Bronze vase Gustav Gurschner Kunst-Erzgiesserei ca. 1907

This impressive vase is a wonderful example of the fascination Gurschner’s archaic vessels still exert to the present day. Almost 30 centimetres in height, its square shape alone gives it a massive appearance. The most striking feature, however, is the protruding decoration in the upper part, which combines two-dimensional and highly sculptural elements. It bears a decoration typical of Gurschner with a Nordic and geometric relief, such as endless loops and segmented circles, combined with stylized draperies. In its plasticity, this mighty vase is almost reminiscent of an Art Déco object.
Form, decoration and patina are those three essential elements Gurschner uses to achieve completely different effects. This model, for instance, with its gold-polished decoration looks far more sublime and completely different to the more earthy version of the same model with silver-plated ornamentation and a dark greenish patina.
Gurschner obviously considered this decoration to be ideally suited to angular objects, since he used the same décor for a large, octagonal chachepot as well.