Jugendstil dining table with chairs Joseph M. Olbrich attr. A. Nagel Vienna ca. 1905

The extendable table with six chairs is part of a complete dining room manufactured by Viennese cabinetmaker A. Nagel. The exquisite ensemble dating from circa 1905 also includes a large sideboard, a vitrine, a grandfather-clock and a side table. Stylistically very similar Secessionist furniture and an almost identical sideboard designed by Joseph Maria Olbrich are illustrated in the exhibition catalog of the 1984 Venice Biennale “Le Arti a Vienna”. Thus, we feel confirmed in our assumption to attribute the whole ensemble to famous architect-designer Olbrich.
Fully extended the dining table measures 206 centimeters. It is made of solid oak in fine cabinetmaker quality, stained and polished. Matching the other furniture pieces, the table legs are finely fluted and, in keeping with the taste of the period, have nickel-plated brass fittings.
The mother-of-pearl inlays on the chair backs are a particularly nice detail. The combination of geometrically structured backs with ornamental mother-of-pearl circles is strongly reminiscent of designs by Charles Rennie Mackintosh and Josef Hoffmann. Overall, the representative dining room perfectly reflects the taste of the wealthy upper class in Vienna around 1900 and testifies to the superb quality of fine Viennese cabinetmaking of the time.