OAK WRITING TABLE BY FRITS HENNINGSEN

A Figured Oak Writing Table on Cabriole Legs in the Louis XV Taste
Designed & Manufactured by Frits Henningsen (1889 - 1965)

Circa 1940's

The inside left drawer housing is stamped '4829.' Two further penciled numbers read '731' in red crayon and '4908' in pencil. Retaining an original key.

"It was characteristic of Frits Henningsen's whole aesthetic attitude as expressed in the motto in his business-like visiting card, 'Elegant and Unpretentious Furniture.' This was a rather well chosen description of the practice that we must surely follow in our endeavours to further simplicity and unpretentiousness."

AE Morck, 1930.

As one would expect from the cabinetmaking workshops of Frits Henningsen, the offered writing table is superbly manufactured & uses a wonderfully book-matched pair of wide planks as the show-stopping top. What is more unexpected, is his influence for the tables design, deriving from French pieces of the early to mid-Eighteenth century, rather than that of 18th century England.

The lines of the imperceptibly curved top, sit with perfect ease on the concave frieze - with three flush drawers - and cabriole legs on faceted hoof feet. If we did not know the maker and country of origin, it might be easy to mistake the table for a provincial work of the period.

Henningsen must have been influenced by a table in the Danish Museum or palace collections, however we cannot place an example as the likely trigger. The Parliament buildings in Copenhagen do have a similar design of library table, dated to 1918 by Thorvald Jorgensen. Perhaps these were a model that Henningsen wanted to improve upon; a competitive outlier from the rest of the Copenhagen design world.

Dimensions

This object is eligible for a Certificate of BADA Provenance

Stock number