A Fine Set of Four Neoclassical Giltwood Klismos Chairs

Italian.
Last Quarter of the Eighteenth Century.

Provenance:

Quatrain, Inc., Los Angeles

Estate of Merv Griffin

Measurements:

Height: 35″  (89cm); Width: 20″ (51 cm); Depth: 22″ (56 cm)

Description:

Of giltwood.  Each witha rectangular open back centered by a pierced roundel with cane seats, rising on swept sabre legs. gilding refreshed in places.

The form of the present set of neoclassical chairs is derived from the klismos chair, a Greek invention that evolved from a simple throne. Splayed, sabre-form legs and uprights connected by a concave backrest are characteristics of these chairs, which became popular in the late-18th and 19th centuries for their gracefulness and lightness of form, as well as their reference to antiquity. The present chairs are illustrative of the variations on the klismos form that occurred at the end of 18th century during the Neoclassical period in Italy, when furniture was relieved of ornament in favor of simple lines more closely modeled on its classical forbears.