A pair of Italian Baroque carved Carrara marble benches Rome or Sicily, 17th/18th century

One with modern velvet-upholstered and gallooned seat.

Private Collection, Rome

Possibly adapted from balustrades. With scattered small chips, abrasions and small losses. Scattered restored breaks; most with adhesive residue; not extensive.
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Although possibly originally elements of balustrades these exceptionally fine carved benches are examples of Roman as well as Sicilian craftsmanship produced during the second half of the seventeenth and early eighteenth century. The vegetal form and the remarkable stretchers of the benches are closely comparable to that of a giltwood console table formerly in the Palazzo Ruspoli, Rome and recall the naturalistic taste which was fashionable in Rome during the baroque period, and they are derived from a group of designs for furniture by Giovanni Paolo Schorr (1615-1674) and other pupils of Bernini like Ciro Ferri (1634-1689) and Antonio Creccolini (1671-1725). Paul Schorr was the preeminent designer of decorative arts in baroque Rome best known for his inventive designs for state beds, fireworks, coaches, and banquet set pieces. His numerous drawings have often been attributed to Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1598-1680) by whom he was often employed as a draughtsman.

For a table with highly comparable voluminous carving and similar stretcher now in the Palazzo Ruspoli, Rome, see Alvar González-Palacios, Arredi e Ornamenti alla Corte di Roma 1500-1795, Milan, 2004, pp. 116-117. For other comparable works, see Stefanie Walker, Life and the Arts in the Baroque Palaces of Rome: Ambiente Barocco (exh. Cat. Bard Graduate Center for Studies in the Decorative Arts, New York, 10 March – 13 June 1999; Nelson-Atkins Museum, Kansas City, 25 July – 3 October 1999), New Haven and London, 1999, pp. 14-16, fig. 14, pp. 181, no. 49.