J Winhart and Co

Attributed to Ludwig Karl Maria Vierthaler for J. Winhart & Co. The silver markings on the underside of this bowl indicate that it was manufactured by J. Winhart & Co. for whom Vier...

Created while a lead designer for J. Winhart & Co., Ludwig Vierthaler’s cicada themed copper vase showcases the design principles which he developed at J. Winhart in the pre-war years, where emphasis was placed on craftsmanship and the characteristics of the material itself. The vase’s ambiguous quality and use of allegory also shows his uncanny understanding of the dual nature of German life at the time. On the one hand, under Kaiser Wilhelm II, Germany was asserting herself strongly in the Weltpolitik through alliances with other central-European powers and in making grand plans to grow in military strength. With hindsight, Vierthaler’s vase is all the more remarkable for his prescience in the twilight of an empire. By presenting a cicada, he evokes a conundrum. Is this cicada a strong adult, newly emerged from a long dormancy? Or is this the cicada...

Ludwig Vierthaler (German, 1875-1967) for Winhart & Co., Munich, circa 1904, apparently unmarked, jardiniere or planter in the form of a two-handled bowl, the hammered copper body de...