Josef Frank
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a mahogany table with inlaid chessboard model "B 552", Firma Svenskt Tenn, 1940s-50s.
The inlaid chessboard is executed in boxwood and ebony. Length 120 cm, width 55 cm, height 49 cm.
Minor wear.
Provenance
A family of collectors who during the late 1940s and a bit into the 1950s placed many orders, often specially commissioned, at Firma Svenskt Tenn.
Thence by descent to the current owner.
More information
Model 552 was designed around 1934 and is according to the drawing fitted with a marble top but has the following note in the archive: "chessboard inlaid with boxwood and ebony".
Bukowskis would like to thank Curator Per Ahldén and the Svenskt Tenn Archives for this information.
Designer
Josef Frank was born in Austria and studied architecture in Vienna. As an architect, he worked with private home areas, villas and apartment buildings. In 1925 he started his own interior design firm Haus und Garten together with two architect colleagues. In connection with the advance of the Nazis, he emigrated to Sweden and was employed in 1934 at Svenskt Tenn. After the outbreak of World War II, Josef Frank, who came from a Jewish family, was forced into exile in New York. At Svenskt Tenn, he made an impact on the product range for four decades; especially when it comes to furniture and fabric prints.
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