Gebrüder Thonet Austrian Bentwood Coat and Umbrella Stand, circa 1905

Gebrüder Thonet Austrian Bentwood Coat and Umbrella Stand, circa 1905
Austrian coat and hat stand dates to the opening years of the twentieth century, circa 1904 to 1905, and beautifully demonstrates the bentwood furniture tradition developed and perfected by Gebrüder Thonet in Vienna. Constructed of steam bent beech with a rich mahogany brown finish, the stand combines long architectural uprights with dramatically sweeping curves at the crown, each terminating in rounded wooden finials. Brass coat hooks provide an elegant contrast to the warm wood, while the lower brass ring was designed to accommodate umbrellas and walking sticks.

The design belongs to Thonet's extensive family of Kleiderstock, or clothes stand, models produced for the fashionable cafés, hotels, restaurants and private residences of turn of the century Europe. Research in the period catalogues is particularly interesting: Thonet's 1904 catalogue included a Model No. 21 clothes stand combining four wooden hanging arms, four brass hooks and an umbrella and cane holder, a configuration closely related to this example. Dorotheum has documented Model No. 21 as a Gebrüder Thonet Vienna design created before 1904 and illustrated on page 81 of the company's 1904 catalogue.

Michael Thonet's revolutionary method of bending solid beech with steam transformed furniture manufacture during the nineteenth century. By heating the wood and bending it in molds while controlling tension in the fibers, Thonet was able to create strong, lightweight furniture from remarkably fluid components. The company expanded the technique well beyond its famous café chairs to tables, rockers, hall furniture, umbrella stands and coat racks. These functional objects became some of the most sculptural expressions of Viennese bentwood design and helped bridge the decorative vocabulary of the Belle Époque, Jugendstil and the emerging Vienna Secession