Lot Essay
The chair's elegantly serpentined frame is composed of addorsed and voluted scrolls that are wrapped by acanthus foliage and surmounted by a Venus scallop-shell cartouche, while its arched mouldings are incised with panels of ribbon-scrolls and husk-festoons corresponding to contemporary mirror or picture frames. With its pedestal-centred stretchers, it relates to the suite of furniture of the 1760's from the Palazzo Mocenigo-Robilant, Venice (see A. Alberici, Il Mobile Veneto, Milan, 1980, fig's. 349 & 350).
It is possible that this chair formed part of the furnishings that belonged to Paolo Renier (d. 1789), Doge of Venice. Signor Gasparoni, a Milanese dealer in antiquities, purchased much of the furniture from the Doge's Palace in 1834 and chartered a vessel to bring it to London where it was disposed of by Messrs. Town and Emmanuel. Amongst Town and Emmanuel's principal clients for this suite of furniture was The Duke of Buckingham, who acquired several pieces for Stowe House, Buckinghamshire, that were consequetnly included in Christie's House Sale of August 1848. In H.R. Foster's annotated Stowe Sale Catalogue for the Second Day's Sale, 16 August, lots 221-2 (discussed by H. Hayward, 'Four Italian Baroque Parade Chairs, National Art Collections Fund Review, 1984, pp. 141-2), it was noted that Specimens of the same furniture are to be found ...at Narford Hall. A pair of specimens ...at Narford Hall, purchased by Andrew Fountaine (d. 1873) for his Norfolk seat, were acquired for the Manchester City Art Gallery in 1983 (museum no. 910/4).
A celebrated Italophile, Andrew Fountaine created Narford's remarkable China room for the display of his Maiolica Collection, part of which was sold in these Rooms, 17 June 1884
It is possible that this chair formed part of the furnishings that belonged to Paolo Renier (d. 1789), Doge of Venice. Signor Gasparoni, a Milanese dealer in antiquities, purchased much of the furniture from the Doge's Palace in 1834 and chartered a vessel to bring it to London where it was disposed of by Messrs. Town and Emmanuel. Amongst Town and Emmanuel's principal clients for this suite of furniture was The Duke of Buckingham, who acquired several pieces for Stowe House, Buckinghamshire, that were consequetnly included in Christie's House Sale of August 1848. In H.R. Foster's annotated Stowe Sale Catalogue for the Second Day's Sale, 16 August, lots 221-2 (discussed by H. Hayward, 'Four Italian Baroque Parade Chairs, National Art Collections Fund Review, 1984, pp. 141-2), it was noted that Specimens of the same furniture are to be found ...at Narford Hall. A pair of specimens ...at Narford Hall, purchased by Andrew Fountaine (d. 1873) for his Norfolk seat, were acquired for the Manchester City Art Gallery in 1983 (museum no. 910/4).
A celebrated Italophile, Andrew Fountaine created Narford's remarkable China room for the display of his Maiolica Collection, part of which was sold in these Rooms, 17 June 1884