Vienna, 1768 and earlier. Glazed, unpainted porcelain; the support consists of nine parts standing on low legs
and is set with mirrors, 428 x 51 cm with 60 figure groups, individual figures and vases. Ke 6823/1926
Vally Wieselthier: KNEELING FIGURE
Vienna, ca. 1928. Wiener Werkstätte-Originalkeramik KO-Nr. 6000. Ke 7237 / 1932
Jutta Sika, School of Prof. Kolo Moser: PARTS OF A SET
ca. 1901/02. Manufacture: Viennese Porcelain Manufactory Jos. Böck, Vienna Porcelain, glazed, light-blue decoration.
Ke 9625
MAJOLICA PITCHER with Grotesque Handle
Urbino, 16th c.. Painted majolica, Apollo and Marsyas. KHM 27 / 1940
Eduard Klabena: Figurine, LADY IN FUR
Vienna, 1913/14. Buff clay, colored glaze, Langenzersdorf Ceramics (mod. no. 80) On consignment with Wiener Werkstätte
(mod. no. 742). WI 1260
With representative holdings of ceramics from Austrian production from the sixteenth century until today, unique groups of
objects such as the legacy of the Wiener Porzellanmanufactur (Vienna Porcelain Manufactory) and the extensive collection of
tiled stoves, hafner ware, and majolica of the sixteenth to the nineteenth centuries. The MAK’s Ceramics Collection is
one of the foremost collections of its type in the world.
The core of the Ceramics Collection’s 17,200 objects are those from the Wiener Porzellanmanufaktur (Vienna Porcelain Manufactory),
which was founded in 1718 as Europe’s second porcelain-making operation, as well as products made by all of the other important
European porcelain producers including Europe’s oldest, the one in Meissen (founded in 1710).
Shortly after it closed, the Vienna Porcelain Manufactory’s artistic legacy passed into the holdings of the Museum of Art
and Industry, and this material is viewed both domestically and internationally as the definitive collection of works from
this producer. With examples from every period, this legacy collection provides an overview of nearly 150 years of Viennese
porcelain production.
Over various periods, its cumulative output came to cover the entire spectrum of ceramic products, including table services,
vases, clocks, high-quality porcelain sculptures, scenic and floral miniatures, porcelain paintings with gold relief décor
and cobalt blue, biscuit porcelain (unglazed white containers or figures), figural and historical paintings, Viennese vedute
and floral paintings, and large-format porcelain paintings with floral still lifes.
With the porcelain chamber originally set up at Palais Dubsky in Brno (ca. 1740), the MAK is home to one of the most aesthetically
pleasing documents of Vienna’s early porcelain output. The “Dubsky Room,” on exhibit in the hall of the Baroque-Rococo-Classicism section of the MAK Permanent Collection which was designed by Donald Judd, is one of the earliest room-decorating schemes to employ European porcelain. Austrian ceramics of the 20th century, including a widely recognized Art Nouveau collection with numerous Wiener Werkstätte
objects, examples from Wiener Porzellanmanufaktur Augarten (Viennese Porcelain Manufactory Augarten, founded in 1923 and still
in existence today), ceramics from Wiener Keramik (founded in 1905 by Michael Powolny) and its successor Vereinigte Wiener
und Gmundner Keramik, as well as designs from the workshops of Hugo F. Kirsch and Eduard Klablena, constitute a further central
focus of the collection.
An impressive collection of Austrian post-war ceramics produced up to and including the 1980s rounds out the overall collection,
along with a comprehensive and important group of Italian majolica objects from the 16th and 17th centuries.
An outstanding overview of the collection can be seen in the rooms of the MAK Permanent Collection Baroque Rococo Classicism and Empire Biedermeier, with principal works by the Wiener Porzellanmanufaktur [Viennese Porcelain Manufactory] such as the porcelain chamber from
the Palais Dubsky, as well as in the MAK DESIGN LAB/thematic area Eating and Drinking, opened in 2014. This area invites visitors on an impressive historical journey to discover the different styles of laying
the table throughout the ages, with ceramics ranging from the Middle Ages to the 21st century.
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MAK Study Collection 1993-2013
Glass Study Collection
Curator: Rainald Franz, curator, Glass and Ceramics Collection
With unique holdings from between the Middle Ages and the present, the MAK’s Glass Collection is among the world’s
most important collections of its kind. The optically and technically impressive products made from fragile materials bring
to life the hand of the artist and the zeitgeist of the epoch.
With a unique artistic intervention Donald Judd managed to blend the different stylistic worlds of the Baroque, Rococo, Classicism
and Minimalism. Taking on a central position here is the Porcelain Chamber from the Palais Dubsky in Brno, one of the first
rooms ever designed in European porcelain.
