The bentwood chair is the invention of the German-Austrian carpenter and furniture maker Michael Thonet. He came up with a new technology by which the wood was given a curved shape with steam. The main material for the furniture was the beech wood. This innovation was popular in the 19th and 20th centuries: such furniture looked elegant and unusual, cost relatively inexpensively and suited to any interior.

In 1842 Michael Thonet opened Brothers Thonet workshop in Vienna and received a patent for making furniture according to his own method. The process of production of the bent furniture took about two hours: it was necessary to warm up the wood in boiling water or with steam, and when it became flexible and malleable — to give it shape according to prepared templates. The Thonet’s technology was then perfected by the father and son Kohns: their way of making bent furniture took only a few minutes. Jacob and Joseph Kohn company became the main competitor of Thonet, it even had the motto “To be one step ahead.”

At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, there were about 1,500 models in the Jacob and Joseph Kohn’s assortment. The Kohns supplied tables and chairs not only to apartment buildings, but also to bistros and restaurants, cabaret and cafes, theaters and cinemas. They got orders from the State Duma, large offices, educational institutions and even from cars-restaurants.

The father and the son Kohns were the first to understand that famous and young architects and designers should be involved. First of all, they turned their attention to members of the Viennese Sezession, a group of progressive artists whose ideas and creative works were innovative for the art of the time.

Then in the assortment of Jacob and Joseph Kohn there appeared pieces of furniture decorated with the geometric figures by Josef Hoffman, graphic images by Kolo Moser and ornaments by Adolf Loos. Famous architects and artists such as Otto Wagner and Gustav Siegel also took part in the development of design and decoration of the furniture[1].

Siegel also took part in the development of design and decoration of the furniture[1].
On the museum chair there is the brand name Jacob and Joseph Kohn. It has a rounded seat with small holes cut in it, resembling a monogram. The central part of the back, legs and underdeveloped armrests are bent. Presumably the chair is made of beech wood, which is well temperature-treated.