A PAIR OF RUSSIAN BRONZED AND MAHOGANY DAYBEDS

With their bold outline, panelled apron and sides, these spendid mahogany daybeds recall the Russian Empire style introduced by the celebrated architect and designer Karl Rossi (1777-1849). Rossi worked extensively for the Imperial family, which included the Dowager Empress Maria Fedorovna's corner sitting room at Pavlovsk (1816-'17), some interiors at Anichnov Palace (1816), and the palace and park on Yelagin Island (1818-1822). The present daybeds are particularly closely related to a sofa in the Russian State Museum, St. Petersburg, and to a further sofa in birch at Pavlovsk, which was designed by Rossi and executed in the workshop of Ivan Bauman around 1816 (A. Gaydamak, Russian Empire, Moscow/Paris, 2000, pp. 75, 126-129, 268).