The concept of the “Gesamtkunstwerk” was the leading credo for the craftsmen and the designers during the whole existence of the Wiener Werkstätte. In 1906 the Wiener Werkstätte did an exhibition called “the covered table” wherein the artists of the Viennese manufacture presented their imaginations of a food panel with the “Gesamtkunstwerk” in mind. Those ensembles were widely discussed by the Viennese press and society. Today dining services of the Wiener Werkstätte are highly sought after by cutlery collectors and they range among the most precious pieces in their collections.
These twelve tea and coffee spoons are part of the so called “round model” that was designed by Josef Hoffmann around 1906. Hoffmann was responsible for the majority of the designs of dining services that were manufactured by the Wiener Werkstätte. A complete set with twelve spoons in the genuine box is a real rarity.
Bib.: design and genuine photograph in the Museum of Applied Arts in Vienna, inv. nr. KI 12086/28 & WWF-130-2-1, model nr. S799 & M 851