Chairs - old and new, made of materials from wood and metal to glass and even cardboard - can be worth tens of thousands of pounds, with a forthcoming London auction of 90 chairs expected to fetch £1 million sterling.
The auction, exclusively devoted to the chair, takes place at Christie's on November 9th. According to Ms Meghan Melvin, a specialist in the 20th century decorative arts department at Christie's, it isn't necessarily evident to the owner of a valuable chair if it is valuable and specialist advice is often required.
"Nowadays, a chair will have a value if a designer is known," she says, but the designer's identity may not be evident to the lay person.
Chairs from the late 19th century are only now becoming more recognised, with values increasing, and she believes that Irish chairs especially from the 20th century are an underrated field. Some chairs that look quite simple in design can now be valuable if they are recognised as part of an art movement. "But on the flip side of course there are a lot of things out there that unfortunately aren't worth a great deal," she says.
Valuable chairs are made from all kinds of materials. "We have a stool made out of plexiglass (like a clear resin). It feels like plastic but looks like glass. It's fun because it's got feathers set in the plexiglass so they look like they're floating." Called the Feathered Stool, it was designed as recently as 1990 by Shiro Kuramata and it is expected to fetch £15,000 to £18,000.
There is also a chair made out of glass in the auction. Some valuable late 19th century oak chairs with rush seats designed for tearooms and made in large numbers "could turn up in someone's home and in a form where it wouldn't be obviously recognisable," she says. One such pair of rushed armchairs with an oak frame and rushed seat and back is estimated at £3,000 to £5,000.
Exceptional chairs include seating from the Purkersdorf Sanatorium, an architectural commission of note in Vienna. A black and white beech caned seat designed by Koloman Moser mirrors the architecture of the space for which it was designed and is estimated at £100,000 to £150,000.
"People use the word icon of design but I think in this case it really does apply. This is considered a very revolutionary design. . . Relatively few of Moser's furniture pieces survive and obviously a limited number of chairs were produced for the sanatorium so for one to come up for sale is quite an exceptional event," she says.
Other chairs from the sanatorium include four that are no longer upholstered. Designed by Josef Hoffman (1870-1956), who also designed the building, they are estimated at £30,000 to £50,000 each.
Two thrones by the Scottish architect M.H. Baille Scott ebonised and decorated with mother-of-pearl are estimated at £80,000 to £120,000, while a cast-iron and leather chair by Hector Guimard is estimated at £30,000 to £50,000.
Contemporary chairs include a pair of chairs by John Makepeace carved from 300-year old Californian myrtle tree, estimated at £35,000 to £50,000. A rubber S chair by Tom Dixon is estimated at £2,500 to £3,500.
Meanwhile, a cardboard Little Beaver by Frank Gehry is expected to fetch £6,000 to £8,000. "This is all made out of cardboard. It's an interesting design - an armchair and stool. It was produced in a limited edition. It was designed in 1980 but this particular edition dates from 1987. It's quite a light chair but it is solid."
jmarms@irish-times.ie
