Open armchair
Category
Furniture
Date
1770 - 1790
Materials
Mahogany, lime, gesso, water and oil gilding, textile, braid and upholstery
Measurements
100 x 75 x 64 cm
Place of origin
Rome
Order this imageCollection
Ickworth, Suffolk
NT 850068.7
Summary
One of a set of eight carved giltwood open armchairs, Rome, circa 1780 The bowed back with a segmented frame divided into four upholstered panel and an open panel. The frame carved with husks and flower head rosettes terminating at the arms with acanthus carved scrolls. The arms with padded rests held by turned acanthus carved supports, The overstuffed seat with a molded husk and rosette carved rail below ,raised on turned fluted tapered legs headed with carved female masks and terminating with a leaf carved cup and gadrooned button foot.Upholstery of silk damask, edged with silk red and cream cord on inside back and arm panels, while all other edges are trimmed with pink and cream silk braid with velvet pile pattern; the underside is finished with linen scrim, and extremely coarse webbing possibly hemp.
Full description
For a near identicle chair see V&A Museum collection no. W.19-1973.This armchair is said to have come from the collection of Prince Demidoff in the Villa San Donato, Florence. It appears to be part of a set including eight armchairs and a sofa, was sold by Sotheby's, Bond Street, 9 December 1994, lots 213 to 216. This design of armchair is identified as Roman because of similarities to a suite in the Villa Borghese but no reference was made to San Donato. What appears to have been the same suite was sold by Sotheby's on 22 May 1987, lot 79. The set of chairs at Ickworth were Inherited by Theodora, 4th Marchioness of Bristol from her family home at Copped Hall, Essex. See Mario Tavella, 'A set of Roman Chairs at Ickworth', Apollo, Vol. CLI, No. 458 (April 2000), 49 - 53. (James Weedon 2017)
Provenance
Part of the Bristol Collection. The house and contents were acquired through the National Land Fund and transferred to the National Trust in 1956. The set of chairs were Inherited by Theodora, 4th Marchioness of Bristol from her family home at Copped Hall, Essex.
References
Mario Tavella, 'A set of Roman Chairs at Ickworth', Apollo, Vol. CLI, No. 458 (April 2000), 49 - 53.