Brooch

Jewelry was among the first items produced by the Wiener Werkstätte. In this masterful design, Josef Hoffmann has arranged carefully a variety of colored semi-precious stones in an abstract pattern, achieving a pleasing sense of proportion and balance. His use of precious materials is limited. In the center is a hammered gold panel. Around it, small rose-cut diamonds are set in a linear silver wire frame. The richness of the design is due to Hoffmann’s invention and the range of colorful stones selected. They include an opal at the top, dark blue lapis lazuli cabochon stones at the bottom, luminous moonstones at the center of each side, rectangular plaques of leopardite in each corner, and smoothly polished coral. This piece was purchased as a Christmas present by Fritz Waerndorfer, the first financial backer of the Wiener Werkstätte, for this wife Lili.