Italian Baroque Style Schmieg-Hungate & Kotzian Llc., Dining Chairs, Set of 8

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Description

Early 20th c., a set of 8 one of a kind dining chairs by expert NYC cabinet makers Schmieg, Hungate … Read more Early 20th c., a set of 8 one of a kind dining chairs by expert NYC cabinet makers Schmieg, Hungate and Kotzian in the Italian Baroque style, incl. (2) armchairs, (6) side chairs. All are covered in a rich wine red velvet with a central tapestry section and accentuated with a brass nailhead trim. Stamped SHM (Schmieg-Hungate & Kotzian, Inc.,) factory mark and with inventory numbers to stretcher,.

Furniture by this firm is of exceptional quality and was most often produced as a one off commission. Museums, including the Brooklyn Museum, The Art Institute of Chicago, The Metropolitan Museum, and Yale University Art Gallery, have pieces by SHK in their collection. In a 1929 Met exhibition furniture in both the show window and sales alcove was captioned as being "designed by Eugene Schoen and executed by Schmieg-Hungate & Kotzian, Inc., New York.

Dimensions:
40"H x 22"W x 19"D (arms), 37"H x 19"W x 17"D (sides), 20"H (to seat)

Condition:
Good, velvet very clean, tapestry shows light even wear, wood with minor nicks and scratches consistent with age and use, ready to place.

Provenance:
A Private Collection: Forest Hills, NY

Information:
The furniture firm of Schmieg and Kotzian was established in London 1899. Karl Schmieg and Heinrich Kotzian were German cabinet makers from Cologne, who were trained in the traditional European apprentice system. In 1907 Karl Schmieg moved to New York in 1907 and was joined by Heinrich Kotzian the following year. After Karl Schmieg died in 1949, the company continued on for a few more years, but was then sold. For a number of years their factory was located at 551 East 72nd Street. The showroom was in midtown. In 1925, Karl Schmieg was one of the U.S. representatives at the International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts in Paris.

Furniture designer Eugene Schoen's, once dubbed 'the American Ruhlmann' frequently used Schmieg, Hungate and Kotzian to craft his designs. They fulfilled Schoen's vow of producing "one of a kind" pieces comparable in quality, finesse and sophistication to works produced in Paris. The firm's brand appears on furnishings from the most important residential commissions of the era: Donald Deskey's dining suite in the Mandel House; Marcel Breuer's modernist designs for the Frank House; and Schoen's most important project, the twenty-five room Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz mansion in Washington, D.C., completed in 1937-38. "Seriousness, and a thorough knowledge of what has gone before are the essential bases of new creations in decoration," proclaimed Schoen in a 1928 article, and a survey of archival photos gifted by Lee Schoen (who joined his father's firm in 1929) to The Metropolitan Museum of Art and of corresponding pieces in museums reveals an œuvre of elaborate veneers and exotic woods, which only a sophisticated firm trained in European techniques could produce.

A circa 1936 document in The New School Archives and Special Collections describes a visit to the firms' factory in NYC. The document indicated that Schmieg was interested in rare and unusual woods while Kotzian focused on furniture design and history. It goes on to say "The furniture they produce is as fine as any that can be made. They use around 150 varieties of wood which is stored in their sub basement in the firm of rough planks and beams. Some particularly interesting pieces were some mahogany beams brought from Santa Dominico when an old house was recently demolished. The house was built in 1509. Another interesting piece of wood was from a Lebanon cedar tree that had been planted by the Moors and was recently cut down to make way for a street." See less