Die Zeit Armchair by Otto Wagner

Die Zeit Armchair by Otto Wagner is another chair in the important Wiener Werkstätte auction in NYC coming March 3, 2011:

OTTO WAGNER

Rare armchair, for the dispatch bureau of Die Zeit, Vienna, ca. 1902

Beechwood, nickel-plated metal, aluminum, cord, fabric. 30 3/4 in. (78.1 cm.) high Produced by Jacob & Josef Kohn, Austria. Underside stamped with “J. & J. Kohn/Teschen Austria.”

ESTIMATE $35,000-45,000

via Phillips de Pury & Company.

My view: It seems very similar to the Postsparkasse chair….and already Art Deco.

See for instance the one that was auctioned, but probably held up at Wright in 2006:

According to Wright made by:

Thonet
Austria, 1906
stained beech wood, aluminum, upholstery
21.75 w x 23.25 d x 31 h inches

Vienna’s Postparkasse, or Post Office Savings Bank, is Otto Wagner’s most important public commission and a landmark of modern architecture. This project illustrates Wagner’s pioneering use of aluminum as a new and modern material in architecture and design. Produced in a small series exclusively for the board room of the Post Office Savings Bank, this armchair utilizes aluminum both as a durable material for everyday use, and as a detail that fuses the design with overall architectural concept. Signed with manufacturer’s paper label to underside: [Thonet Wien] and stamped: [Thonet].

In 2008 a similar chair fetched $16,250 at Christie’s in a NYC sale.

In London at Christies there was not much interest in two leather upholstered ones in 2007 ($2,559) See Lot.

In 2000 at Christie’s (again NYC) this ebonized with aluminum one fetched $35,250.

Cord versus upholstery vs leather?  Thonet vs J&J Kohn – who, mind you, later acquired the certain parts of the Thonet portfolio? New World loving this chair more than the Old World? Many questions…

Curious what this one will fetch in NYC.