Wittgenstein Vitrine (for the 1908 Kunstschau)

The monumental vitrine, or display cabinet, is the largest and most lavish example of the silverwork of the Wiener Werkstätte known. A masterpiece of early 20th-century design, it weighs over two hundred pounds and is made of solid silver encrusted with enamel, pearls, opal, and other stones, attached to an ebony-veneered base.

Designed by Werkstätte member Carl Otto Czeschka and presented at the 1908 Vienna Kunstschau (Art Show), this work marks an important moment in the development of Viennese design. A talented artist and designer, Czeschka joined the Vienna Secession in 1900 and, in 1902, began teaching drawing at the city’s Kunstgewerbeschule (School of Applied Arts). In 1904, he joined the Werkstätte, where he produced designs for their first postcards in 1905 and subsequently a host of objects, from furnishings to jewelry. His work in the graphic arts, including illustrations for "Die Nibelungen" (1909), reflected his artistic development in all media, including silverwork. The vitrine’s dominant motifs—a pair of sentinel-like caryatids or knights and the dominant bird and grapevine fretwork that wraps the case—are frequently reoccurring themes in his oeuvre. Favoring opulent decoration over a nonetheless architectural structure, this work expresses the Werkstätte’s ultimate embrace of a richly ornamental and symbolic aesthetic paralleling the work of famed Secessionist artist and Czeschka associate Gustav Klimt.

The vitrine was purchased by Karl Wittgenstein (1847–1913), a Viennese iron and steel magnate and the leader of one of the most powerful families in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Wittgenstein’s support had enabled the construction of Vienna’s Secession building in 1898. With brother Paul’s encouragement, the family engaged in a series of artistic and architectural commissions in the following years, including paintings by Klimt and the remodeling and furnishing of a number of their homes by the Werkstätte. The vitrine, originally installed in the Red Salon of the family’s mansion on Vienna’s Alleegasse, remained with Wittgenstein descendants until 1949 and was subsequently held in two private collections until its acquisition by the Dallas Museum of Art in 2013.