SOLD
Josef Danhauser

Vienna, c.1820
Walnut veneer
Kehlheimer sandstone top
H:89cm (35”) Dia:42cm (16.5”)
Each with label from the Danhauser furniture factory:
‘K&K privil. Landes-Fabrik
Aller Gattungen Moebel
Des J.Danhauser in Wien, No.16’

Currently in the museum exhibit
Biedermeier: The Invention of Simplicity
Albertina, Vienna Feb 2-May 13, 2007
Deutches Historisches Museum, Berlin June 8-September 2, 2007
Musée du Louvre, Paris October 15, 2007-January 15, 2008

Prov: Private collection, Vienna

Danhauser sketch for this design in MAK, Inv.Nr.K.I.8.971/XLIV/1.199
Sketch illustrated in: Buergersinn und Aufbegehren, Biedermeier und Vormaerz in Wien, 1815-1848, Historisches Museum der Stadt Wien, 1988, Kat.Nr.8/93, pp.404, 405
Angus Wilkie, Biedermeier, NY 1987, p.92

Josef Danhauser, whose designs were well known throughout Europe, was the most prolific cabinet maker during the Biedermeier era. His original factory drawings (about 2,500) are collected in volumes now owned by the Museum of Applied Arts in Vienna. They remain the most comprehensive record of the production of Biedermeier furniture, other than the pieces themselves.
These column cabinets are of utmost importance within the scope of furniture history. Their authenticity is proven through the Danhauser factory label on both pieces (inside the cabinet, top) and Danhauser’s drawing of this design.
Through the graceful form and uplifting feeling of this design, Danhauser distances himself from the rigid cube form, which was generally used for nightstands. He instead creates two column cabinets with a narrow diameter above a circular base. Moving upward, the diameter of the cylindrical form increases until it reaches the top, which is crowned with a stone native to the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Kehlheimer sandstone.

These cabinets were included in the Biedermeier exhibition curated by Laurie Winters at the Milwaukee Art Museum, from where they are travelling to the Albertina in Vienna- the Deutschhistorisches Museum in Berlin – as well as to the Louvre in Paris.