Object Description
A pair of ‘Black Forest’ linden wood arm chairs, each of upright rectangular form with an openwork pointed trellis back carved with fruiting vines enclosing an oval splat, the scroll arms and short cabriole legs similarly carved as gnarled vine stems, the splat, arm rests and seat upholstered in gross point embroidery. Swiss, circa 1880.
Footnote: For many years carved wooden pieces such as these chairs were wrongly thought to have come from the Black Forest in Germany. However, we now know that a wide variety of carvings were actually produced in the Swiss Alps, as extensively researched by Arenski, Daniels and Daniels, in their publication ‘Swiss Carvings, The Art of the ‘Black Forest’ 1820-1940’ Woodbridge 2005. See Chapter 7; pp 132-151 for other examples of seat furniture.