Gerrit Rietveld (1888-1964)
‘Divantafeltje’ (End table), also called ‘Schröder table’, 1923
Painted beech wood and plywood, 60 x 50 x 50 cm.
Executed by: Gerard van de Groenekan, De Bilt, The Netherlands, 1958-1964.
Marked with: H.G.M. G.A. v.d. GROENEKAN DE BILT NEDERLAND
Provenance:
Truus Schröder ca.1958-1985, heirs of Truus Schröder 1985-2024, Sotheby’s Paris 2024
Design:
The ‘End-table’ or ‘Schröder table’ was designed in 1923 by Gerrit Rietveld and is depicted at photographs of the interior from the Dutch writer and poet Til Brugman. In the same year, Rietveld adjusted the design somewhat, making it look a bit more slender. A signed drawing from the archives of the Centraal Museum Utrecht shows that Rietveld called the table ‘Divan tafeltje’ and other archive images show why. The table was positioned, as a side/end-table next to the divan sofa in the Rietveld/Schröder house in Utrecht.
Drawing from the archives of the ‘Centraal Museum Utrecht’
Photo: 1925, the ‘End table’ in the sitting-dining area of the Rietveld-Schröder House with Truus Schröder and her daughter Hanneke, from ‘Marijke Küper/Ida Van Zijl, ‘The complete work’, p. 100.
Provenance:
The table here on offer has a special provenance because it origins from this famous house. It was part of the estate of Truus Schröder, the owner and resident of the Rietveld Schröder house. She gave away the first copy of this design from 1923 as depicted at the photo above to a friend of her (information from a former curator of the ‘Centraal Museum Utrecht’). She commissioned Rietvelds regular cabinetmaker Gerard van de Groenkan to make the table on offer here during the period that she and Gerrit Rietveld lived together in the Rietveld-Schröderhuis from 1958 until his death in 1964.
