A pair of French late 16th century carved walnut fauteuils

Footnotes

Provenance
The National Galleries of Scotland.

Two comparable armchairs, both dated to the second half of the 16th century, form part of the world-renowned Frick Collection and are illustrated in D. Dubon and T. Dell, Furniture in the Frick Collection, Vol. V, 1992, New York, pp.'s 178-83. The overall form of these two Frick fauteuils are similar to the design of the pair of chairs forming the present lot. Added to this, various characteristics including; the ram's mask carved to the end of each arm support; the curvilinear outline of the arm rests; the ring turned front legs as well as the plain square section back legs and plain stretchers; are also all evident on the offered pair.

However there are two distinct differences between the two related examples and the present fauteuils. While there is a carved apron below the seat frame on the former, no apron appears to have existed on the latter. Also, whereas the Frick models have stylised acanthus clasped scroll arm terminals, the ring turned columnar arm terminals of the present lot continue the elegant line of the legs right up to the point of interesection with their corresponding arm supports. And, although it is not clear whether this particular variation is of an earlier or a later date, it seems likely that all three chairs are only separated by a relatively short period of time in terms of when they were executed.

Literature
D. Dubon and T. Dell, Furniture in the Frick Collection, Vol. V, 1992, New York.