Lot Essay
Numerous European silversmiths created objects de vertu in the Renaissance Revival taste in the late nineteenth century, all drawing upon exotic natural materials such as rock crystal, colored hardstones and shells.
Indeed, Karl Rssler described his specialty as "Kunstgewerbliche Gegenstnde in Gold und Silber. - Email- und Antique-Imitation" in an 1898 directory (W. Neuwirth, Lexikon Wiener Gold- und Silberschmiede und ihre punzen 1867-1922, 1977, p. 152). The resurgence of the use of rock crystal among Viennese silversmiths was tied to the creation of the Austro-Hungarian empire in 1866, when the Hungarian mines became readily accessible to craftsmen.
Indeed, Karl Rssler described his specialty as "Kunstgewerbliche Gegenstnde in Gold und Silber. - Email- und Antique-Imitation" in an 1898 directory (W. Neuwirth, Lexikon Wiener Gold- und Silberschmiede und ihre punzen 1867-1922, 1977, p. 152). The resurgence of the use of rock crystal among Viennese silversmiths was tied to the creation of the Austro-Hungarian empire in 1866, when the Hungarian mines became readily accessible to craftsmen.