Object Description
These wacky ‘Grotto’ chairs were manufactured in Venice in response to the 19th century interior design craze for Grotto furniture. The trend originated with the European nobility of the 18th and 19th centuries, who designed and built whole rooms as shell-encrusted pavilions, to resemble grottos.
These chairs are attributed to the Venetian firm Pauly et Cie, who were the leading makers of Grotto furniture in Europe in the late 19th Century; each chair has been expertly crafted in the form of a crab and decorated with a polychrome painted finish. They each feature a hinged back opening to reveal an upholstered velvet seat, all set on a naturalistic base in the form of a shell.
Measure: The height of each chair when open is 108cm, and when closed 60cm.