Pair of Art Nouveau Mahogany Klismos Chairs, c.1920, Denmark

A fine pair of Danish Art Nouveau mahogany klismos chairs.

A klismos chair is a type of ancient Greek chair, with curved backrest and tapering, outcurved legs.

Klismos are familiar from depictions of ancient furniture on painted pottery and in bas-reliefs from the mid-fifth century BCE onwards. In epic, klismos signifies an armchair, but no specific description is given of its form; in the Iliad xxiv, after Priam’s appeal, Achilles rises from his throne, raises the elder man to his feet, goes out to prepare Hector’s body for a decent funeral and returns, to take his place on his klismos.

The klismos was revived during the second, archaeological phase of European neoclassicism during late 18th century and early 19th century.

The classicizing phase of Modernism allied with Art Deco found the simple lines of the klismos once again in favor and became popular.