Online Pamono Large Art Deco Champagne Cooler or Ice Holder in Embossed Copper with Bronze Cherub-Shaped Lid and Knob attributed to Josef Hoffmann for Wiener Werkstätte, Austria, Early 1900s

Wonderful, very rare, large ice box or champagne bottle holder for table, made of embossed copper with two bronze handles applied with three rivets to the main body of the ice box. Equipped with a lid enriched with a bronze knob depicting a stylized putto, all made in full Art Deco style. The ice box is decorated on the lid with stylized flowers in relief resembling daisies and on the main body with a large band divided into squares, within which are made, again in bas-relief, various geometric figures, hearts and birds. The entire surface of the bottle holder, including the lid, is not smooth, but is entirely hand-hammered, workmanship of the highest quality. The object can be dated to the very first decades of the 20th century, and the beautiful antique patina that covers it confirms our dating. The object is unsigned but can be traced to the Viennese secession art movement and is attributable to Josef Hoffmann, one of its leading exponents.

Useful information for evaluating the object:
An internet search tells us that a very similar box, although much smaller and with the putto that forms the lid knob in ceramic instead of bronze, is offered again here on Pamono by another seller for €4,990. Ours is not signed on the bottom but the similarity of workmanship is high and ours is much larger and has more bas-reliefs and various decorations.

Final thoughts on the object:
Note, in addition to the wonderful bas-relief decorations on the icebox, the beauty of the putto made in full Deco style, with the classic bouquet of flowers, a pose repeatedly used in putti made by Austria’s greatest artists such as Powolny, Moser, Peche and Hoffmann himself. Also very beautiful are the special decorations on the head of the putto representing hair or the two spiral decorations on the top of the two bronze handles, classic Deco elements.

Information on artist and/or manufacture:
Josef Franz Maria Hoffmann (Brtnice, 1870 – Vienna, 1956) was one of Austria’s leading architects, active between the late 19th century and the first half of the 20th century. Hoffmann is considered one of the greatest artists of the Viennese secession; he founded the Wiener Werkstatte together with Koloman Moser and absorbed Michael Powolny’s Wiener Keramik, with whom he collaborated for many decades. In 1987 the Museum für angewandte Kunst (MAK) in Vienna organized an exhibition in his honor. To this day, the museum still presents a permanent exhibition of his works, and special exhibitions on the architect and his contemporaries are also conceived.