PAIR OF VINTAGE 1987 MADE IN ITALY STAMPED MARCEL BREUER CESCA KNOLL B32 CHAIRS

Description

Royal House Antiques

Royal House Antiques is delighted to offer for sale this original pair of, Mid Century Modern, 1987 Made in Italy stamped, Marcel Breuer, Cesca chairs with chrome frames and bergère upholstery 

Please note the delivery fee listed is just a guide, it covers within the M25 only for the UK and local Europe only for international, if you would like an accurate quote please send me your postcode and I’ll provide you with the exact price

These truly are very good looking iconic pair of chairs, they are super comfortable and exceptionally well made which is why they have lasted so long, you can find them displayed in the V&A, the MET and various other exhibitions around the world as a celebration to timeless design

These chairs have the stamps to the base as mentioned, they read 04 87 for April 1987 and Made in Italy, they are nearly 40 years old and quickly becoming solid vintage examples

Condition wise, they have been cleaned waxed and polished, they have the original patina, not much ware to be honest, they look wonderful

Dimensions

Height:- 77cm

Width:- 46.5cm

Depth:- 59cm

Seat height:- 46cm

Please note all measurements are taken at the widest point, if you would like any additional or specific measurements please ask

Knoll introduced the Cesca Chair in 1968 following its acquisition of Gavina Group — an Italian furniture manufacturer that represented legendary architect Marcel Breuer’s designs. Informed by the principles of the Bauhaus and the designer’s revolutionary innovations in material, the simple, yet outstanding, design resonates just as much as it did over ninety years ago

The Cesca Chair has a rare, almost innocuous, simplicity to its design — linearity balanced by subtle curves; wicker caning punctuated by a wooden frame; and a cantilevered form that seems to float in thin air. Coincidentally, the story of Cesca — a chair known for being just about everywhere — is one of radical design thinking.

Although Marcel Breuer created the Cesca Chair shortly after leaving the Bauhaus in 1928, it is inherently tied to the material innovation and design principles he formed at the German design school. In adherence to the institution’s rationalist ideals, Breuer sought a material suitable for mass production that could also render an artful furniture form.

Equipped with functional design thinking and an innovative mindset, Breuer found inspiration in an unlikely place — the tubular steel construction of the bicycle he rode around Dessau. The material was lightweight, sturdy and malleable enough to create the Modernist furniture he envisioned. After iteration upon iteration, bending and welding tubular steel, Breuer arrived at the Wassily Chair and Laccio Table, both designed in 1925, followed by the Cesca Chair in 1928

Conceiving Cesca 

“I already had the concept of spanning the seat with fabric in tension as a substitute for thick upholstery. I also wanted a frame that would be resilient and elastic [as well as] achieve transparency of forms to attain both visual and physical lightness,” Breuer later commented on the development of his design. “Mass production and standardization had already made me interested in polished metal, in shiny and impeccable lines in space as new components for our interiors. I considered such polished and curved lines not only symbolic of our modern technology, but actually technology itself.”

Originally known as the B32, the chair’s revelatory use of material and simple form made it an international sensation—nothing like it existed at the time. “Breuer simply changed the course of 20th-century furniture,” commented J. Steward Johnson, Curator of the Museum of Modern Art’s Department of Architecture and Design leading up to the 1981 exhibition Marcel Breuer: Furniture and Interiors. “He is seminal. He started it all and made everything happen.

Any questions please feel free to ask before you bid   

 

ABOUT US

Royal House Antiques is a privately owned family ran business founded in Wimbledon SW19 and now based in Pulborough RH20. We specialise in finding, restoring very fine luxury antique leather seating, along with every single other type of antique ranging from the 16th century to the 20th century. We also stock a number of designer brands such as Fritz Hansen, Ralph Lauren, Cavalli, Charles & Ray Eames, Vitra, David Linley, Rolex, Tiffany, Jager Le Coulter and so on     

 

