A French Louis XIII Walnut Side Chair

A French Louis XIII Walnut Side Chair

18th Century Walnut SidechairThe tall rectangular back with gently arched cresting above a generously proportioned upholstered back panel, the squared stiles terminating in faceted block finials, above a deep over-stuffed seat of conforming width, the whole raised on four boldly turned baluster-and-ball front legs united by a matching bobbin-turned front stretcher of vigorous character, the rear legs of square section united by a plain flat H-stretcher, the turned elements retaining considerable depth and crispness of profile.

Re-upholstered throughout in a large-scale sage and white gingham check cotton, the fresh, almost Swedish simplicity of the fabric sitting in charming and unexpected counterpoint to the sombre gravity of the darkened walnut frame.

The present chaise, with its emphatic turned front legs and bobbin stretcher, belongs to the most distinctive and collectible phase of French seat furniture — the Louis XIII period, during which the turner's art reached a zenith of confident, almost exuberant expression.

The turned baluster leg was the defining structural and decorative element of the period, its origins traceable to the Flemish and Netherlandish influence that pervaded French decorative arts in the first half of the seventeenth century under the regencies of Marie de Médicis and Anne of Austria.

The tall back — a feature that would give way to the broader, more architectural back panel of the Louis XIV fauteuil — lends the chair a singular presence, at once imposing and ascetic, recalling the high-backed chairs of ecclesiastical and juridical settings as much as the domestic interior. The squared, faceted finials of the back stiles are a regional detail of particular interest, departing from the more common turned finial and suggesting a provincial maker of individual inclination working within the broader national idiom.

French, circa 1700