Chaise longue

• French (?)
• around 1860
• gilded wood, silk;
• length: 155 cm

The casing, legs and backrest frame on this chaise longue – which belongs to the original furnishings in the ladies' salon in Granitz hunting lodge – playfully imitate gilded cords. The piece draws on paradigms used in the age of Emperor Napoleon III, which shaped the appreciation of furniture design worldwide, although it only remained in fashion for a short period. The recliner is the last of the furnishings originally found in this room. The Putbus family was expropriated during the land reform of 1945. Most of the inventory has been missing since then. Photographs taken in the time preceding the Second World War show the chaise longue as a part of an ensemble that may have been purchased in France, comprising several chairs and armchairs with gobelin upholstery. It was replaced with hand-woven wild silk in red, acquired from the silkworm breeding farm run by the Weström family in Putbus. There is no information available on the pattern or colours used in the 19th century gobelin upholstery, as none of the fabric has survived. Putbus fabric was therefore used in restoring the chaise longue as testimony to the crafts tradition on Rügen.

(Granitz Hunting Lodge)