These fine chairs were probably made in Rome for the Borghese family. The chairs combine a wide variety of motifs and sources, from the rich shell patterns typical of the Rococo, to the repeating discs familiar from Neoclassical furniture. The remarkable strength and intricacy of the carving in places emulates cast bronze, while details such as the brackets at the base of the back directly echo ancient Roman motifs. Some of the decorative elements anticipate the furniture designs of Giambattista Piranesi. The richly painted bouquets of flowers, enlivened with insects and small animals, are an unusual addition to gilded chairs of this type. On one chair, the painting is signed “L. Moro” — an artist not yet convincingly identified.

Source: Fausto Calderai, "Arm Chairs," in Eye of the Beholder, edited by Alan Chong et al. (Boston: ISGM and Beacon Press, 2003): 128.

Purchased in 1892 from the auction of the Palazzo Borghese, Rome.