A trained painter and son of a cabinetmaker, Joaquim Tenreiro began designing furniture in the 1940s. By 1943 he had started his own furniture design company, opening offices in Rio de Janeiro and Copacabana, and, due to the increasing success of his designs, he opened another shop in 1953 in São Paolo. By the end of the 1950s, Tenreiro was employing approximately 100 craftsmen to construct his designs. The success of the business was evident among Brazilians, but the recognition and growing size of the company led to turmoil, resulting in its closing in the 1960s. Among the greatest of the Brazilian modernist designers, his work was defined by the structural simplicity and brilliant engineering evidenced in the present daybed. Though characteristic of his work, the present lot is a rare form for Tenriero with only a few other known examples, including one from a private estate from a family in Rio de Janiero.