A PAIR OF SOUTH ITALIAN GILT-LEAD AND REVERSE-PAINTED GLASS-MOUNTED GILTWOOD CHAIRS

With reverse-painted glass panels painted in imitation of various hardstones including Sicilian jasper in reds, yellows and greens, and lapis lazuli, these chairs are part of the celebrated suite reputedly made for the Prince of Palagonia for the Drawing Room of the Villa Palagonia at Bagheria, near Palermo, Sicily. However, as A. González-Palacios noted in his “The Prince of Palagonia, Goethe and Glass Furniture,” Burlington Magazine, August 1971, the monogram does not correspond with the prince’s initials and may emanate from a different commission. The Sicilian origin, however, seems to be validated by the closely related suite of furniture made for La Favorita, the pavilion built for King Ferdinand IV near Palermo circa 1799. Although confirmation of the original commission still remains a mystery, the precious quality of the labor intensive construction points to a likely commission by a powerful and wealthy Sicilian family as display pieces. The suite was subsequently bought by the Earl of Derby circa 1910 from Lenygon’s for Derby House, Stratford Place, London. Pieces from this suite are in various private and public collections including, among others; a settee and four chairs formerly in the Alsdorf Collection and sold Christie’s, New York, 24 September 2020, lots 1002-1004; a side chair and a settee in the collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (Inv. 1992.173.1 and 1992.173.2); two side chairs in the Art Institute of Chicago, see A. González-Palacios, Il Tempio de Gusto, vol. II, Milan, 1984, p. 275, no. 629; two settees and two chairs at the Ringling Museum of Art, Sarasota, Florida, (Inv. SN1799, SN1800, SN1801 and SN1802). A comparable table of Sicilian manufacture is in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London (Inv. W18-1970).