Metal Collection and Wiener Werkstätte Archive

The MAK Metal Collection comprises around 12,000 objects. Most of the objects are historical and were made in the European cultural area, including tools from the Middle Ages as well as valuable Renaissance jewelry, measuring instruments, Biedermeier clocks, and Viennese silver from the 19th and 20th centuries.

Figdor Collection, Dining Culture, and Wiener Werkstätte

The amputation saw mentioned is one of around 1,000 metal works from the collection of the Viennese banker Albert Figdor and joined the museum in 1935. An important part of the Collection are objects belonging to the dining culture. They reflect the zeitgeist of the respective era. For example, the 17th century saw an increase in popularity of drinks such as tea, coffee, and chocolate, for which new types of vessels were developed. A highlight of the Collection is the Duke of Reichstadt’s gilt traveling service, which ensured the owner’s physical well-being with a cocoa pot and sugar bowl as well as a chamber pot and enema syringe.
Further— literal—highlights are the metal objects from the Wiener Werkstätte based on designs by its founders Josef Hoffmann and Koloman Moser as well as by Dagobert Peche.

Renaissance Jewelry, Cast Iron, and Author Jewelry

The so-called “Haller Schmuck” (Halle Jewelry) from the late 16th century is also of particular importance. Once jewelry on a wedding dress, it was later used as decoration for religious objects. In addition, there is also jewelry made of cast iron, a specialty of the 19th century. The artistic implementation determined the value of the black objects made of inferior material. Significant holdings were donated to the museum by Bertha Pappenheim, an important collector, patron, and women's rights activist. The so-called author jewelry brings the Collection into the present. The radical evolution of jewelry in Austria since the 1960s is reflected in works by artists such as Peter Skubic, Anna Heindl, Fritz Maierhofer, or Susanne Hammer.

Wiener Werkstätte Archive

In 1955, the Wiener Werkstätte Archive was donated to the MAK. It contains roughly 16,000 design sketches, around 20,000 fabric designs, as well as posters, postcards, model books, photo albums, and pieces of business correspondence. The material was the foundation of extensive MAK exhibitions, for example, on Koloman Moser, Josef Hoffmann, or the Women Artists of the Wiener Werkstätte.