PAYMENTS

We accept payment via Bitcoin, Bitcoin cash, Ethereum, Bacs, Chaps, PayPal or Card, we would kindly ask that all items are paid for within 48 hours and collected within 7 working days, we can hold all paid items for 14 days free of charge, there after a £20 a week storage fee will apply. We have long term storage which is very economically priced, we are happy to hold stock for as long as needed providing it is arranged prior to the purchase 

If sold items aren’t collected within three months and no arrangements have been made for long term storage you will forfeit the item and payment

 

CONDITION

Please view the very detailed pictures as they form part of the description pertaining to the condition. Please also ask any questions before you bid and not after, all of our items are sold as seen and as listed

Royal House Antiques cannot be held liable for any independent assumptions made regarding the items we sell, if you are unsure on any point, please feel free to ask for clarity  

Please note vintage period and original items such as leather seating will always have natural patina in the form of creasing and wear, we recommend annual waxing to ensure no moisture is lost, also hand dyed leather is not recommended to sit in direct sunlight for prolonged periods of time as it will dry out and fade   

 

DELIVERY OR COLLECTION

This item is available for collection from our Pulborough warehouses RH20-1DF by appointment only, alternatively we can have it delivered nationwide to include Scotland, Wales and Ireland for a fee

Please contact me via email, alternatively my contact information is under the business seller section of the listing, with your postcode for a delivery quotation, as mentioned above the fee listed covers with the M25 for the UK, for international deliveries the amount listed covers local Europe only so parts of Belgium and France

Please be sure to include which item you would like to buy as the price is determined on size and distance, if you would like more than one piece of furniture the courier offers a substantial discount on the second and third item, for international shipping please view the below information   

  

COURIER, LARGE ITEMS ONLY THAT CAN’T BE POSTED

We can arrange delivery nationwide, mostly with our nominated couriers, for Europe we use one reasonably priced professional company that we trust, for the rest of the world we use international shippers that can send any size item crated via air freight within 7-14 days after crating or soft packed and container shipped via sea freight within 30-60 days. The time frames outlined are guides only, non-domestic shipping is almost entirely governed by the airlines, sea freight loading times and custom clearances

Whomever delivers will always require help on the larger items to unload, the price you will be quoted will always be based on this assumption, if this is not possible, please let us know as it will affect the price to send a two-person team

Delivery is to the ground floor only, again if you need help upstairs or in flats etc that’s absolutely not a problem, the couriers charge £10-£20 per flight per man per item, if you have a working elevator then naturally there’s no additional fee

All courier fees are paid by yourself directly to the courier company, the contract for delivery is between yourselves the client and whichever courier you chose from those available I’m happy to accommodate your own courier after a cleared payment has been received, they need to book in a collection time with at least 24 hours notice, all collections must be made within 14 working days of the close of the sale unless agreed by prior arrangement  

 

IMPORT DUTY

Most countries charge some kind of import duty however almost all of our items won’t incur any charges as the items are exempt from tax due to the age and materials used

For European deliveries the price you will be quoted will include all clearance documentation and any customs charges so there won’t be any additional fees

For international deliveries such as the United States there can be some import duty to pay and or a clearance fee, I would estimate that 99% of all deliveries clear customs without being stopped for either

All duties are the responsibility of the purchaser who is the importer, they can’t be covered by the seller or shipping agent or factored in with additional retrospective discounts

 

RETURNS

Royal House Antiques offers a no quibble return policy if the item is not as described, if there are any issues with the piece you will be refunded in full once the item has been returned and inspected within 14 days, alternatively if there is a small issue, we can discuss finding a mutual resolution that makes all parties happy

We don’t offer a sale on approval service which means you can purchase the item, have it delivered and if you simply don’t like it, return it, this comes under change of mind or doesn’t fit. There is a lot of time, money and work involved in transporting goods around the world, the costs incurred can be vast so my advice would be if you are unsure on a piece please ask as many questions as you like to make sure you understand everything before you buy, if you are still unsure then please either arrange a viewing in person or if that’s not possible then don’t buy from an online retailer, perhaps look for a local gallery instead