Dagobert Peche

"Dagobert Peche was the greatest ornamental genius to appear in Austria since the Baroque". Josef Hoffmann once paid tribute to Dagobert Peche.

As a design classic of the Wiener Werkstatte, this mirror testifies to Peche's talent. It is a symbiosis of simplicity and opulence. The square mirror is simple in its shape, while its frame is opulent. Peche lavishly decorates the mirror with vegetal decor in the form of stylized palm leaves. Carved from lime wood and still bearing the original gilding, the leaves harmonically wrap around the original lead-glass mirror.

Foliage was a central motif of Viennese Modernism and many artists captured nature's rich ornamental language in their designs. With this mirror, Peche masterfully succeeded translating nature into artistic form. Thus, making it one of his most important and timeless mirror designs.

Designed in 1922 for the Wiener Werkstatte, the mirror was produced by the renowned frame manufacturer Max Welz in Vienna, which at the time had an exclusive contract with the Wiener Werkstatte. Peche's extravagant mirrors were sold in the shops of Wiener Werkstatte. Whether at the Viennese headquarter or in its branches in Zurich, Berlin or New York, they reached an international clientele.