Hermann Ratzersdorfer

Viennese rock crystal faceplate Rock crystal, silver, gold-plated. Large, round-set plate with finely cut rock crystal inlays on a low base ring. The mounting with rich applied scrollwork in the Renaissance style, decorated with pairs of birds and mascarons in polychrome, opaque and translucent enamel. Marks: Vienna official stamp for fineness 800, 1872 - 1922 (Neuwirth plate 7, no. 2), MZ Hermann Ratzersdorfer (before 1845 - 1891, Neuwirth p. 129). Diameter 36 cm, weight 1,883 g. Vienna, Hermann Ratzersdorfer, 1870s. Hermann Ratzersdorfer was one of the most important Viennese silversmiths of the 19th century. His specialty was "original art work in the style of the 16th century in rock crystal and enamel" (exhibition catalog Vienna 1973, quoted in Neuwirth, Wiener Gold- und Silberschmiede und ihre Punzen 1867 - 1922, Vienna 1977, p. 129). Ratzersdorfer first exhibited at the London World Exhibition in 1851 and won a medal at the Paris Exhibition of 1855. The public celebrated his sometimes spectacular designs, especially in Vienna in 1873 and Paris in 1878. Literature Cf. a magnificent bowl by Ratzersdorfer, illustrated in cat. Macht & Pracht, Europas Glanz im 19. Jahrhundert, Ed. Völklinger Hütte 2006, p. 178 f. Another illustrated in cat. Galerie Neuse, L'Apothéose du Génie, Les Expositions Universelles, leurs artistes et leur esprit, Bremen, n. d., p. 120 f.