Silver Leaf Office Chairs and Desk

Fine tall German late 17th century Baroque walnut throne armchair with a rectangular arched padded back and seat covered in 17th century Gobelin depicting ‘Susanna and the Elders’ wi...

A very fine pair of palatial Venetian walnut carved mid-19th century Baroque figural throne armchairs, attributed to Valentino Panciera Besarel (Venice, 1829-1902) in the manner of Andrea Brustolon (1662-1732). The ornately carved thrones, each flanked with figures of standing males supporting a branch-carved armrests with vines. Raised on cabriolet scrolled legs. Provenance: The Castello di Giove in Umbria, Italy, circa 1870-1880. Height: 54 1/4 inches (137.8 cm.) Width: 37 1/4 inches (94.6 cm.) Depth: 32 inches (81.3 cm.) Andrea Brustolon (20 July 1662 – 25 October 1732) was an Italian sculptor in wood. He is known for his furnishings in the Baroque style and devotional sculptures. Biography He was trained in a vigorous local tradition of sculpture in his native Belluno, in the Venetian terraferma, and in the studio of the Genoese sculptor Filippo Parodi, who was carrying out commissions at Padua and at Venice (1677). He spent the years 1678-80 at Rome, where the High Baroque sculpture of Bernini and his contemporaries polished his style. Apart from that, the first phase of Brustolon's working career was spent in Venice, 1680–1685. Brustolon is documented at several Venetian churches where he executed decorative carving in such profusion that he must have quickly assembled a large studio of assistants. As with his contemporary in London, Grinling Gibbons almost all the high quality robust Baroque carving in Venice has been attributed to Brustolon at one time or another. In the Venetian Ghetto, at the Scola Levantina, Brustolon provided the woodwork for the synagogue on the piano nobile, where the carved, canopied bimah is supported on Solomonic columns, which Brustolon had seen in Bernini's baldacchino in the Basilica of St Peter's. His furniture included armchairs with figural sculptures that take the place of front legs and armrest supports, inspired by his experience of Bernini's Cathedra Petri. The gueridon, a tall stand for a candelabrum, offered Brustolon unhampered possibilities for variations of the idea of a caryatid or atlas: the familiar Baroque painted and ebonized figural gueridons, endlessly reproduced since the eighteenth century, found their models in Brustolon's work. His secular commissions from Pietro Venier, of the Venier di San Vio family (a suite of forty sculptural pieces that can be seen in the Sala di Brustolon of the Ca' Rezzonico, Venice), from the Pisani of Strà, and from the Correr di San Simeone families encourage the attribution to him of some extravagantly rich undocumented moveable furniture. Andrea Brustolon's elaborate carved furniture aspired towards the condition of sculpture, such as the Dutch bases for console tables which look like enlargements of the work of the two Van Vianens, Paulus and Adam, perhaps the greatest Dutch silversmiths of the period. These carved pieces display the baroque tendency to develop a form three-dimensionally in space. Brustolon's walnut, boxwood and ebony pieces transcend ordinary functional limitations of furniture; they are constructed of elaborately carved figures. The framework of Brustolon's chairs, side tables and gueridons were carved as gnarled tree branches, with further supports of putti and male figures carved in ebony. Backrests of the chairs, which were never touched in the rigidly upright posture that contemporary etiquette demanded, were carved with allegories of vanity, fire and music, etc. The most extravagant piece delivered for Pietro Venier was a large side table and vase-stand of box and ebony, designed as a single ensemble to display rare imported Japanese porcelain vases. The eclectic allegories include Hercules with the Hydra and Cerberus, males and reclining river-gods (see ref.). For the Correr, less extrovert chairs bear female nudes extended along the armrests. For the Pisani, he carved a suite of twelve chairs (now at the Palazzo Quirinale) with flowers, fruit, leaves and branches to symbolize the twelve months of the year. Work by Brustolon is at the Villa Pisani at Stra. In 1685 Brustolon returned to the house where he was born at Belluno, and from that time devoted himself mainly to tabernacles and devotional sculptures in walnut, boxwood or ivory. His polychromed ivory Corpus from a crucifix is in the Museo Civico di Belluno, which preserves some of Brustolon's preparatory drawings for frames to be carved with putti displaying emblems. A pair of boxwood sculptures, The Sacrifice of Abraham and Jacob Wrestling with the Angel...

Of comfortable size, the four beautifully turned legs joined by conforming stretchers, scrolling, carved arms. Clean up and polish included. The chair needs to be re-upholstered and...

An exquisite Renaissance period armchair from Lombardy, Italy. Wonderfully constructed from walnut and tooled leather accented with gold gilt and handsome nail heads. Very sturdy wit...

Oversized, stately armchair of comfortable proportions, leather covering with beautiful patina and accentuated with brass studs, turned legs and stretchers.

Fine French Louis XIII armchair. Made in the 17th century from walnut and equipped with hidden out sliding tray supports as a extra feature. We restored this armchair and reupholster...

Good 19th century Gainsborough armchair with new crimson linnen upholstery. This type of chair was named after the famous painter Thomas Gainsbor...

A fine Italian 19th century baroque revival style carved walnut figural throne armchair, attributed to Valentino Panciera Besarel (Venice, 1829-1902) in the manner of Andrea Brustolo...

A richly carved walnut Italian throne chair. This arm chair could make a wonderful statement in any room. Use it for a desk chair, next to a fireplace, an office or in the living roo...

A 17th century French walnut armchair from the Dordogne region. The typical baluster shaped legs under a high back with upholstered armrest concealing tray supports. Armchairs as the...

Fine pair of Italian 19th-20th century baroque style giltwood carved winged throne armchairs, each finely carved throne with scrolls and wavy armrests, on cabriole carved feet. (New ...

A large and impressive French 19th century Napoleon III Egyptian revival mahogany and bronze-mounted throne armchair with bronze figures of winged sphinxes, circa 1870-1880. Measu...