Description & Technical information

Designed by: Josef Hoffmann
Executed by: Wiener Werkstätte, model no. M 2287

Some glass elements added, suspension added, very good, largely original condition

The wealthy Jewish Viennese Mori(t)z Gallia had his wife Hermine portrayed by Gustav Klimt in 1903. In 1912, he commissioned Josef Hoffmann with building an upscale home in Wohllebengasse 4 in Vienna, in which he and his family lived in the proprietor’s apartment that had been very generously furnished by Hoffmann. In 1938, the Nazi regime forced Gallia and his family to leave their home. Fortunately, however, they were able to take most of their furniture and objects of art with them to Australia.

Date:  1910
Period:  20th century
Origin:  Vienna
Medium: Gilt, Brass chased, Facetted glass rods
Signature: Unmarked

Dimensions: 183 x 74 cm (72 x 29¹/₈ inches)
Provenance: Private property, Vienna
Literature: Deutsche Kunst und Dekoration, 1915-1916, vol. 37, p. 405; a contemporary photograph is preserved in the Wiener Werkstätte archives at the Austrian Museum of Applied Arts (MAK), Vienna, inv. no. KI 9277-4
Categories: Decorative Arts & Design, Furniture