Farming Couple Inkstand by Adolph Pohl

Austrian Bronze Double Inkstand by Adolf Josef Pohl (1872–1930)

Circa 1910 — Vienna, Austria

A heavy cast gilt bronze double inkstand by noted Austrian sculptor Adolf Josef Pohl. Executed in the Social Realist tradition, the central sculptural group depicts a devoted agrarian couple walking from the fields: a laborer carrying a scythe over his shoulder, arm wrapped tenderly around his wife as she carries a field jug.

Flanked by two raised, hinged ink reservoirs with their original fitted green glass inserts, set before a wide textured pen tray. Signed Pohl in script along the reverse.

Period & Origins

• Estimated Date: Circa 1905–1920 (late Art Nouveau / early 20th-century Austrian Secessionist period).
• Origin: Vienna, Austria.
• Design Features: The stand features two lidded rectangular wells with integrated green glass ink liners, an expansive textured pen tray, and an incised artist signature (“Pohl”) in flowing script on the rear right side.

About the Sculptor: Adolf Josef Pohl (1872–1930)

• Life & Training: Born on April 27, 1872, in Vienna and died July 25, 1930, in Bad Deutsch-Altenburg, Austria. He was an academically trained Austrian sculptor active during the transition from Art Nouveau to the Secessionist and interwar periods.
• Artistic Focus & Social Realism: Pohl is renowned for his dignified, empathetic depictions of working-class laborers, miners, blacksmiths, and agricultural workers. Rather than idealizing classical mythology, his oeuvre celebrated the quiet nobility, intimacy, and strength of everyday labor.
• Viennese Legacy: In addition to small-scale bronzes and functional decorative arts (desk accessories, blotters, and seals), Pohl executed public and architectural commissions in Vienna, including decorative child figures for the Julius-Tandler-Familienzentrum around the 1920s.