Design 17/20: Furniture, Silver, Ceramics & Clocks
Design 17/20: Furniture, Silver, Ceramics & Clocks
Property from an Important English Private Collection
A beech and upholstered X-frame armchair, late 17th century
Lot Closed
November 9, 02:17 PM GMT
Estimate
2,000 - 3,000 GBP
Lot Details
Description
Property from an Important English Private Collection
A beech and upholstered X-frame armchair, late 17th century
covered in fine red cut-velvet damask, with a squab cushion, the arched back, padded arms and seat applied with passementerie, the shaped arms and legs with incised line decoration, the legs united by conjoined baluster stretchers
William H. Stokes, Circencester, 17 February 1991.
This is a variation on a theme that constantly recurs throughout the history of furniture – the chair or stool on an X-frame. This is a form that has origins in ancient Egypt, but is best documented in Ancient Rome, where it was known as a curule seat (sella curule). It was a marker of power for the magistrate, consul or leader seated on it, and tended to be a folding construction to allow for portability. This ancient political precedent is what sees its form frequently revived in Europe, even in periods that took lesser influence from Antiquity – the X-frame was particularly widespread in medieval Italy, for example, in a folding variation known as the ‘Savonarola’ chair. They were also prominent under Napoleon and recur in French Empire forms.
When considering the 17th century specifically, there is a relevant 1605 portrait of James I in the Museo del Prado (catalogue number P001954): dressed in the luxuriant splendour of divine kingship, he leans against a prominent chair with an X frame, bolstering the impression of formidable power by drawing on the decorative forms of Antiquity. The V&A also holds an X-frame chair from 1661 that was used by William Juxon, the Archbishop of Canterbury, during the coronation of Charles II (accession number W.13-1928). In terms of similarities with the present lot, though, the closer comparable example in the V&A is the late-seventeenth or early-eighteenth century example with the accession number W.6-1958 – this may not have the rich upholstery of this example, but has strikingly similar treatment of the legs, including the arrangement of the stretchers.
When considering the 17th century specifically, there is a relevant 1605 portrait of James I in the Museo del Prado (catalogue number P001954): dressed in the luxuriant splendour of divine kingship, he leans against a prominent chair with an X frame, bolstering the impression of formidable power by drawing on the decorative forms of Antiquity. The V&A also holds an X-frame chair from 1661 that was used by William Juxon, the Archbishop of Canterbury, during the coronation of Charles II (accession number W.13-1928). In terms of similarities with the present lot, though, the closer comparable example in the V&A is the late-seventeenth or early-eighteenth century example with the accession number W.6-1958 – this may not have the rich upholstery of this example, but has strikingly similar treatment of the legs, including the arrangement of the stretchers.