Dessert glass

This dessert glass is one of several models of “tall glasses” in various colors designed by Otto Prutscher and probably executed by Meyr’s Neffe—one of Europe’s oldest glass factories—in Bohemia, a region with a rich tradition of glassmaking. Prutscher was, as were many progressive Viennese designers at the turn of the century, a champion of _Gesamtkunstwerk_ (total work of art), a design philosophy that unified buildings, interiors, and decorative arts into a whole. While this glass was produced to be sold commercially rather than created for a singular commission, Prutscher’s architectural predilections are evident in the work’s restrained form, including the patterned stem with its geometric motifs.

**Adapted from**

Samantha Robinson, “Modern Opulence in Vienna: The Wittgenstein Vitrine” Label text (1989.91), 2014.