The second desk ID quiz of the week, although this one happened to come about from a completely separate search effort from the first. This one's also a bit tougher than the Wegner desk.
This Danish teak drop front secretary desk appeared at a nearby auction a few months ago. I was interested in the design, as it seemed little more refined than the typical secretary desk of the era, including the bulging stretchers similar to the Wegner Peacock chair. A brief search turned up nothing, not even similar stretcher details for any case piece. I wasn't that interested in bidding on it, and after checking the hammer price later, it went past what my price range would have been anyway.
Fast forward to this week, and lo and behold, the desk pops up in a search for something totally unrelated. The photo references vintage documentation of a famous designer and manufacturer. Moreover, I had never seen a collaboration between these two parties before, and am still a little skeptical as subsequent Google searches have turned up no other connection between these two.
Who knows the answer? (The Answer Is Not Risom)
https://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/43881096_danish-drop-front-desk-395w-x-1975d-x-455h
Well that was quick. Kofod Larsen for Peder Pedersen. Did you do did it the brute force way, by barreling through all 767 desk entries on furnitureindex?
https://aleph-01.kb.dk/F/EXMCNQ28471XP6YM2YHVBK1K3U3CHPRAGRVNVC7HPC5CEF6...
The handles are different between the two pieces, but almost everything else appears to be the same.
I'd be interested in seeing the Mobilia 1965 reference from furnitureindex.
Peder Pedersen exhibited from 1931-64 at the cabinetmaker's guild exhibition, using 13 different architect/designers. Kofod Larsen designed pieces for the same exhibitions between 1949-64, but they never collaborated together here. It's odd that they would do a few pieces together from 1953-55, but not display them in the exhibitions.
I've also not come across that bulging stretcher detail in any Kofod Larsen or Peder Pedersen piece. Hence my thought that there might have been some type of attribution mixup along the way.
If you need any help, please contact us at – info@designaddict.com