Adolf Loos, a table clock (commode clock) from Ebenstein Gentleman’s Outfitters, Vienna, no. 5 Kohlmarkt, 1897

cast brass clock case with facetted glass on four double-pyramid feet; seemingly free-floating Roman dial; hands made of black patinated metal; front door with conical finial; original pendulum, two keys, movement by the Freiburg clock manufacturer Gustav Becker, inscribed on the reverse, with additional inscription Medaille D’Or and numbering 1237870; clock case probably by the Viennese girdler Johannes Heeg; signs of age and use; the clock not tested; size: height: 43.7 cm, width: 37.4 cm, depth: 21 cm. (MP)

Provenance:
Ebenstein Gentleman’s Outfitters, continuous Viennese family ownership.

Literature:
Rukschcio, Schachel, Adolf Loos, p. 43, p. 44, cat. 1,illustration of the clock, p. 411f.; Ottillinger, Adolf Loos, p. 160; Zednicek, Kurrent, Adolf Loos, ill. 1 (shop interior); cf MAK, Vienna, Wege der Moderne, Josef Hoffmann, Adolf Loos und die Folgen, p. 322.

Ebenstein Gentleman’s Outfitters in Vienna’s first district, at No. 5 Kohlmarkt, is Adolf Loos’s earliest known work. The shop of Court Tailor Ernest Ebenstein, established in 1897, was located on the mezzanine floor of Carl König’s house. This first shop was located not far from Goldman & Salatsch (Vienna I, Graben 20, 1898-1903) and Knize (Vienna I, Graben 13, 1913-13). Work for the Ebenstein premises included the furnishing of all business and customer rooms as well as the façade panelling. Their style is more “American” than all of Loos’s later works.

The brass table clock on offer can be regarded as a prototype of the “Loos clock” from 1900.