Postby silverport » Tue Aug 31, 2010 2:19 pm
A “half ready made” item; in a suggested appearance, of to be “finished” = or of neither especial design importance.
Hello Jeff
Sorry, I guess you wouldn’t find any particular designer of the period, to whom you could for sure attribute the piece.
The item, as shown in the photos, seems to me, to be made by use of brass or steel dies — be “hand wrought” only the inside oriented parts of the rim.
This kind of metal sheet folding, forming ribs, is a thousand of years’s experienced interim result of hand wrought technique. Put a "Kleenex" on yours fist - what you would see, is some thing similar what happen during the hand wrought production processing, from a basic round or square sheet of material.
In the European Baroque and Rococo period the same design principle was used in their culture of making hollowware. If you would search for pictures from items of that period, you would see the same kind of swirls.
Some times these swirls you could see only on the flanges — but the mirror is worked out as like to be a real mirror; e.g. as place for a crest.
In your case not only the fond is rough “hammered” — but the whole item.
Normally that result would be the first step, or one of the first steps, to get a result — and the rim area would be cut to an equal height and then after double rolled, or soldered below with a reinforcing rim profile; e.g. for waiters.
After the »Art Nouveau«, »Jugendstil«, or »Secession« period rose a need of styling differences — some chose a kind of »Classicism revival«, others tended more to a kind of »New Baroque«, or to other hotchpotches.
The style of “half ready made” was an answer from marketing and production technique departments, on the markets need of »novelties«. The “hammered” surfaces were their »New purity«.
You could find examples for this in the then offered products range of many European workshops and Silver ware factories.
Thus, this is almost »Factory design« - I guess, you wouldn’t find a special Artist, who had designed yours item.
Attributions often couldn’t be sounded by documents — like e.g. in publications (art journals, catalogues, exhibitions publications, journals for professionals …).
A flower on an item, in the aesthetic appearance of Johannes Joseph Vincenz Cissarz, isn’t a reason there fore to attribute the item to be »Cissarz«.
In that period it was often usual by competitors, to copy their concurrence — and change only one minimal detail. That was then most often enough difference, not to be guilty of plagiarism — then a paradise for plagiarism.
Vienna, with the former importance for the Austro-Hungary Empire had many workshops and little factories of several importances in the production of »novelties« - the little manufactory of Eduard Friedmann were one of these too.
Kind regards silverport