From Morris Chair to Sitting Machine 
Fauteuil Armchair „Morris“ 
Entwurf Design: Gebrüder Thonet, 1904 
Ausführung Execution: Gebrüder Thonet, Koritschan Korycany, um ca. 1910; 
Buche, massiv gebogen, Messing, Geflecht Beech, solid bent, brass, cane; 
MAK H 2925/1987 
Ruhefauteuil mit verstellbarer Rückenlehne Nr. 500 
Reclining Armchair with adjustable backrest No. 500 
Entwurf und Ausführung Design and execution: D. G. Fischei Söhne, Niemes Mimon, 
um ca. 1905; Buche, massiv und gebogen, Geflecht, Metall Beech, solid and bent, 
cane, metal; MAK H 3734/2013 
The “Morris Chair," often-but so far without 
concrete evidence- attributed to Otto Prutsch- 
er, was offered in different variations by Ge 
brüder Thonet starting in 1904: In addition to 
the Version with round-sectioned rods shown 
here, there was also one with grooved square 
bars, a lavishly executed salon armchair, and 
two children’s variations. 1 As the name already 
implies, this type of comfortable reclining arm 
chair was associated with William Morris, 
who in the 1880s, with his firm Morris & Com 
pany, had already produced a design by 
William Watt, now commonly known as the 
“Morris Chair”. 2 The famous bentwood arm 
chair No. 670 by Josef Hoffmann which was 
produced by J. & J. Kohn in 1906 and present- 
ed at the Kunstschau in 1908, can be traced 
backto this model. Due to its nearly rectangu- 
larly formed and geometrically arranged bent 
wood components as well as the square and 
rectilinear perforations in the side panels and 
back of the chair, this piece of furniture, which 
is usually shown without the originally intended 
seat cushions, is now one of the most famous 
designs of Viennese Modernism. 3 However, 
the nickname “sitting machine” was only later 
propagated by the art market and does not 
come from the turn of the Century. Yet another 
bentwood producer, D. G. Fischei, also added 
a “Morris Chair” to its product line in 1910; in 
the Company catalogs it was offered as a 
“reclining armchair with adjustable backrest.” 
1 Cf. Thonet Catalog from 1904 and the corresponding Supple 
ments from 1905/06 and 1907 and the Catalog from 1911/15. 
2 Cf. David A. Hanks, Innovative Furniture in America from 1800 to 
the Present, New York, 1981. 
3 Cf. Giovanni Renzi, II Mobile Moderno: Gebrüder Thonet Vienna; 
Jacob & Josef Kohn, Milan 2008, 160 as well as Giovanni e 
Chiara Renzi, Curve e Biondi Riccioli Viennesi. Mobili in Faggio 
curvato da Michael Thonet ad Antonia Volpe, Milan 2000 (See 
therein; J. & J. Kohn Catalog from 1906, 41). 
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