Ref. 1865

Societa Anonima Antonio Volpe

Furniture Manufacture (1883-c.1940)

« Egg » Rocking Chair

Italy
Circa 1922

Wood, Rattan

Height : 99 cm (38,9 in.) ; Width : 72,5 cm (28,5 in.) ; Depth : 107 cm (42,1 in.)

Rare “Egg” rocking chair in curved and stained wood, with caned seat and back. The wide oval-shaped armrests, giving their name to the model, and allowing gentle swinging, are stabilized by small balls at the back. Here we find aerodynamic ergonomics providing additional comfort to this chair, such as the curved frame of the seat to adapt to the shape of the person sitting.

Related work

Antonio Volpe’s armchair is inspired by the Sitzmachine, or sitting machine, a model designed by Josef Hoffmann in 1905 in Vienna under the number 670 and manufactured by Jacob & Josef Kohn. The armchair was first presented at the Kunstschau in Vienna in 1908. Designed to be easy to manufacture and assemble, it was produced from 1905 to 1916.

The model presented here is a variant of the armchair listed under number 267 in the Catalog of the Anonima Antonio Volpe Company, p. 14.

Biography

In 1883, the businessman Antonio Volpe decided to create a company manufacturing bentwood furniture in Udine, operational in 1884. The company only supplied the Italian market and received numerous awards at exhibitions for the excellence of its products. During the First World War, the Udine factory was destroyed and rebuilt after the war. Around 1922, the Società Anonima Antonio Volpe published a 34-page catalog of illustrations featuring a range of selected models. The cover of the catalog was decorated with an “Egg” rocking chair, on which a fox (“volpe”) sits, raising one of its paws. In 1940, the production of bentwood furniture ended.