Spanish Colonial Armchair?

I really appreciate this breakdown. To be honest, I have kind of struggled with the idea that if it really was a Spanish colonial chair that was in Peru, I kind of half- doubted the Spaniards would feature so much Peruvian stuff... they didn't want to meld the cultures, they wanted to dominate with theirs...
But, one line of investigation I took was that the Pizarro line continued in Spain, the mother being a Peruvian Inca woman Hernando Pizarro took back there with him.
But, your breakdown seems pretty sound to me.

 

I guess there's no way of knowing where that picture came from, but I wonder if that could be an old picture of the same chair?

 

Here is a picture of the side. Any idea what this carving might represent?

 

@CoreyP - when posting photos, it is helpful if you can click "full image" rather than "thumbnail". Easier for all us old folks to see.



My first thought was a representation of pineapples.

 

Looks like the original source for the one on Pinterest was 1st Dibs. It is no longer there but was described as an English oak medieval style throne chair, so doubt there was any good information.

Everyone seems to be gravitating to this being Victorian (myself included). If there are any saw marks to be seen, it might solve this once and for all.

 

Thanks for that tip on the pictures! Sorry about that. I had originally thought maybe pineapples as well, but had no real idea. If that's what they're meant to be, what a weird hodge podge of motifs!

 

Where would I be looking for saw marks? The is one possible one I found that looks like it might be a mistake. This is on the bottom railing.

 

This is from a 1614 chair in Chelmsford Cathedral (UK). It shows a similar arch, as well as similar bird's heads, and could have served as inspiration for the Victorians -


https://www.redbubble.com/i/photogr...rd-Cathedral-by-wiggyofipswich/26085493.6Q0TX

 

Very interesting! Thanks for that.

 

That is true, although many colonial craftspeople were native Peruvians or mixed. Although they created a specific Peruvian colonial style, even with different 'schools', they didn't incorporate Inca designs in their work. On Colonial paintings you do see some native dress mixed with Spanish.

The story is rather complicated. Hernando married his niece, whose mother was an Inca woman. So his wife was half Spanish, half Quechua. They returned to Peru, where Hernando died.
Their children and further offspring were too high up on the social ladder to include craftspeople. And as you remarked, their culture would have been Spanish dominated.

 

Weird hodge podge is a perfect way to describe styles from the second half of the 19th century.

 

That is one answer I've been looking for for a while. Thanks so much for that information. Maybe that's why the museum in Madrid never got back to me.

 

Gorgeous piece!

Is this carved oak? The middle of the bottom front stretcher looks like a stylized Mayan headdress, which is a motif sometimes seen on Mayan revival pieces.

As for the repair, I have an elaborately carved West Indies Empire style and era mahogany chair (eg approximately 1815). At one point the entire arm was broken off and repaired. Agreed with others…it was repaired because it’s a stunning piece of furniture.

 

Unfortunately, I haven't figured out how to determine the wood... if anyone has some info on that I'll get right to checking it out.
There are definitely multiple repairs done, and I agree it's a really nice piece worth repairing. It appears to have been broken pretty badly, like leg split in half and other things. Some of the repairs are nicely done. Some of them are very crude and seem pretty old to me.

 

Definitely oak.

 

I also wanted to ask you folks, is there a term for these "tick"marks on the various pieces of the back and underside of the chair? I assume they are just there so the chair maker knows what pieces go where?

 

Don't know if there is a name for them but you are correct in your assumption that they are for parts assemblage.

As for saw marks, they would most likely be visible on the underside of the chair or the flat backs of the carved components. I don't know what part of the chair the above picture was taken but it is the type of place where one might expect to see saw marks. Possibly see a faint saw mark at the lower left. Kind of hard to tell.

 

I'll give it a good once-over for saw marks. Now, am I looking for marks like from a hand saw? I'm just trying to understand what saw marks would indicate, if they are there...

 

Very early furniture was made from riven wood, so there would be no saw marks. There would be signs that the wood has been split. Later furniture was made with hand saws and, later, mechanical saws. The latter can be either straight or circular.

 

That totally clears it up for me. Thanks! I'll get looking.