Inlaid overall with foliate patterns, the arched moulded open back enclosing two confronted S-scrolls, with foliate patera terminals, above scrolled arms and a padded seat covered in caramel cotton with foliate-patterned pressed-metal border, on turned out swept legs
37¾ in. (96 cm.) high; 20 in. (51 cm.) wide; 19 in. (48 cm.) depth of seat

With M. Harris & Sons, London, 1924.
Sotheby's, London, 6 December 1974, lot 92.
The Hochschild Collection; Sotheby's, London, 1 December 1978, lot 164.
With Mallett, London.
Sotheby's, London, 12 June 2002, lot 140.

M. Harris & Sons, An Abridged Introductory Catalogue of Antique Furniture and Works of Art, n.d., p. 81
R. W. Symonds, 'Furniture from the Indies - III', The Connoisseur, August 1934, p. 199, fig. XIII.
L. Synge, Great English Furniture, London, 1991, p. 186, fig. 214.

London, British Empire Exhibition, April - October 1924 (with M. Harris & Sons)

Prospective purchasers are advised that several countries prohibit the importation of property containing materials from endangered species, including but not limited to coral, ivory and tortoiseshell. Accordingly, prospective purchasers should familiarize themselves with relevant customs regulations prior to bidding if they intend to import this lot into another country.
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Lot Essay

This elegantly serpentined chair is made from walrus ivory. A notable traditional folk centre of walrus ivory working (mainly carving) was the northern Russian village of Kholmogory, near Archangel, an important trading post of the Novgorod Republic. The chair's design is indebted to the designs of the German cabinet-maker Michael Thonet (1796-1871) for his celebrated bent and laminated seat manufactures for which he took out patents in the early 1840s. His international breakthrough came at the 1851 Great Exhibition where he was awarded a bronze medal. By 1849 he had left Germany for Vienna and there refounded the company as Gebrüder Thonet. His first company factory was opened in Moravia in 1857, and chairs of this pattern later appeared in his 1873 catalogue (J. Banham ed., Encyclopedia of Interior Design, London, 1997, p. 1284). His 1859 chair Nr. 14 better known as Kaffeehausstuhl Nr. 14 or 'coffee shop chair no. 14' is still one of the most popular and best-known chair designs. By 1871, Gebrüder Thonet had outlets all over Europe, from Hamburg to Naples, as well as Chicago and New York and also Moscow, St Petersburg and Odessa.
The company exists today, headquartered in Frankenberg, Germany, manufacturing the traditional bentwood chairs for which they are famed and also tubular steel furniture inspired by Bauhaus designs.