Mid- Century No.10 bentwood and cane rocking chair by Thonet, Austria
The chair was designed by Michael Thonet circa 1860 - 1890, this example dates from circa 1900. The chair features a generously sized newly hand-woven cane seat and high back. The use of cane provides comfort for the sitter and gives the piece a visual lightness.
Indeed, the most eye-catching detail is the elaborately curling shapes in the base of the rocker. What is perhaps most fabulous about this piece is that even at 120+ years old it is still robust and comfortable enough to use everyday.
Design Attributed to/ Thonet
Dimensions/ Height: 39.38 in (100 cm) Width: 22.05 in (56 cm) Depth: 43.31 in (110 cm) Seat Height: 18.12 in (46 cm)
Style: Art Nouveau (Of the Period)
Materials and Techniques: Beech Wood, Cane, Caning
Place of Origin/ Austria
Date of Manufacture: circa 1900
Condition: Very Good
THE HISTORY OF BENDING SOLID WOOD - BENTWOOD IS AS CONTEMPORARY TODAY AS WHEN IT WAS FIRST INVENTED BY THE VISIONARY MICHAEL THONET
If you want to bend wood, you have to outwit it first. Or, more precisely, you have to trick two of its main components: cellulose, which gives wood its tensile strength, and lignin, which is responsible for compressive strength. In order to work this natural material, both of these components have to be relaxed. Otherwise, the wood would just break. So, what’s the trick? The wood needs to be saturated with steam under pressure. This makes the cellulose more elastic and the lignin softer, and the now elastic wood will readily bend along its fibres ‒ and, after drying, its newly acquired shaped will be just as stable and resilient as before. When Michael Thonet was experimenting with bending wood in the 19th century, it was by no means a new discovery that the natural material could be manipulated with heat and moisture. Ancient advanced civilisations had already made use of this knowledge, in shipbuilding for example. And yet Thonet’s bending of solid wood was truly ground-breaking. In 1856, the Austrian state officially granted the Thonet brothers the right to manufacture armchairs and table legs from bent wood, the bending of which was achieved by the action of steam or boiling liquids.