We present:

Josef Frank’s 

“Plan de Paris à vol d’oiseau” oak cabinet

Uppsala Auktionskammare presents an iconic Josef Frank “Plan de Paris à vol d’oiseau” oak cabinet executed by Firma Svenskt Tenn ca. 1937-43. To be sold at this season’s Modern & Contemporary Sale 18 – 20 May in Stockholm.

The cabinet is covered with Georges Peltier’s bird’s eye view map of Paris. A drawing of this model is preserved at the Svenskt Tenn archive in Stockholm and these cabinets were likely made to order as a few editions were made in the years 1937-43.

Inspired by the hand-colored engravings that adorn the walls in Carl von Linné’s summer home, Firma Svenskt Tenn’s founder Estrid Ericson brought the idea of covering furniture with decorative posters to her colleague Josef Frank. He designed the much sought-after Flora cabinet as early as 1937, which was clad with Palmstruch’s floral posters. Creativity gained momentum and various cabinet models were clad in all sorts of materials during the 1930s and 1940s – including leather, chintz fabrics and maps.

In the present cabinet, Frank made use of French cartographer Georges Peltier’s bird’s eye view map of Paris first published in 1920. Peltier spent decades working on this highly detailed overview of the city in which anyone who has ever strolled the streets of Paris can reminisce about times past.