Tea service
(1930)
- Credit Line
- National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Helene Guilfoyle (née Steiert) Bequest, 2004
© Wilhelm Wagenfeld/VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn. Licensed by Copyright Agency, Australia
- Gallery location
- Not on display
About this work
Wilhelm Wagenfeld trained in silversmithing, printmaking and design, and joined the Bauhaus metal workshops in 1923; he then taught at the Bauhaus from 1926 to 1931. He later moved into glass design, working for manufacturers such as Jenaer Glaswerk, where he developed designs for heat-resistant glass. Wagenfeld was one of the few members of the Bauhaus to work successfully in industry, designing mass-produced objects according to modernist principles of simplicity and functionality. Bauhaus philosophy dictated that objects should be visible only to the extent that they served some useful function. Wagenfeld’s glass tea service perfectly embodies this idea, the transparent vessels becoming visible only when full of liquid.
Artwork Details
(d) 4.9 × 12.0 × 9.6 cm (milk jug)
(e) 4.6 × 9.8 cm diameter (sugar bowl)
(f) 4.9 × 12.0 × 9.9 cm (cup)
(g) 1.3 × 14.9 cm diameter (saucer)
(h) 4.7 × 11.3 × 9.8 cm (cup)
(i) 1.3 × 14.8 cm diameter (saucer)
(j) 4.6 × 11.5 × 9.8 cm (cup)
(k) 1.3 × 14.8 cm diameter (saucer)
(l) 4.5 × 11.7 × 9.8 cm (cup)
(m) 1.3 × 15.0 cm diameter (saucer)
(n) 4.6 × 11.4 × 9.8 cm (cup)
(o) 1.1 × 14.5 cm diameter (saucer)
(p) 14.7 × 11.9 × 9.8 cm (cup)
(q) 1.1 × 14.4 cm diameter (saucer)
(r) 1.1 × 14.6 cm diameter (saucer)
(s) 1.3 × 20.0 cm diameter (side plate)
(t) 1.3 × 19.9 cm diameter (side plate)
(u) 1.5 × 19.7 cm diameter (side plate)
(v) 1.6 × 19.7 cm diameter (side plate)
(w) 1.5 × 19.7 cm diameter (side plate)
(x) 1.6 × 19.9 cm diameter (side plate)
Helene Guilfoyle (née Steiert) Bequest, 2004
© Wilhelm Wagenfeld/VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn. Licensed by Copyright Agency, Australia
This digital record has been made available on NGV Collection Online through the generous support of Digitisation Champion Ms Carol Grigor through Metal Manufactures Limited