Trophy with Nike Gustav Gurschner K.K. Kunst-Erzgiesserei ca. 1908

Gustav Gurschner was a sports enthusiast. His passion for the then modern automobile sport led him to design the trophy for the Henry Edmunds Prize of the British-French Automobile Club. Another example for his talent as sculptor is this “sports prize”, as he himself described it.
The trophy, fifty centimeters in height, is designed like a marble monument. Nike, the ancient goddess of victory is depicted in the central niche of the marble top. Depicted in half-profile and in a striding pose, she appears to be facing the viewer. She holds a garland of laurel in her hands and a laurel wreath surrounds her head like an aureole. A fine beaded frame surrounds the rectangular central relief.
In the ancient tradition, laurel with its evergreen leaves symbolizes fame and immortality. Gurschner thus combines the personification of victory with the shape of a memorial that will endure through the ages. Just as Nike, the goddess of victory, represents everlasting fame, the glory of an athlete’s victory, carved in marble, is meant to outlast all time.