Late 19th Century Louis XVI Style French Bench With "Vienna Straw" Seat

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Description

We kindly suggest you read the whole description, because with it we try to give you detailed technical and historical … Read more We kindly suggest you read the whole description, because with it we try to give you detailed technical and historical information to guarantee the authenticity of our objects.
Interesting and graceful oak bench; the legs, conical and elegantly fluted, are joined at the base by a well-designed and harmonious X-shaped element; the well-solid frame is carved with simple, linear, and refined motifs; the upper oval part serves as the seat is enriched with fine "Vienna straw" work. The bench was made between 1880 and 1885 in an artisan workshop near Paris certainly by a very skilled master cabinetmaker because this kind of workmanship requires a lot of experience and skill. The process of seat construction using equidistant holes and a woven plant material (drawn guinea cane) was known since Egyptian times (a stool was found in the tomb of the architect Kha dating from 1600° B.C.), but it was from the mid-19th century that it became popular worldwide. It was the Austro-Hungarian cabinetmaker Michael Thonet (father of bentwood) who in 1842 created chair No. 4 with this technique for the Daum café on Vienna's Kohlmarkt, but success came in 1859 when the Gebruder Thonet company of Michael's sons presented chair No. 14 made of curved solid wood with a straw seat: the famous "Vienna straw chair," counted today among the icons of design history, which soon spread around the world and was named after the headquarters of the famous Austrian company. Legend has it that, at the 1867 Paris Expo, Michael Thonet's chair No. 14 fell from the Eiffel Tower, from a height of 57 meters, remaining intact. Our bench, built with skill and expertise, has taken on a personal and unrepeatable charm, becoming a discreet and original piece of furniture, capable of creating calm and tranquil atmospheres, giving romanticism and sophistication to any type of decor. Measures width cm.50, depth cm.35, height cm.54, seat cm.54. The bench is in good condition. For all our shipments we use special packaging materials (wooden crates, styrofoam, etc.) for maximum protection and safety of the objects. See less