Rare Sino-Portuguese Barber-Surgeon’s Chair, mid to late 18th Century
£1,575
the adjustable head rest above a slatted back leading down to the fully panelled arm supports carved with lotus blossom, above a solid seat and raised on cabriole legs with lotus blossom carving to the knees and terminating in braganza feet. Complete with original metal strengthening brackets and rear foot rest for use by the barber-surgeon.
This rare, not to say unique, armchair, of a sculptural form and clearly showing European influences in the decoration such as the “Braganza” or “Spanish”feet, reeded frieze the lotus-blossom carving on the knees and the panelled arms, is patently, with its unusual construction and oriental timber, not of European origin. The answer is that the chair was most likely made in the Portuguese territory of Macau on the south coast of China in the second half of the 18th century.
