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Designer:
Arne Jacobsen
Manufacturer:
Fritz Hansen
Description:
The Ant Chair
is an iconic design by Arne Jacobsen (1902-1971) from 1952
for Fritz Hansen of Denmark. The shell design has the back
and seat made out of one piece of laminated wood with nine
layers of moulded veneer and two layers of cotton textile
in-between. Initially the chair was made with three legs
(known as number 3100) and later came a four legged version
(number 3101).
We have a set of very early 3100
Ant Chairs in black lacquer. They each have the impressed
stamp underneath the seat of FH (Fritz Hansen) DANMARK
(please see image). The stamp one sees on later (1960s)
chairs underneath the seat base is not present on these
chairs. We date this set to circa 1955, which makes them
rather scarce and desirable.
These chairs are in satisfactory
vintage condition, i.e. they have been well used and the
wear and tear is largely consistent with more than fifty
years of use. It is evident that they have not had any
restoration or professional attention since purchase, and we
have left them untouched, preferring to offer them in
original condition. The only exception to this is that we
have some 1960s Fritz Hansen 'feet caps' from other Ant
chairs which we will add to these chairs to replace those
original caps which are now missing.
As will be seen from the images,
the metal frames on all of the chairs show significant signs
of age. There is rust some of which can probably be removed
quite easily. The chair seats and backs are in their
original black lacquer. All of the chairs have chipping and
some scratching to the surface of the lacquer. Also a
previous owner has obviously undertaken some internal
redecoration to walls near to the chairs leaving some signs
of white paint on the chairs (this can probably be removed
with care; we haven't tried).
The chairs are pretty sound
structurally. There is some minor cracking to the surface
of the plywood on the seat backs (see images) but this
appears to be quite superficial in that it doesn't penetrate
much below the surface (often these chairs are cracked all
the way through the plywood at the point of greatest
pressure but this certainly isn't the case here).
We have
priced the chairs to reflect the fact that a buyer might
prefer to have the chairs cleaned and sympathetically
restored. We are happy to provide further photos of each
chair upon request. Alternatively they are available for
viewing by arrangement within Greater London / South East
England...
Price: £sold
Shipping: £30.00 to
Sussex, Surrey, Hampshire or Greater London. Please email for other
location.
Ref #: 0429
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