Two Miniature Handmade Chairs after Gerrit Rietveld, Zig-Zag and Steltman A charming set of two wooden miniature chairs after two of Gerrit Rietveld’s iconic furniture designs, the Zig-Zag Chair and the Steltman Chair. The Zig-Zag Chair was designed in 1934, reducing the conventional chair almost completely to a sequence of four intersecting planes. Its extraordinary Z-shaped construction has become one of the defining images of twentieth-century Dutch design. The Steltman Chair dates from 1963. It was Rietveld’s final furniture design, created as part of his interior for Steltman jewellers on the Noordeinde in The Hague. Originally there were two mirrored chairs positioned together in front of a jewellery display, allowing a couple to sit opposite one another while choosing jewellery or wedding rings. The first chairs were covered in white artificial leather, while the exposed wooden version that is now so familiar was developed after Rietveld’s death in 1964. The two models have quite different characters. The Zig-Zag is finely executed in natural wood, its silhouette instantly recognisable even at this tiny scale. The Steltman has a more handmade quality, painted off-white and constructed from small rectangular sections of wood that reproduce the extraordinary asymmetry of the full-size chair. What makes the Steltman miniature especially intriguing, however, is the handwritten dedication preserved underneath the seat - it reads: “Hierbij een blijk van waardering voor het fantastische ontwerp van dit huis waar wij nu 25 jaar wonen. Elly en Ad.” In English: “A token of appreciation for the fantastic design of this house, where we have now lived for 25 years. Elly and Ad.” It gives this little chair an extra dimension. It was evidently not simply made as a decorative model, but was connected with a house and its design, apparently commemorating 25 years of living there. Whether that house was actually designed by Gerrit Rietveld remains unclear. As miniature pieces of architecture in their own right, the chairs are wonderfully decorative on a desk, bookshelf or amongst books and objects. Good condition overall. The Steltman shows some rubbing, small losses and wear to its painted surface, entirely consistent with its handmade construction and history. The handwritten dedication remains preserved underneath. Dimensions: Steltman: H ca. 10 cm | H ca. 3.9 in Zig-Zag: H ca. 13 cm | H ca. 5.1 in