Created while a lead designer for J. Winhart & Co., Ludwig Vierthaler’s cicada themed copper vase showcases the design principles which he developed at J. Winhart in the pre-war years, where emphasis was placed on craftsmanship and the characteristics of the material itself. The vase’s ambiguous quality and use of allegory also shows his uncanny understanding of the dual nature of German life at the time. On the one hand, under Kaiser Wilhelm II, Germany was asserting herself strongly in the Weltpolitik through alliances with other central-European powers and in making grand plans to grow in military strength. With hindsight, Vierthaler’s vase is all the more remarkable for his prescience in the twilight of an empire. By presenting a cicada, he evokes a conundrum. Is this cicada a strong adult, newly emerged from a long dormancy? Or is this the cicada’s beautiful moulted shell, a mere ghost of itself and an after-image that can be easily crushed? In the face of Germany’s actions which were unsettling to the balance of powers in Europe, Vierthaler deliberately and symbolically reached back to the height of Art Nouveau and Symbolist style. With this conscious choice, as if he was mimicking the prolonged period of dormancy in the life of a cicada, Vierthaler demonstrates and affirms his technical and aesthetic prowess. His articulations in repousse of the cicada’s body through subtle convex bulges gives a sense of solidity which contrasts with the more delicately dimpled hammer work chased on the wings. The effect is that these gossamer wings are resting on the narrowed thorax, and the light playing off these varying textures is further heightened by the patented Eosin red patina which he developed for J. Winhart & Co. Vierthaler presents a beautiful and thought-provoking object for contemplation. Perhaps Vierthaler has created a cautionary modern fable by evoking cicadas who sing until they die. Is this cicada an example of an insouciance latent in civilization? Or, on the other hand, is this a symbol of survival and defiance against death?