Bibiena Family, early 18th Century

This elaborate carriage or wheelchair was probably intended to be used on the stage. A drawing from the Anthony Blunt Collection (Courtauld Institute, London, Blunt 95), also attributed to the Bibiena family, shows the design for a coulisse with an almost identical wheel chair seen from behind. As part of a stage set both chairs would have been painted entirely in trompe l'oeil.