SECOND QUARTER 19TH CENTURY

Details

A PAIR OF ITALIAN GILTWOOD ARMCHAIRS
SECOND QUARTER 19TH CENTURY
Each with scrolled top-rail with central frieze carved with a shell and coral-filled tazza flanked to each side by a hippocampus, above a padded backrest and sprung seat upholstered in highlighted cream silk damask, above a stiff-leaf carved seat-rail, the rope-twist arms terminating in seahorse monopodia running down to scroll feet, joined by an acanthus-carved pierced side-rail terminating in outswept bulbous scroll back legs, one inscribed M S to the reverse of each seat-rail (2)

Special notice

No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 15% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis.

Lot Essay

These 'fantastical' armchairs are early examples of a whimsical, exotic and frivolous style of decorative art that blossomed in the nineteenth century. Their Grecian-scrolled gilt frames, elaborately carved with shells and seahorses, recall the luxuriant late-Empire designs of Jacob Petit's Collection de Dessins d'Ornament, and anticipate the late 19th century fashion for Venetian 'Grotto furniture'.

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