A VENETIAN POLYCHROME DECORATED TURTLE-FORM CHAIR

These whimsical chairs epitomize the Venetian tradition of 'grotto' furniture-making, so named among the European nobility who erected shell-encrusted pavilions and grottos during the 18th and 19th centuries. By the mid-19th century a number of workshops specialized in the production of carved and gilt-gesso shell furniture in Venice, the firms of Pauly et Cie. and Remi & Ci. being among the leading manufacturers by the 1880s.

A comparable chair formed as a crab was sold at Christie's, London, 24 September 2008, lot 27 (£11,875). Another example of a turtle-form seat is illustrated in D. Linley, Extraordinary Furniture, London, 1996, p. 166.