Art Deco Style Gravy Boat With Abstract Handle

Eduard Friedmann, Vienna – Art Déco Sauce Boat, Hammered Silver 800, Geometric Spike Decoration, until May 1922 Eduard Friedmann (?–1924), Vienna · Hammered Silver 800 · Diana Head (Vienna, until May 1922) · Zackendekor · H. 18.6 cm · L. 24.2 cm · Weight 460 g

A sauce boat in hammered silver 800, with a double geometric interlaced handle and taut curved spout, decorated with Zackendekor — the abstract penetrating spike motif characteristic of Eduard Friedmann's late work. Height 18.6 cm · width 24.2 cm · depth 10 cm · weight 460 g. Hallmarks on the wall: Diana head (Viennese control mark, silver 800, until May 1922) · figurative Friedmann mark.

The Zackendekor — lightning-like spikes that plastically penetrate and intersect — is the most singular and radical motif in Eduard Friedmann's repertoire: breaking with the sinuous floral vocabulary of the Jugendstil that had established his reputation, he developed circa 1915–1920 this language of sharp points that directly anticipates the architectural aesthetic of Art Déco. As the GRASSI Museum in Leipzig notes in its official documentation on the Teakessel on Rechaud by the same maker: "Construction and decoration recall Art Déco architecture. The GRASSI Museum building itself features similar ornaments in its architectural decoration."

Piece directly comparable to museum collection: the GRASSI Museum für Angewandte Kunst in Leipzig holds in its permanent collection a Teakessel mit Rechaud by Eduard Friedmann, Vienna, 1915–1920 (inv. 1991.106 a–c), in hammered silver and ivory, presenting the same characteristic Zackendekor — acquired in 1991 from the Munich art trade. The sauce boat offered here is a contemporary work in the same formal vocabulary.

Eduard Friedmann (?–Vienna, 1924) was one of the most remarkable Viennese silversmiths of his era, recognised for his works in the Jugendstil tradition before developing a geometric proto-Art Déco language of great plastic force. The figurative Friedmann mark is documented in Neuwirth, Wiener Gold- und Silberschmiede und ihre Punzen.

• Height: 18.6 cm · Width: 24.2 cm · Depth: 10 cm · Weight: 460 g
• Material: hammered silver 800
• Decoration: Zackendekor — geometric penetrating spikes · double geometric handle
• Hallmarks: Diana head + figurative Friedmann mark (on wall)
• Production: Eduard Friedmann, Vienna, until May 1922
• Public collections: GRASSI Museum für Angewandte Kunst, Leipzig (Teakessel on Rechaud, inv. 1991.106, same Zackendekor) · Kunsthaus Kende, Vienna (comparable pieces documented)
• Literature: GRASSI Museum für Angewandte Kunst Leipzig (ed.), Ständige Ausstellung. Jugendstil bis Gegenwart, Leipzig, 2012, p. 65
• Condition: traces of age and use

Seen in museums — available to you.

Available for viewing by appointment at our Düsseldorf gallery.

Keywords integrated: Eduard Friedmann Vienna, sauce boat silver 800 Zackendekor, geometric Art Déco 1920, Diana head Wien, GRASSI Museum Leipzig, Viennese proto-Art Déco silversmithing