, with those in solid silver obviously being the most valuable. Finally, we found a small silver-plated brass bowl, unsigned and only attributed to hoffmann's style, offered on pamono for €750.

information about the artist and/or manufacturer:
josef franz maria hoffmann (brtnice, 1870 – vienna, 1956) was one of austria's leading architects, active between the late 19th century and the first half of the 20th century. Hoffmann is considered one of the greatest ceramists and artists of the viennese secession. He founded the wiener werkstatte together with koloman moser and absorbed michael powolny's wiener keramik, with whom he collaborated for many decades. In 1987, the museum für angewandte kunst (mak) in vienna organized an exhibition in his honor. The museum still has a permanent exhibition of his works and also organizes special exhibitions on the architect and his contemporaries.


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