Lot 90: PEDER VILHELM JENSEN-KLINT

Rare and important pair of chairs

Each: 86 cm (33 7/8 in) high

Produced by Master Cabinetmaker Carstens og Kjær, Denmark. Carved and shaped mahogany, leather, walnut burr wood marquetry on crest rail, leather cushion with leather-covered tacks (2).

c. 1905-10

Mirjam Gelfer-J&#248;rgensen and Kirsten Lading Bidsted et al., <em>Herculanum paa Sj&#230;lland: klassicisme og nyantik i dansk m&#248;biltradition</em>, Copenhagen 1988, p.335, fig. 309; Mirjam Gelfer-J&#248;rgensen, <em>Furniture with Meaning: Danish Furniture 1840-1920, Vol. 2</em>, Copenhagen, 2009, p. 637, fig. 570

Standing sentinel in Copenhagen&#8217;s Bispebjerg district, Grundtvig Church (1921&#8211;40) springs up at the end of P&#229; Bjerget, a short street lined with buildings that channel the view and further speed the eye. In his design for the church, architect Peder Vilhelm Jensen-Klint amplifies a key principle of Gothic architecture: the pointed arch. Grundtvig&#8217;s fa&#231;ade comprises three intersecting lancet arches and strong pyramidal forms, further enhancing the verticality of the building. Lest his Gothic references seem slavish, Jensen-Klint employed stepped gables along the fa&#231;ade in homage to vernacular village churches. Neither historicist nor traditionalist, however, Jensen-Klint looked south to the contemporary flourishes of the German Brick Expressionists, whose elaborate distortions relieved the monotony of mass. Among the most important works of 20th-century Danish architecture, Grundtvig represents a complex brew of influences. Kaare Klint, son of Jensen-Klint, completed the building after his father&#8217;s death in 1930. In their visual combination of lightness and mass, the present chairs relate closely to Jensen-Klint&#8217;s architectural work. The robust carved arms sweep back to the yoked crest rail which in turn is supported by thin stiles, further enhancing the upward movement of the form.

The present model is in the permanent collection of The Danish Museum of Art &amp; Design, Copenhagen.