Lot Essay
The present chair was part of a suite of furniture designed by Dreyhaupt for his own home in 1906 (see contemporary photograph reproduced below left). The only other known example of this chair is in the collection of the Stadtmuseum in Munich. The zoomorphic essence of Dreyhaupt's work is close in some ways to the contemporary designs of Gaudi than mainstream German decorative arts at the turn of the century, although parallels may be drawn with the work of his compatriots Pankok and Riemerschmid.
It would appear that the only furniture designed by Dreyhaupt was that created for his own home. By training he was an engineer, and four years after his marriage in 1905 (aged 24) he started work for Benz in Gaggenau; he subsequently worked for Richard and Heringer, Daimler in Berlin, Austro-Daimler in Vienna, BMW, Krieger and Gemahlich, NAG, Horch and Scholl. From 1929 to 1933 he worked in Russia as a technical advisor to the tool industry. From the early 1930s he was employed by BMW as their chief engineer, later working for them on the development of aeroplane engines. He died in 1965.
See: Ottomeyer and Ziffer, p. 80 et. seq., exh. cat. no. 2.2.
Wege in Die Moderne. Jugendstil in Munchen 1896-1915, exh. cat. no. 209, p. 271.
It would appear that the only furniture designed by Dreyhaupt was that created for his own home. By training he was an engineer, and four years after his marriage in 1905 (aged 24) he started work for Benz in Gaggenau; he subsequently worked for Richard and Heringer, Daimler in Berlin, Austro-Daimler in Vienna, BMW, Krieger and Gemahlich, NAG, Horch and Scholl. From 1929 to 1933 he worked in Russia as a technical advisor to the tool industry. From the early 1930s he was employed by BMW as their chief engineer, later working for them on the development of aeroplane engines. He died in 1965.
See: Ottomeyer and Ziffer, p. 80 et. seq., exh. cat. no. 2.2.
Wege in Die Moderne. Jugendstil in Munchen 1896-1915, exh. cat. no. 209, p. 271.