Collection Online

Sintrax coffee machine
(c. 1925)

Medium
glass, metal, rubber, wood

Measurements
(a-c) 12.6 × 21.4 × 13.8 cm (overall)
(d-e) 25.2 x12.5 cm diameter (overall)

Credit Line
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Gift of Arne Grosskopf through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program, 2024

Gallery location
Not on display

 

About this work

Gerhard Marcks trained as a sculptor in Berlin before joining the Bauhaus in 1919, where he became artistic director of the school’s pottery workshop. In 1925 Marcks was approached by Jenaer Glaswerk to produce a new design for their heat-resistant glass coffee percolator, their original design being thought to look too much like a scientific instrument. The rubber fitting was originally produced in red, as on this example, but was made in black after the Second World War. The ebonised wooden handle has been attributed by some to Wilhelm Wagenfeld but there is no record of Wagenfeld’s involvement with the Sintrax percolator.
New acquisition

Artwork Details

Place/s of Execution
Jena, Germany

Inscription
(a) printed in brown on base c.: Schott & Gen. / Jenaer Glas (all in a circle) (all in a square) / ¾ Ltr
(d) printed in grey u.c.: Jena (illeg.) Glas / Schott & Gen / Jena (all in a circle) (all in a square) / Sintrax / ¾ Ltr.
printed in grey on rear u.c.: D f w (monogram) (in a flower)
(e) printed in grey c.: ½ ÷ ¾ Ltr.

Accession Number
2024.660.a-e

Department
International Decorative Arts