- Museum number
- 1982,1203.8
- Description
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Fish knife; silvered metal, cast, the blade pierced and engraved with three square motifs, the handle with relief linear ornament incorporating a monogram; further linear ornament on reverse of handle.
- Production date
- 1904 (made)
- Dimensions
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Length: 22.80 centimetres
- $Inscriptions
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- Curator's comments
- Text from J. Rudoe, 'Decorative Arts 1850-1950. A catalogue of the British Museum collection'. 2nd ed. no.225.
Olbrich trained as an architect in Vienna, working initially for Otto Wagner. He was a founder member of the Vienna Seccession in 1897, and in 1899 was called to the Darmstadt artists' colony, where he designed public buildings and artists' houses, as well as rooms for several international exhibitions.
Clarfeld & Springmeyer were the second largest cutlery manufacturers in Germany before the First World War. The firm was founded in 1858 by the businessman Fritz Clarfeld and the engraver Heinrich Springmeyer. They made cutlery in nickel silver, alpacca and paktong, and, from the 1890s in silvered metal.
Often examples of cutlery from this Olbrich service are found that bear the marks of other firms, who acted as wholesalers and finishers only, but had their names stamped on goods by the factory. The half-finished wares were delivered to the wholesalers, who then had them silvered before retail. In this way the two main costs of the moulds and the silvering were shared between two different concerns (R. Sanger, 'Massenfabrikation in Silber - Bemerkungen zur Tafelgerate- und Besteckindustrie im rheinisch-westfalischen Raum', Der westdeutsche Impuls 1900-1914. Die Margaretenhohe. Das Schone und die Ware. exhibition catalogue. Museum Folkwang, Essen 1984, 200ff.). The fish knife and fork from the Darmstadt collection are also marked by Clarfeld & Springmeyer, but the servers bear the mark of C.B. Schroeder of Diisseldorf, founded in 1901 as electroplate manufacturers (C.B. Heller, 'Kataloge des Hessischen landesmuseums Nr. Jugendstil. Kunst um 1900', Darmstadt 1982, nos 310-11). The Hessisches Landesmuseum, Darmstadt, also holds examples of the meat cutlery from this service, with the mark of a third firm, Zoll & Co., of Pforzheim (Heller 1982, no. 326). A fourth mark of Ludwig Ziech & Co. of Hamburg is found on parts of the set in Karlsruhe (I. Franzke, 'Jugendstil', Badisches Landesmuseum, Karlsruhe, Bestandskatalog 1987 no. 46). See also R. Ulmer, 'Museum der Künstlerkolonie. Darmstadt. Katalog', Darmstadt n.d.(1990), no. 306, for further examples in the Museum der Künstlerkolonie, Darmstadt, bearing the marks of Schroeder, Clarfeld & Springmeyer and Ziech.
The date '1904' stamped on the piece catalogued here suggests that it may have been made as part of the large group of Olbrich material which was shown in the exhibition at the Darmstadt artists' colony of that year or in the St Louis Exhibition, also held in 1904. A spoon from this service appears in an advertisement by Clarfeld & Springmeyer in the Werkbund ]ahrbuch for 1912. The design date of this service is traditionally given as c. 1900 in recent literature, but without reference to contemporary evidence.
- Location
- Not on display
- Associated events
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Designed for: Exhibition at Darmstadt artists' colony 1904;?
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Designed for: St Louis Exhibition 1904;?
- Acquisition date
- 1982
- Department
- Britain, Europe and Prehistory
- Registration number
- 1982,1203.8
