Wiener Werkstätte ring

The concept behind the Wiener Werkstätte was part of a much larger movement towards collaborative guild-style workshops, beginning with the Arts & Crafts movement in Britain. It was founded in 1903 by Josef Hoffmann and Koloman Moser, with the backing of a prominent businessman and patron of the arts, Fritz Waerndorfer. The Wiener Werkstätte believed in hiring well-trained craftsmen, making their products more expensive than those created, for instance, by C. R. Ashbee’s Guild of Handicrafts in England. Hence the Wiener Werkstätte’s clientele were often members of the Viennese elite.


Jewelry was especially prized as an outward symbol of artistic independence. A surviving photograph held by the Museum of Applied Arts in Vienna confirms that this ring was designed by Dagobert Peche, who joined the Wiener Werkstätte in 1915 as artistic director. Peche was highly regarded by Josef Hoffmann, who upon Peche’s death in 1923 wrote, "Dagobert Peche was the greatest ornamental genius Austria has produced since the Baroque." The ring is accompanied by an original Wiener Werkstätte black leather box, embossed in gold lettering.