OTTO PRUTSCHER
| About the artist | 1880 – Vienna – 1949 |
| Designed by | Otto Prutscher, 1912 |
| Executed by | Karl Adolf Franz, master cabinetmaker |
| Dimensions | H 132.5/165 cm, W 81.5/77 cm, D 40/19.5 cm |
| Material | Lower section: solid rosewood and veneer on softwood, 2 doors with inlays/marquetry in 17 different fruit and precious wood veneers (rosewood, bird's eye maple, maple, birch, beech, plum, walnut, mahogany, yew, lemon, ash, poplar burl, merengue, pear, rosewood, amaranth, olive, some also stained in colour), partially stained black; Interior: lemon wood, rosewood, artistic marquetry in pear with delicate painting; drawers: solid maple wood, lemon wood veneer Top section/wall cabinet: solid rosewood and veneer on softwood, inlays/marquetry in rosewood, ebony?, walnut and maple, glass doors each with an oval, double-walled glass medallion, black (schwarzlot) and gold painting on the inside and decorated with extravagant mother-of-pearl inlays, 4 rounded faceted glass panes each; interior: lemon wood |
| Provenance | private property, Austria |
| Shown | Spring exhibition ‘Austrian Arts and Crafts’, Museum of Arts and Industry (today’s MAK), Vienna, 1912; Leopold Museum, The Schedlmayer Collection. A Discovery!, 10 September 2021 to 18 April 2022 |
| Literature | Das Interieur XIII, 1912, ill. 63; H. & F. Schedlmayer, C. Duit (ed.) Otto Prutscher, 1880 – 1949, Architekt und Designer zwischen Tradition und Moderne vol. 1, Basel, 2020, p. 209; V. Behal, Möbel des Jugendstils, Vienna, 1981, p. 58 |
This magnificent cabinet by Otto Prutscher was exhibited at the ‘Austrian Arts and Crafts’ spring exhibition in Vienna in 1912. Executed by cabinetmaker Karl Adolf Franz, this grand masterpiece features an artistically carved garland of flowers made from approx. 17 different types of wood on the door fronts, while stylised floral inlays decorate the interior and the fronts of the doors and drawers.
The glass doors of the small wall cabinet each feature an oval, double-walled glass medallion decorated on the inside with schwarzlot and gold painting and extravagant mother-of-pearl inlays.
This decorative cabinet is a most perfect example of both ‘cheerful and graceful’ and ‘with the most refined elegance’ – two expressions often used to describe early works by Otto Prutscher.
H53/26