One-of-a-kind Furniture Set from Kaare Klint's Early Years

At this year's final design auction, you can get a rare glimpse of the very first steps in the movement that would later evolve into the golden age of Danish design. We can present a largely unknown set of furniture pieces by none other than Kaare Klint.

Kaare Klint is regarded as the most important architect in Danish furniture history and today he is known as "The father of Modern Danish Design”. As a furniture designer and professor at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, he had a profound influence on Danish design and came to shape an entire generation of famous architects who in the 1940s achieved worldwide acclaim with their furniture design. The unique set of furniture that is up for auction is considered among the most interesting, early works by Kaare Klint. It has been in the same family's ownership ever since it was made and remained at Estruplund Estate until a few years ago.

Card Games and Chinwags with the King

The furniture pieces up for auction come from Klint's earliest years as a furniture architect, where he was developing his idiom and had not yet become a role model for others to follow. The furniture set is from 1916 and was commissioned by Chamberlain Valdemar Krieger for the Estruplund Estate in Djursland. He was a close friend of King Christian X who was a frequent guest at Estruplund. Krieger furnished special rooms for the royal family's visits, and one of these was a drawing room for playing bridge. It was for this room that Klint designed the unique furniture pieces, which were used for card games and chinwags after the hunting dinners at the estate.

Lot is unavailable!

The furniture is made of the rare oak burl material. This material has a golden hue and a more lively and irregular structure than most other types of wood. The furniture pieces are characterized by a youthful resilience, and with the clean lines and simplicity, they show how Klint stood in opposition to the more decorative styles of the time. The furniture has certain similarities with a number of furniture pieces that Klint designed two years earlier for the Faaborg Museum. The three chairs are, for example, a variant of the well-known "Faaborg Chair" that has a back of woven cane. In contrast to that chair, these chairs have panels in the back and seat cushions with original, patinated Niger leather. The latter element also applies to the unknown sofa, which, in addition to being a further development of the furniture from the museum, points towards a sofa with similar Herculaneum-inspired legs that Klint designed in 1917 for “Dansk Kunsthandel”. In addition, the furniture contains a beautiful square games table with distinctive profiles, two bookcases and an elegantly simple tray table with a brass tray.

Lot is unavailable!

Even More Furniture by “The Father of Modern Danish Design”

At the auction, we also present a large and versatile selection of other pieces by Klint, and with a unique sideboard from 1913, we rewind the time even further in his oeuvre. This was the 25-year-old young architect's first attempt at furniture art. Therefore, the idiom is atypical in relation to his later furniture. Klint is also the designer behind a very rare mahogany grand piano, designed in 1916 and only made in two examples. The grand piano up for auction was made to order in 1960 for the Danish Embassy in Washington, D.C. Furthermore, Klint's “Kuglesengen” (The Ball Bed), "Mix” chairs, addition sofa units and several examples of "The Red Chair" will also come under the hammer.

Come by the Preview and Gallery Talks!

You can experience all of Kaare Klint's furniture in the company of the rest of the auction lots with design at Bredgade 33 in Copenhagen from 21-25 November. During the preview, it is also possible to hear design expert Peter Kjelgaard talk about the furniture from Estruplund Estate on Saturday 23 November at 2 pm at the same address.


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Live Auction

Modern Design

3 December 4 pm


For further information, please contact:

Peter Kjelgaard: +45 8818 1191 · pkj@bruun-rasmussen.dk

Ole Ravn: +45 8818 1192 · olr@bruun-rasmussen.dk

Amalie Hansen: +45 8818 1194 · amh@bruun-rasmussen.dk

Anna Berger Widenborg: +45 8818 1187 · awi@bruun-rasmussen.dk

Andreas Krabbe: +45 8818 1193 · ank@bruun-rasmussen.dk

Kristina Ulfvik: +45 8818 1197 · kru@bruun-rasmussen.dk

Poul Svalgaard Henriksen: +45 8818 1132 · psh@bruun-rasmussen.dk

Peter Beck (Aarhus): +45 8818 1186 · pb@bruun-rasmussen.dk

Peter Tholstrup (Aarhus): +45 8818 1195 · pt@bruun-rasmussen.dk

Simon Hyldig (Aarhus): +45 8818 1188 · sh@bruun-rasmussen.dk