'R 45', a wooden and glass sideboard

DESIGNED BY GERRIT RIETVELD IN 1936, EXECUTED IN 1940

Details

'R 45', a wooden and glass sideboard
Designed by Gerrit Rietveld in 1936, executed in 1940
Two wired glass sliding doors next to a chest of five superposed wooden drawers, later painted
93cm. high x 200cm. wide x 51.5cm. deep

Provenance

Bought by Eugne Brands in 1944 at Metz & Co, where it was first seen in 1942. Metz & Co did not want to sell the piece of furniture due to the penury of goods during the war, therefore a label on the piece mentioned that it was a sample and not for sale. By chance the label fell off one day and Metz & Co was then forced to sell it. A letter from the owner telling the story will be given to the purchaser of this lot.

Literature

For comparison see:
Marijke Kper and Ida van Zijl, Gerrit Th. Rietveld 1888-1964, het volledige werk, Utrecht, 1992, p. 202, ill. 318 (view of the store with a similar sideboard) and p. 204, ill. 322
Peter Vge, The complete Rietveld furniture, Rotterdam, 1993, p. 104-105, where it is named 'Metz & Co'
For contemporary illustrations of a similar cabinet in the store, see Petra Timmer, Metz & Co, de creatieve jaren, Rotterdam, 1995, p. 130

Lot Essay

The design of the present sideboard came from different drawings dating 1933 and illustrated in Kper-Van Zijl, op.cit., p. 143, no. 183. It was created from a simple sideboard in wired glass and a chest of drawers for a desk, twined to it. (illustrated in Vge, op.cit., p. 105, no 183) Gerrit Rietveld thought of each detail of the everyday life when shaping out of the interior shelf a space for tall bottles.

See illustration

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