- Museum number
- 1979,1102.1
- Description
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Tea-pot with infuser; silver, with hemispherical hand-raised body set on a cross-shaped foot, a D-shaped ebony handle and flat lid set off-centre with a cylindrical ebony silver-topped knop; the original pierced silver infuser with handle is designed to fit neatly inside the top opening.
- Production date
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1924 (designed)
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1925-1929 (made Dessau ?)
- Dimensions
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Diameter: 6 centimetres (lid)
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Diameter: 5.70 centimetres (strainer)
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Diameter: 10.60 centimetres (top)
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Height: 4 centimetres (strainer)
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Height: 7.30 centimetres
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Width: 16.10 centimetres (spout to handle)
- $Inscriptions
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- Curator's comments
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Text from J. Rudoe 'Decorative Art s 1850-1950. A catalogue of the British Museum collection.' 2nd ed. 1994, no. 26.
Brandt joined the Bauhaus in 1924 and transferred from the Vorkurs to the Metal Workshop in 1924 on the advice of Moholy-Nagy, who directed the Metal Workshop as Formmeister from 1923 to 1928.She was the only woman to join the Weimar Metal Workshop and her presence was not immediately accepted, but she succeeded Moholy-Nagy as director of the Workshop at Dessau from 1928 to 1929. Brandt left the Bauhaus to work briefly with Gropius in Berlin and then for the Ruppelwerk metalware factory in Gotha, Thuringia from 1929 to 1932.
The combination of geometric shapes in this tea-infuser is closely related to the Constructivist prints made by Moholy-Nagy at the Bauhaus. The concentration on form rather than decoration was intended to produce designs suitable for industrial production, but early Bauhaus designs such as this were made with little or no experience of designing for industry; this handmade tea-infuser has become famous as a classic Bauhaus object, but it remains in the tradition of costly craft-based metalworking as taught by the Lehrmeister (technical instructor), Christian Dell. Brandt herself later wrote of the problems of industrially producing silverware and other tableware (E. Neumann ed. ''Bauhaus and Bauhaus people', New York,1970, 98). For further discussion of these issues, see Naylor, G., 'The Bauhaus Reassessed', London. 1985.
For a contemporary illustration of this tea-infuser, described as a pot for tea extract with deep strainer, see Gropius, W., 'Neuw Arbeiten der Bauhauswerkstatten', Passau 1925, (new edn. ed. H. Wingler, Maintz and Berlin 1981) 46; Die Schaulade, 6 Jahrgang, Heft 10, July 1926, 216. Apart from the British Museum example, only one other silver example is recorded (sold Christie's, Amsterdam, 26 October 1989, lot 431). In addition, three base-metal examples have been published : a version in brass with silver strainer, in the Bauhaus-Archiv Museum, Berlin (Wingler, H. M., 'Bauhaus-Archiv Museum für Gestalung:Sammlungs-Katalog, Berlin 1981, no. 193, H 7.5cm); a version in bronze with nickel-silver foot, spout and handle mounts, silver plating inside and a silver strainer, in the Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Nuremberg (Stuttgart 1975, no. 174, H 8 cm); another bronze version with silver base, spout and handle mount, in the Kunstsammlungen, Weimar, Germany (Brussels 1988, no. 34, H 7.8cm). These last two examples have a wider knop to the lid which differs from the British Museum example. A similar tea-infuser was included in the Bauhaus Dessau display at the Leipzig Exhibition of 1927 (Leipzig1928, Grassimuseum 'Europaaschies Kunstgewerbe. Bericht über die Austellung Europisches Kunstgewerbe 1927' pl. 11).
In 1924 Brandt also designed a larger teapot, with hinged bow-shaped handle at the top, as part of a six-piece silver tea service (Die Schaulade, July 1926, 217); a complete example of this service survives in the Bauhaus-Archiv Museum, Berlin (Wingler 1981, no. 194). The Kunstsammlungen, Weimar has a four-piece service in brass, nickel-silver and silver (Brussels 1988, Musée Royaux des Beaux-Arts, 'Bauhaus 1919-1933. Le Bauhaus dans les collections de la République Démocratique Allemande'. no. 35), while a silver teapot from this service is in the Museum of Modern Art, New York (Drexler A. & Daniel, G., 'Introduction to Twentieth Century Design from the collection of the Museum of Modern Art, New York', New York 1959, pl. 37). There was also a second tea-infuser design of spherical shape with semi-circular ebony handle and cross-shaped foot, as on the British Museum infuser (for a bronze example in the Kunstsammlungen, Weimar, see Scheidig, W., 'Crafts of the Weimar Bauhaus', London 1967, pl. 32, [first published in German as Bauhaus Weimar 1919-1924. Werkstattarbeiten, Leipzig and Munich])).
The tea-infuser was widely praised for its simplicity of form and practicality of construction: the push-on lid placed to the right, away from the spout, so that it did not drip (unlike the usual hinged lids on metal teapots), the wood knop and handle, which were heat-resistant, and the non-drip spout were especially singled out for remark (Die Schaulade, July 1926, 222).
Additional text from J. Rudoe, 'Decorative Arts 1850-1950. A Catalogue of the British Museum Collection'. 2nd ed. 1994. Addenda.
For a more recent account of Brandt's work see 'Die Metallwerkstatt am Bauhaus' exhibition catalogue, Bauhaus-Archiv, Berlin, 1992. Brandt joined the Metal Workshop as a designer; she did not train as a goldsmith and most of her designs were executed by other members of the Metal Workshop. See also: exhibition catalogue, 'Silver of a new Era', Rotterdam Museum Boymans van-Beuningen and Ghent, Museum voor Sierkunst, 1992.
Information supplementary to Rudoe 1994:
See also J.Rudoe 'An historical continuum: collecting 20th century applied art from Europe and America at the British Museum' from 'The International Art & Design Fair 1900-2002' pp. 15-28. fig. 9.
The example sold at Christie's Amsterdan in 1989 (see above) was acquired by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2000.
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For a similar Marianne Brandt tea-infuser see Sotheby's New York,14 December 2007, 'Deutscher Werkbund to Bauhaus: An Important Collection of German Design'. It is model number MT 49, circa 1927 and is nickel-plated silver and ebony. It measures 2 7/8 by 6 by 4 inches or 7.3 by 15.2 by 10.2 cm. Details on object file.
- Location
- On display (G48/dc3)
- Exhibition history
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Exhibited:
2019-2020 Sep-Jan, Berlin, Bauhaus Archiv Museum, Bauhaus 100 Jubilee
2014-2015 16 Oct-25 Jan, London, BM, G35, Germany: Memories of a Nation
2012: 3 May-12 Aug, London, Barbican Centre, Bauhaus: Art as Life.
2007 17 Mar-29 Jul, Washington, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Modernism: Designing a New World
2006-2007 16 Sep-7 Jan, Germany, MARTa Herford Museum, Modernism: Designing a New World
2006 6 Apr-23 Jul, London, V&A, Modernism: Designing a New World
2000 Feb 10-Jun 4, London, Design Museum, Bauhaus Dessau 1926-1932
1993 Sep 16-Nov 7, London, Crafts Council, Fine Metalwork
1992 25 May-27 Jul, Belgium, Ghent, Museum of Decorative Arts, Silver of a New Era
1992 8 Feb-20 Apr, Germany, Berlin, Bauhaus-Archiv, Museum für Gestaltung, 'Die Metallwerkstatt am Bauhaus'
- Condition
- good, handle slightly loose
- Acquisition date
- 1979
- Department
- Britain, Europe and Prehistory
- Registration number
- 1979,1102.1
