OBJECTS Geometrie Two deciduous trees (chestnut trees), 1908, a piece from the “At the Pump” toy ensemble Jaroslav Benda (1882–1970), design Manufactured by the Hořice Toymaking Cooperative Turned wood, painted; height 15.5 cm Jaroslav Benda was a painter, book designer, typographer and instructor at the School of Applied Arts in Prague. While he created his artworks in the Geometric Art Nouveau vein, Benda only designed toys as a secondary interest. In 1908, his Market Women toy collection won First Prize in a competition announced by Prague’s Museum of Decorative Arts for the best design of a toy featuring a scene from a Prague market. During that same period, he designed another genre-themed toy group that reflected the efforts prevalent at the time to produce visually innovative toys. The figures of a cook, a maid and a hussar by a water pump are complemented by highly geometricised trees. Benda used the traditional wood-turning technique to produce a simple shape composed of concentric rings and decorated with an abstract, planar motif.