VIENNA.- Coming up for sale at the next Dorotheum art nouveau auction on 13th June 2016 will be a precious gift necklace – designed by no-one less than Koloman Moser – that was originally given by Gustav Klimt to his confidante Emilie Flöge.

This piece of silver jewellery, designed 1906, was made by Wiener Werkstätte and the corresponding design drawing is still in the Wiener Werkstätte archive at the Austrian Museum of Applied Art.

Emilie Flöge had a particularly close relationship with the Wiener Werkstätte. Her fashion salon was decorated by Josef Hoffmann and Koloman Moser. Gustav Klimt is documented to have given his lifelong companion a total of ten items of jewellery; one of these, an approximately 70 cm long necklace used to attach a muff, will be offered at this Dorotheum auction for an estimated price of 60,000 to 80,000 Euro.

Koloman Moser’s versatile talent is also evident in a vase, designed around 1900 for Bakalowits & Sons, and made by Lötz Veuve Klostermühle, which is valued at 10,000 to 15,000 Euro.

Ceramic art
The approximately 40 pieces of ceramic art coming from an American private collection likewise show a distinctly Austrian flair. Vally Wieselthier, who moved to Chicago in the early nineteen-thirties, has a particularly strong presence at this auction. The artist’s designs have always attracted considerable international attention. Also part of the auction will be works by Gudrun Baudisch and Susi Singer.

Peter Behrens, German architect, painter, and designer, also practised a universal approach. In 1901, when the artist completed his first construction project, the Behrens residence on the Mathildenhöhe near Darmstadt, he also designed a flatware set. Dorotheum specialist Julia Blaha has estimated this rare 118-part silver service made by M. J. Rückert in Mainz at 30,000 to 50,000 Euro. Hans Christiansen and Albin Müller are among the other German "Jugendstil" artists contributing to the silver auction.

Sculptor and collector
Karsten Klingbeil, Berlin contractor, is also known for his work as a sculptor. At the Dorotheum auction, the artist figures as a collector of Max-Esser animal figurines – Klingbeil used to be one of Esser’s students. There will be 14 Max-Esser figures from the Klingbeil collection dating to the period between 1924 and 1934, including the central section of the "Reineke Fuchs“ centrepiece, designed in 1922, and made by Meissen in 1925, valued at 30,000 to 40,000 Euro.