HELP! carved wood chair

HI my name is emily and i just started collecting. I found this chair on craigslist for 20$. And i am in love! can anyone tell me about it?

 

Welcome to Antiquers, Emily Ann!

I like the carving on your chair and think it looks Victorian, but I'm not an expert.

 

the fabric is somewhat new. but they left the moss in the seat. and i think that the two "wings" were added after and the top curve also.

 

The wings do look to me like they may not have been there originally.

 

tomorrow i am pulling out the staples on the fabric ill post pics of what is underneath. I think it is hand carved. There are tool marks and the carvings are not perfectly symmetrical. They guy i bought it from pulled it out of the trash. Someone had payed to have it taken away.

 

Posted over on the finds thread that I thought the styling rococo. My thoughts are that this is a 19th century version but really need more pics to tell much.

 

ill take more tomorrow my phone broke. but these pictures were on the craigslist add. the chair is massive and heavy. Im from san diego and i got it here. so i have know idea where it could be from.

 

That is one heck of a chair! It reminds me of the chair which was on the altar for the celebratory priest -- often with armless chairs on either side for the acolytes. (High Mass, folks.)

Have no idea whether or not the wings are original, and truthfully, the chair would be more attractive without them. However, I would absolutely keep them!

Funky has its place!

 

This may be 20th century. I would expect the stretchers to be carved in the round on an older chair. I am not very familiar with European furniture so it could be entirely correct for a 19th century piece such as this.

 

Hmm, San Diego brings up another thought... possibly Mexican?

I seem to recall Mexican pieces with dark wood and this type of carving. If it is Mexican, it might not be as old.

 

The carving is really over the top! Maybe the same as the rococo styling that Brad mentioned?

 

While the elaborate stretcher is typical of Spanish furniture, a lot of the details on this are French. If I had to guess, I would say Italian in origin. If French, I think it would be a bit more restrained.

 

Personally, I would check in the joints and crevices to see if there is any trace of gold/gilt. It looks like a stripped version of some of the over-the-top late 1800s stuff I used to see in the New York drawing rooms and libraries of the super nouveau riche as a kid. In other words, tumpery made for the tasteless classes of the era..................the Gilded Age as it were

NEO-BAROQUE! That is the term I was looking for....................

 

I'm going to go take more pictures of it. I would have to say that it is hand carved because i see tool marks on and around the carvings. I don't know exactly what type of clear coat was used but it pretty much dissolves with spit. sorry gross i know. Growing up in san diego and seeing the old missions and the furniture there. I am pretty sure it is not mexican although it could have been shipped to mexico from europe. My best friends mom knows a lot about antiques and she says she thinks it could be a french parlor chair or a library chair. But she has never seen anything exactly like it. I am going to take the dust cover off and see if the wood is marked anywhere. the fabric is not original because it is covering a good portion of some of the carving. the wood under is a beautiful dark wood.

 

Your chair is oak and definitely hand carved. The use of Roman numerals on the parts suggests European origination.

I have been doing some searching and am finding the term Italian Baroque brings up the best matches. I eventually found this chair that is a pretty close match. This is a reproduction and, unfortunately, the seller has no provenance for the design other than Italian baroque.



http://www.inessa.com/armchairs/italian-baroque-armchair-2053.html

 

Found this museum example of a 17th century Italian chair with some similarity. Note that the stretchers are carved on all sides, unlike yours.

I do think these two examples point us to 17th century Italian as a design source for your chair. My feeling is that it is a late 19th or early 20th century copy but you may want to do some further research.



http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O109262/armchair-unknown/

 

What is a stretcher? sorry.

 

either way I think it is just about the coolest thing ever. My parents already want me to sell it. No matter what it is worth it will be in my possession for ever.

 

Listen, don't worry about using spit. Seriously, it's what good painting restorers use to clean artworks!