Beaker

Glass and porcelain were among the favored materials for domestic wares during the Viennese Biedermeier period (1815-48). This phenomenon resulted in part from the high cost of precious metals. It also demonstrated a reaction to the wholesale meltdown of church, public, and privately owned gold and silver authorized by the financially troubled state in 1806. Economics aside, these warmly glazed, painted, and hand-blown products (contrasting with the cool elegance of silver) harmonized well with the lighter woods then popular for Viennese furniture.

The Schuhfried beaker is decorated with the representation of the interior of the Seitenstettengasse Synagogue in Vienna. A classically derived flared cylinder with a heavy faceted base, it is a product of the great revival of glass decoration in the early nineteenth century. Samuel Mohn had introduced the technique of transparent enamel painting on glass upon his arrival in Vienna in 1811. Within a year Anton Kothgasser decorated his first glasses in this manner as a means of supplementing his income as painter at the Viennese Porcelain Factory. Schuhfried, employed by the same firm, soon became Kothgasser's most noted associate. Although Schuhfried is generally cited for his city views and landscapes, he also painted other beloved themes: portraits, flowers, animals, emblems, and allegories. Because Schuhfried did not sign his works, this glass, and for that matter much of his oeuvre, was considered to be Kothgasser's. The discovery of Kothgasser's and Schuhfried's joint record book has permitted a reattribution of this beaker and many other works to the latter's hand. Schuhfried's style is considered "poetic" and is certainly more impressionistic than Kothgasser's. This contrast may be seen in the comparison between Kothgasser's depiction of the exterior of a Catholic house of worship, the prominent Gothic St. Stephen's Cathedral, and Schuhfried's representation of the interior of the newly constructed, neoclassically decorated Judentemple. Schuhfried's record book of 1825-1830 indicates that he decorated two glasses with views of the Judentemple, one of which may be The Jewish Museum's work.

The Judentemple was the first official synagogue that Viennese Jews were permitted to build after their readmission to the capital late in the 17th century. Designed by Josef Kornhausel, who had been court architect to the Prince of Liechtenstein, its oval-domed interior with Ionic columns and two-tiered gallery reflects his numerous commissions for theaters. In deference to the demands of the local public authorities, the nondescript exterior facade blended with the two adjoining buildings. However, its stylish neoclasssical interior, as well as the classical connotation of its name, sought to attract the assimilating, modern Viennese Jew.

Source: Norman L. Kleeblatt and Vivian B. Mann. TREASURES OF THE JEWISH MUSEUM. New York: The Jewish Museum, 1986, pp. 144-145.