SPAIN, 19TH CENTURY

This chair is one of a group made after the 15th/16th century Nasrid originals, a number of which are in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (195.1.1978; 1975.1.1979ab; 45.60.41a,b; 45.60.40a; 27.225.1) and another the Alhambra (Arte Islámico en Granada, exhibition catalogue, Granada, 1995, no.188, pp.436-7). A further example was sold in these Rooms 7 April 2011, lot 119. Like that chair, the present lot is impressively extensively decorated with stellar micromosaic veneer. With the growing interest from the 18th century in Spain's Islamic past, a wide variety of Nasrid revival works of art were produced, such as the present lot. A very similar 19th century chair with stamped leather back panel was sold in these Rooms, 14 October 2003, lot 60 and a further pair, although with less elaborate decoration, were sold in these Rooms, 10 October 2013, lot 71.