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Another Property, Wassili and Hans Luckhardt, set of six "ST14" chairs from, the theater and ball...

Currency:USD Category:Everything Else / Other Start Price:NA Estimated At:130,000.00 - 150,000.00 USD
Another Property, Wassili and Hans Luckhardt, set of six  ST14  chairs from, the theater and ball...
Another Property
Wassili and Hans Luckhardt
set of six "ST14" chairs from
the theater and ballroom of
the Maharaja's Palace in Indore, 1931-1933
designed 1929, manufactured by Desta Stahlmöbel, Berlin; bent chrome-plated tubular steel and black stained plywood (6)
34 5/8 in. (88 cm) high
Estimate: $130,000-150,000
Provenance
Palace of the Maharaja of Indore, India
These chairs were among a small number
of items held back by the consignor of the historic Sotheby's Monaco 1980 auction and later sold privately. They were acquired by the present owner from the estate
of the previous owner.
Illustrated
Reto Niggl, Eckart Muthesius: 1930,
The Maharaja's Palace in Indore, Architecture and Interior, 1930
Stuttgart, 1996, p. 40
Literature
Alexander von Vegesack,
100 Masterpieces from
the Vitra Design Museum,
Weil am Rhein, 1995, pp. 108-109
Alexander von Vegesack,
Deutsche Stahlrohrmöbel,
Munich, 1996, p. 47 and cover
Charlotte Benton, Tim Benton and
Ghislaine Wood, Art Deco, 1910-1939, Victoria & Albert Museum,
London, 2003, p. 351
(for an illustration of another
chair from the palace)
Resolutely modern in every respect, the ballroom of Manik Bagh was principally dedicated to jazz. The Maharaja and his young bride would lead the dancing to the latest music on specially sprung wood parquet floors before a large mirror-glass paneled screen reverse-painted by Etienne Drian with a stylized "Negro" jazz band in full swing. The theatre and ballroom chairs designed by Wassili and Hans Luckhardt expressed this same spirit of modernity in their choice of materials-tubular steel and plywood-and in the refinement of their sleek cantilevered lines.
"The Maharaja loved jazz and dancing," recalled Man Ray. Visiting him in Cannes, the artist recounted that "the first thing he asked me was whether I had brought my jazz outfit with me.... A record was put on and the young couple danced.... At night we had dinner in the hotel while an orchestra played. There was more dancing; I asked the Maharanee for a dance. With my arm around her waist, she felt like a child, but moved like a woman-a European woman; she danced divinely" (Man Ray, Self-Portrait, 1988 edition, pp. 140-141).