Corkscrew with whistle

Medium/TechniqueGold, lacquer (?), pique gilding

DimensionsL. 2 1/4 in.

Credit LineGift of the heirs of Bettina Looram de Rothschild

Accession number2015.93a-b

On View

Not on view

ClassificationsDecorative arts

Collections

Europe

ProvenanceProbably Nathaniel von Rothschild (b. 1836 - d. 1905), Vienna [see note 1]; by descent to his nephew, Alphonse de Rothschild (b. 1878 – d. 1942) and Clarice de Rothschild (b. 1894 – d. 1967), Vienna; 1938, confiscated from Alphonse and Clarice de Rothschild by Nazi forces (nos. AR 3120, 3121, 3329) [see note 2]; taken to the Kunsthistorisches Museum and stored at the Central Depot, Neue Burg, Vienna; October 5, 1942, given over to the Federal Monuments Office, Vienna and later removed to the monastery of Kremsmünster and subsequently to Alt Aussee; 1945, recovered by Allied forces; 1947, donated under coersion by Clarice de Rothschild, New York to the Museum für angewandte Kunst, Vienna (MAK accession nos. 30.555, Go 1890; 30.556, Go 1891; and 30.562-30.566, Ei 721-725) [see note 3]; 1999, restituted to Clarice de Rothschild's daughter, Bettina Looram de Rothschild (b. 1924 - d. 2012) [see note 4]; by descent to her heirs; 2015, gift of the heirs of Bettina Looram de Rothschild to the MFA. (Accession Date: February 25, 2015)

NOTES:
[1] This is probably among the corkscrews listed in the Inventar über die in den Nathaniel Freiherr von Rothschild'schen Nachlass gehörigen, in dem Palais in Wien, IV. Bezirk, Theresianumgasse Nr. 14 befindlichen Kunstgegenstände und Einrichtungsstücke (Vienna, 1906), pp. 194-195 (nos. 958-964).

[2] With the Anschluss, or annexation of Austria to Nazi Germany in March, 1938, the possessions of Alphonse and Clarice de Rothschild were seized almost immediately by Nazi forces. The corkscrews appear in a Nazi-generated inventory of 1939 as nos. AR (Alphonse Rothschild) 3120 ("Stoppelzieher, Griff Stein, Louis XV"), 3121 ("Stoppelzieher, Goldpikee, Louis XVI"), and 3329: "Fünf verschiedene Werkzeuge, Stoppelzieher usw. aus geschnittenem Eisen, mit vergoldetem Grund." Katalog beschlagnahmter Sammlungen, inbesondere der Rothschild-Sammlungen in Wien, Verlags-Nr. 4938, Staatsdruckerei Wien, 1939, Privatarchiv, reproduced in Sophie Lillie, "Was einmal war: Handbuch der enteigneten Kunstsammlungen Wiens" (Vienna, 2003), p. 1100 and 1106.

[3] The corkscrews were catalogued at the Central Depot, and given over to the Federal Monuments Office in 1942. Card nos. AR 3120, 3121, and 3329, Bundesdenkmalamt, Vienna, available on the website of the Zentral Depot Karteien online. They were probably among the many works of art stored elsewhere by the Nazis, which were moved to the abandoned salt mines of Alt Aussee in Austria, to be kept safe from wartime bombing. Allied troops recovered the looted artwork at the end of World War II, and established collecting points where the art could be identified for restitution to its rightful owners. In 1947 Clarice de Rothschild visited the salt mines at Alt Aussee, where she was able to identify the crates of works of art from her family’s collection, facilitating its return shortly thereafter. However, Austrian authorities required her to transfer certain works of art to the state in exchange for permission to export the remainder of the collection. Despite this, there is a date of return (July 12, 1948) noted on each Central Depot card.

[4] In 1999, upon the recommendation of the Austrian Commission for Provenance Research, the works of art that had been "donated" by Clarice de Rothschild in 1947 were released by the Austrian state museums and returned to her daughter, Bettina Looram de Rothschild.