Set of six North-Italian chairs

Set of six North-Italian chairs
Carved walnut, parcel-gilt and lacquered
Piedmont
ca. 1760
104 x 57 x 47 cm (41 x 22½ x 18½ in.)

A set of six North Italian, parcel-gilt and yellow lacquered walnut chairs, each with a seat covered à chassis in ochre floral damask, on cabriole legs strongly influenced by mid-18th century French models. The court at Turin, where French cultural influence was particularly welcome — the Duchy of Savoy being a direct neighbour of France — was ever alert to the changing taste at Versailles. So that these six chairs, though rococo in their design, display the subtle classicising tendency of French decorative arts in the third quarter of the 18th century.

These 250 year old chairs have been left in the condition in which they were found, the visible wear to the gilding, lacquer and upholstery assumed as an hommage to their age and in the spirit of the interiors of Renzo Mongiardino, who understood, more than anyone, the role that the antiquated appearance of old Italian furniture played in their charm.