Experiments
Sessel Nr. US 542 Chair No. US 542
Entwurf Design: Gebrüder Thonet, um ca. 1 900
Ausführung Execution: Gebrüder Thonet, Bistritz Bystrice, um ca. 1900;
Buche, massiv und gebogen, gepolstert Beech, solid and bent, upholstered;
Firmensammlung Company Collection TON
Sessel Chair
Entwurf Design: Gebrüder Thonet, um ca. 1900
Ausführung Execution: Gebrüder Thonet, Bistritz Bystrice, um ca. 1900;
Buche, massiv und gebogen, gepolstert Beech, solid and bent, upholstered;
Firmensammlung Company Collection TON
There are some chair models in the TON com-
pany’s collection in Bystrice pod Hostynem
which do not appear in any of the European
sales catalogs; however, two of these models
can be found in catalogs for the US. What is
particularly exceptional about the four chairs
presented here are the differing rectangular
wooden profiles, the various possibilities for
leg connections and the varied back motifs.
Similar models with the same formal and con-
structive components were gradually intro-
duced as novelties in the Thonet Zentral-
Anzeiger from 1903 onwards. 1 In addition, in
the 1904 catalog, models Nos. 268-275, 361,
and 901 each display individual components
whose design and formal language are remi-
niscent of this furniture. The chair with the
brown upholstery-undoubtedly the most in-
teresting of these four chairs-was, however,
already included in the product ränge starting
from 1883 until the mid-1890s as Salon Chair
No. 4, which was formally and constructively
identical in the series production. 2 The con-
structive understanding that is to be seen in
this piece of furniture leads one to suspect
the authorship or at least the participation of
August Thonet.
1 Cf. for example ZA No. 1 from 1 September 1903, 7, No. 10 from
1 October 1904, 10 and No. 13 from 31 May 1905, 1 (Supplement).
2 The upholstery of this model is faux leather nailed to the original
plywood seat. However, the plywood sheet is cut out rectangularly
inside, which indicates that this chair was originally meant to be
covered with a caned seat.
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