An Attractive Pair of French Napoleon III Style Beech & Green Velvet Upholstered Easy Armchairs c.1940-60

SOLD
Origin: French
Period: Mid-Century
Provenance: Unknown
Date: c.1940-60
Height: 33” or 13” at seats
Width: 28.5”
Depth: 31” (each & at extremities)

The petite and attractively shaped pair of French tub type easy armchairs being coil sprung and horsehair stuffed, both with concealed beech legs, each with scrolled arms, serpentine fronts and curved backs, in vintage emerald green velvet upholstery with silk fringing, the pair surviving from the third quarter of twentieth century France.

The condition of the chairs is very good with no structural flaws to report. They are comfortable and stable. The beech-wood to each is in fine fettle with just a few minor scuffs as one would expect and a good overall colour. The emerald velvet has very few flaws, with one tiny burn mark and one small pen mark.

It is rather difficult to say when the fist tub chair came into use but they have certainly been around since the sixteenth century as they could be found at British and French royal courts who used them when holding court. As the name suggests the traditional tub chair got its name from the idea of a tub, but in the form of a chair. What defines a tub chair is the way the chair curves around you as you sit in it. The style of this pair is very much in the 1860s Napoleon III manner.

Sublimely sumptuous.
image/svg+xml