{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O131530"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O131530/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2011EN6608/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2011EN6608/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2011EN6608","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2011EN6609","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2011EN6607","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2011EN6606","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O131530/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O131530","accessionNumber":"5694-1859","objectType":"Sgabello chair","titles":[],"summaryDescription":"Italian chairs made from vase-shaped boards of wood have long been known as <i>sgabelli</i>, a term ultimately derived from the word <i>scabellum</i> (Latin for 'stool'). They were often  carved with fantastic monsters and grotesques, like this example which forms part of a set that belonged to the Steno family of Venice, whose emblem, a star, is  emblazoned on the crest. According to John Hungerford Pollen, writing in 1874, the Steno house \"remained furnished in the old way down to modern times\",  but the chairs in this set are almost certainly copies of an untraced earlier example. They were later acquired by Jules Soulages (1803-1856), a lawyer from Toulouse, whose collection was bought piecemeal by this museum, after it had been exhibited at Marlborough House between December 1856 and January 1857.","physicalDescription":"One of a set of nine carved and partly gilded sgabello chairs.\r\n\r\nOf boarded construction, with the back tenoned through the seat and pegged, and the front and rear supports braced by two plain side rails, with a shaped lower edge. The back of cartouche form, with a central grotesque male mask set within a heart-shaped area formed by two scrolls carved with undulating vine-stem ornament, the scrolls resting on a shallow gadrooned plinth; and a double-scroll pediment containing a six-pointed star below a spear-tip finial, with a gadrooned moulding along the bottom of the pediment; the rear face of the back plain. The seat board of rectangular form, cut across the front corners, and with a tongue extending behind to receive the back tenon, with gadrooning along the sides and front edges. The design of the front support mirrors the back, but with two animal feet below, and with a carved freize above, with three rosettes alternating with opposed trefoil motifs; the rear face plain. The rear support has the same outline as the front, but is plain front and back.\r\n\r\nStretchers 3.8 wide\r\nDark stain overall\r\n\r\nLacks an obv wear or repairs.\r\nGesso and parcel gilt\r\nA single modern peg holds the back into the seat (ie loose)","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Unknown","id":"A1848"},"association":{"text":"","id":""},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"walnut","id":"AAT12476"}],"techniques":[{"text":"carving","id":"AAT53149"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Walnut, carved and parcel-gilt","categories":[{"text":"Furniture","id":"THES48948"}],"styles":[{"text":"renaissance","id":"AAT21140"}],"collectionCode":{"text":"FWK","id":"THES48597"},"images":["2011EN6608","2011EN6609","2011EN6607","2011EN6606"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"002","id":"THES342230"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Sgabello chair","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Italy","id":"x28927"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"about 1800-1830","earliest":"1800-01-01","latest":"1830-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[{"object":{"text":"5687-1859","id":"O131524"},"association":"Ensemble"},{"object":{"text":"5688-1859","id":"O79397"},"association":"Ensemble"},{"object":{"text":"5689-1859","id":"O131525"},"association":"Ensemble"},{"object":{"text":"5690-1859","id":"O109850"},"association":"Ensemble"},{"object":{"text":"5691-1859","id":"O131527"},"association":"Ensemble"},{"object":{"text":"5692-1859","id":"O131528"},"association":"Ensemble"},{"object":{"text":"5693-1859","id":"O131529"},"association":"Ensemble"},{"object":{"text":"5695-1859","id":"O131531"},"association":"Ensemble"}],"creditLine":"","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"103","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"34.5","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Depth","value":"53.8","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"Stretchers 3.8 wide","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"This chair was on loan to Plymouth City Museum and Art Gallery (probably from c. 1951 to 2002) and Buckland Abbey (2002 to 2013).","historicalContext":"See Clive Wainwight, 'Models of Inspiration' in Country Life, June 9, 1988 pp 266-267 which discusses the acquisition of Soulages' collection.","briefDescription":"Italian, 1540-1560, 49/3234","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"J.C.Robinson, Catalogue of the Soulages Collection: being a descriptive inventory of a collection of works of decorative art, formerly in the possession of M. Jules Soulages of Toulouse; now, by permission of the Committee of Privy Council for Trade, exhibited to the public at the Museum of Ornamental Art, Marlborough House (London 1856), nos. 612-619, p. 168"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"John Hungerford Pollen, Ancient & Modern Furniture & Woodwork (London: George E. Eyre and William Spottiswoode, 1874), 106-7.\r\n“5694. ’59. CHAIR. Carved walnut wood, partly gilt. The support in front and the back are heart-shaped, with strap work and running scrolls ; in the centre of each a foliated mask ; the upper part of the back has a composition of interlaced cartouche ornament enclosing a star. Italian (Venetian). About 1560. H. 3 ft. 4 in., W. 13½ in. Bought (Soulages Coll.), 15l.”\r\n"}],"production":"Probably early 19th century based on a late 16th century chair","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["5694-1859"],"accessionNumberNum":"5694","accessionNumberPrefix":"","accessionYear":1859,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-04-16","recordCreationDate":"2007-02-09","availableToBook":true}}