Pair of rare Italian Rococo armchairs (poltrone da parata), the giltwood frames ornately carved with rocaille decoration, the red silk velvet upholstery with gold threading, Genoa, circa 1740. 52.5" H x 31" W x 30" D. Tears to seat upholstery on one chair. Provenance: Ariane Dandois: Sotheby's, New York, 25 October 2007, lot 230 (sold for $40,000), lot 231 (sold for $46,000), or lot 232 (sold for $52,000). Northern Italian armchairs of such grand scale as the present ones are usually called poltrone da parata; similar to the French fauteuils à la reine, these armchairs were displayed alongside the walls of large salons in important Roman palazzo. Upholstered in silk velvet with gold thread trimmings, the present set relate closely to the ones in Palazzo Ruspoli in the Salone dei Busti. Similar armchairs were part of the collection of the Earl of Rosebery, Mentmore Towers, Buckinghamshire, sold at Sotheby's, London, lot 129, 15th December 1999. Comparative Literature: Alvar Gonzalez-Palacios, Arredi e Ornamenti alla Corte di Roma, 1560-1795, Milano, 2004, page 197. Goffredo Lizzani, Il Mobile Romano, Milano, 1970, page 7 and page 105, plates 9, 180 and 182. Carlo Pietrangeli, Palazzo Ruspoli, Fondazione Memmo, Roma, 1992, pages 126 and 287. Fabio Benzi, Caroline Vincenti Montanaro, Palaces of Rome, Venice, 1997.

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