Paraguayan Living Room Sets

Late 19th-Century Eclectic Paraguayan Salon Suite – Italian Renaissance Revival Meets Criollo Spanish Colonial – Five Pieces An extraordinary and eclectic five-piece salon suite from Paraguay, crafted in the late 19th century, uniting two powerful stylistic lineages: the sculptural drama of the Italian Renaissance Revival and the expressive, hand-tooled vocabulary of South American criollo Spanish Colonial craftsmanship. Composed of one settee, two armchairs, and two side chairs, this ensemble stands as a unique testament to the artistic fusion characteristic of elite regional workshops of the period. The tall ladder-back structures reveal an unmistakable Renaissance influence: architectural symmetry, medallion crowns, and carved foliate scrolls reminiscent of Italian 16th-century ornament. These classical elements are interwoven with the warmth and boldness of criollo carving—deep reliefs, rhythmic floral clusters, rustic vigor, and the unmistakable hand-made quality of South American master artisans. Both the armchairs and the settee feature zoomorphic heads carved at the ends of the armrests, a striking element that bridges Renaissance heraldic tradition with the expressive symbolic language found throughout Colonial Latin American furniture...