Table lamp Karl Hagenauer Werkstatte Hagenauer circa 1930

Karl Hagenauer repeatedly used the motif of a hunting Diana in his works, whether as a figural decoration on candlesticks or, like here, as a base for a table lamp.

The goddess of the hunt is depicted with her dog and characteristic attributes, bow and arrow. In a manner so typical of this period, Karl Hagenauer designed the elegant statuette with elongated limbs. On tiptoe and in a suggested arabesque, Diana appears like a light-footed elf rather than a goddess. Strongly reduced and at the same time graceful features characterize this figurine. Diana’s hunting weapon appears more like a teasingly winged arrow than a dangerous bow, lending Diana a seemingly harmless playfulness.

Werkstatte Hagenauer designed utilitarian objects with such delightful scenes as early as the 1920s, and this specific table lamp is already well documented in the sales catalog of Werkstatte Hagenauer in 1928.