Featured CHINESE? CORNER CHAIR w/CROSS & SHIELD?

I found this beauty at a local thrift store this morning - I grabbed it as soon as it came out, thinking I just found a old, chinese corner chair.
But looking at it while photographing it I saw shields with crosses on each back rest! I'm pretty sure the Chinese didn't carve/put crosses on their furniture at any point!

It also has 1 ball & claw foot with the other 3 being pretty plain square legs

What do I have here? Where is it from? What year/era?

Note: It appears to be tongue n groove construction: the only nails are from the brass tacks that come out at the bottom of the seat.

Thanks for any help

 

very nice.....
too bad about the seat...but it's seen decades of use.....so it was loved!

 

Interesting. Maybe Chinese for the Western market?

 

Or Hong Kong or Shanghai for the ex-pat market?

 

I don't see Chinese at all.
I see a shield with a cross, battle axes, crowns, flags. Dragons across the top of the chair.

In the seat - Do I see a woman, snake, and wheat?

I'm going to guess at Celtic, Saxon, or Viking influence.
Mid 1800s or later.

@James Conrad

 

I don't see Chinese in the decor either. What was the seat surface made of?

 

Arrow on left - snakes head
arrow at top Fleur de lis

 

Looking again, this may Not be a woman's head

 

With the fleur de lis on the seat & the shield with cross and a crown above it, do you think this is from France?
The seat cover is HARD - like vinyl or plastic now; n idea what it started as.
Thanks so much for the info so far - Help with a title if you were going to sell it?
Also,

 

Could the seat be painted leather?

 

When searching for shield, cross, battle axes, crown
I kept coming up with Knights Templar, Crusaders, think I also saw reference to the Fleur de lis.

 

One would think so....painted and hammered..

 

The decoration is not Chinese but the basic form is. The wood and constructin also looks to be typical for Chinese chairs.

 

The shield appears to be the Cross of St. George, patron saint of England.

Debora

 

Found this blog that explains colonial revival Chinese Chippendale corner chairs. It shows a chair that bears some similarities but has different decoration.

http://antiquesqa.blogspot.com/2015/07/

 

And that's what I thought when I saw the pikes..and those Dragons ....which have those classic arrow point tails.

 

I'm thinking Hong Kong too.......

 

European dragons, European heraldic images, European symbols....
Looks very Arts&Crafts to me, British, continental Northwestern Europe, North America. The closest to China would be Australian or New Zealand made, by a craftsman of European origin.
Think William Morris and circle, similar Continental movements. Arts&Crafts, Gothic Revival, Medieval Revival.

The fleur de lis is an ancient symbol, already used by the Scythians and other ancient civilizations. The use is widespread in Europe and Western Asia.

As far as I know, Colonial Revival was inspired by Georgian/Neo-Classic designs, not Medieval or heraldic. But that's one for our American friends.

 

The Fleur de lis & other symbols on the leather(?) seat cover could have been added later by a owner, right?
But the dragon(?) - They look like a hybrid to me of pelican head, otter body & I don't know what tail! + the shield with slashes in bottom left corner & possibly the ball & claw feet (were they made more by furniture makers from a specific country than others in this chair's time period (I think "England" when I see them)?) carved into the chair would seem to tell more about the origins of the maker, right? If so then using the symbols & design on the chair only - what is the best guess where this chair is from?
Thank you guys - again!