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ENGLISH RENAISSANCE GREAT-CHAIR. CIRCA 1560.

ENGLISH RENAISSANCE GREAT-CHAIR. CIRCA 1560.

This important and remarkably well preserved chair reflects the meeting of earlier Tudor chair-making tradition with up-to-date Renaissance ornament popular in the mid-sixteenth century. The chair’s low and broad stature, nearly square ground plan, straight arms and twin, vertical back panel arrangement are common on English joined chairs before 1570.The simple and heavy columnar posts and the use of riven timber as the primary material. What sets the Renaissance chair apart is its sophisticated Italian and French-inspired ornament, probably derived from imported pattern books. Profile portraits personifying old age and youth (a classical themes popular in Renaissance design) are supported by fantastical beats. The shells and garlands carved on the crest rail are motifs that recall the Italianate grottoes popularised by the discovery Golden House of Nero. Other aspects of the chair (the tableted back panels and double-lobed crest rail) are based on mid-sixteenth-century French and Anglo-French Caqueteuse chairs.MINOR REPAIRS TO TIPS OF BACK LEGS.LATER OBLONG APPLIED BOSSES.

43.5" HIGH X 28" WIDE X 22" DEEP.

STOCK NO 1352.

PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS ITEM IS NOT CURRENTLY IN OUR PETWORTH GALLERY, BUT CAN BE VIEWED AT ANYTIME BY APPOINTMENT IN OUR MANOR HOUSE GALLERY ON THE WELSH/SHROPSHIRE BORDERS. PLEASE TELEPHONE FOR DETAILS ABOUT VIEWING THIS ITEM.