Lot: 423
Gerrit Rietveld
'Hoge Stoel', c. 1919
H. 89.5 x 64 x 60.5 cm.
Gerrit Rietveld, between 1919 and 1923.
Beech square timbers and slats, dark stained, ends of the timbers painted white, natural-colored linen.
Marked: van de Groenekan workshop branding, handwritten paper label.
This chair is an absolute rarity; only two other similar examples are currently known to exist. One of them is in the collection of the Central Museum in Utrecht and another in a Japanese collection.
This type of chair, but with a wooden backrest and vertically attached wooden boards below the armrests, was first published in the magazine De Stijl in March 1920. Another high armchair was presented in the November issue of the same year. A photograph from 1923 shows two armchairs that have further similarities to the version offered here; the backrests are not made of wood, as in the version presented in 1920, but of leather, the ends of the vertically and horizontally attached wooden slats and square timbers are light in color, and the vertical side panels have been omitted.
A report on the dating of the chair, the materials used, and its condition, written by an acknowledged expert very familiar with the subject, is available and will be provided to interested parties upon request.
Provenance: Family-owned in East Germany since the 1990s; acquired at that time from the Holger Fischer Collection, Saxony.
Hammer Price: 65,000 €
10. December 2025 at 3:00 PM CET
Literature:
Küper/van Zijl, Gerrit Th. Rietveld The Complete Works, Utrecht 1992, p. 77, p. 87.
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