553 - Six café chairs, bentwood armchairs with fan-shaped slotted back, probably 20th century

Six café chairs, bentwood armchairs with fan-shaped slotted back, probably 20th century Bentwood, red-brown lacquered, six café chairs with armrests, also known as armchairs or bentwood chairs. Armrest hoop running round the back, meeting the seat frame at the front on both sides in a downward-scrolled volute, with an upholstered back rail mounted on top, below a fan-shaped pierced back splat with six slots and flame figuring. Upholstered seat, seat and back rail with dark covering and edged with a row of brass-coloured decorative nails, four round legs with curved stretcher ring, metal glides. Signs of use, covering with tears and losses, chips to the lacquer. Each 80x52x46 cm (HxWxD), seat height 50 cm. Michael Thonet (1796 Boppard to 1871 Vienna) was granted the privilege in Vienna in 1842 to bend wood into any shape, and from this developed serial production in which beech rods are softened in steam, bent in moulds and screwed together after drying. His chair No. 14 of 1859, the classic Viennese coffee house chair, had sold around 50 million times by 1930. Besides Thonet, firms such as Jacob & Josef Kohn, Fischel and Mundus produced bentwood chairs using the same technique and marked them with branded stamps or paper labels. Bentwood armchairs for coffee houses were made until the 1980s and are still produced today.