DONALD DESKEY (1894-1989)

Lot 146
12.06.2025 00:00UTC +01:00
Classic
Starting price
$ 10 000
AuctioneerCHRISTIE'S
Event locationUnited Kingdom, London
Buyer Premiumsee on Website%
ID 1442716
Lot 146 | DONALD DESKEY (1894-1989)
Estimate value
$ 10 000 – 15 000
DONALD DESKEY (1894-1989)
Rare Armchair, Model No. 500, designed circa 1939
manufactured by Royal Metal Manufacturing Company, Chicago
chrome-plated steel, stainless steel, painted steel, silk velvet upholstery
31 ½ x 22 ½ x 26 in. (80 x 57.2 x 66 cm)
with manufacturer's label Royalchrome DISTINCTIVE FURNITURE ROYAL METAL MFG. CO. CHICAGO-NEW YORK-LOS ANGELES and painted museum accession number 1983.117




Provenance

Archer M. Huntington, New York
Acquired from the above by the present owner, 1983



Literature

Business Week, New York, March 1939, p. 47 (for an advertisement featuring the same model of chair)
J. Ford and K. Morrow Ford, Design of Modern Interiors, New York, 1942, p. 60 (for a period photograph of Mr. and Mrs. Samuel A. Marx's dining room with the model)
D. Garrard Lowe, Lost Chicago, New York, 1975, p. 46 (for a period photograph of Mr. and Mrs. Samuel A. Marx's dining room with the model)
M. Naeve, Identifying American Furniture, Nashville, 1981, p. 54, fig. 113
D. Hanks, Donald Deskey: Decorative Designs and Interiors, New York, 1987, pp. 58, no. 69; 193 (for a discussion of Royal Metal Manufacturing Company)
E. and R. Dubrow, Styles of American Furniture 1860-1960, Atglen, 1997, p. 168
L. O’Brien, Ultramodern: Samuel Marx, Architect, Designer, Art Collector, New York, 2007, pp. 125, 131, 133 (for period photographs of interiors with the model)
S. Brown and A. Griffith Winton, The Designs of Dorothy Liebes: A Dark, A Light, A Bright, exh. cat., Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, New York, 2023, pp. 20-21, fig. 6



Further Details

This model can be found in the permanent collections of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (inv. no. 1987.469.6) and The Art Institute of Chicago (inv. no. 1970.1217.1-2).

Christie’s would like to thank David Hanks for his assistance with the cataloguing of this lot.
Address of auction CHRISTIE'S
8 King Street, St. James's
SW1Y 6QT London
United Kingdom
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