Martinoja Antiques LLC Armchairs

A sculptural armchair in oak and leather seat. Made by a Danish Cabinetmaker in the 1940s. A decorative figure for the modern interior. This armchair / deskchair have a really strong...

Solid wood construction with hand-cut joinery and custom upholstered seat and seat back. This chair shown in ebonized oak and black leather. In stock leather choice: black, olive, c...

Magnificent 19th century French armchair.

We are delighted to offer for sale this absolutely stunning, circa 1900 fully restored Chesterfield tufted library armchair A very rare find, I never come across original library ...

Great 17th century walnut armchair from the Louis XIII period. The proportions and turning quality are exemplary and are complimented with...

A very fine pair of palatial Venetian walnut carved mid-19th century Baroque figural throne armchairs, attributed to Valentino Panciera Besarel (Venice, 1829-1902) in the manner of Andrea Brustolon (1662-1732). The ornately carved thrones, each flanked with figures of standing males supporting a branch-carved armrests with vines. Raised on cabriolet scrolled legs. Provenance: The Castello di Giove in Umbria, Italy, circa 1870-1880. Height: 54 1/4 inches (137.8 cm.) Width: 37 1/4 inches (94.6 cm.) Depth: 32 inches (81.3 cm.) Andrea Brustolon (20 July 1662 – 25 October 1732) was an Italian sculptor in wood. He is known for his furnishings in the Baroque style and devotional sculptures. Biography He was trained in a vigorous local tradition of sculpture in his native Belluno, in the Venetian terraferma, and in the studio of the Genoese sculptor Filippo Parodi, who was carrying out commissions at Padua and at Venice (1677). He spent the years 1678-80 at Rome, where the High Baroque sculpture of Bernini and his contemporaries polished his style. Apart from that, the first phase of Brustolon's working career was spent in Venice, 1680–1685. Brustolon is documented at several Venetian churches where he executed decorative carving in such profusion that he must have quickly assembled a large studio of assistants. As with his contemporary in London, Grinling Gibbons almost all the high quality robust Baroque carving in Venice has been attributed to Brustolon at one time or another. In the Venetian Ghetto, at the Scola Levantina, Brustolon provided the woodwork for the synagogue on the piano nobile, where the carved, canopied bimah is supported on Solomonic columns, which Brustolon had seen in Bernini's baldacchino in the Basilica of St Peter's. His furniture included armchairs with figural sculptures that take the place of front legs and armrest supports, inspired by his experience of Bernini's Cathedra Petri. The gueridon, a tall stand for a candelabrum, offered Brustolon unhampered possibilities for variations of the idea of a caryatid or atlas: the familiar Baroque painted and ebonized figural gueridons, endlessly reproduced since the eighteenth century, found their models in Brustolon's work. His secular commissions from Pietro Venier, of the Venier di San Vio family (a suite of forty sculptural pieces that can be seen in the Sala di Brustolon of the Ca' Rezzonico, Venice), from the Pisani of Strà, and from the Correr di San Simeone families encourage the attribution to him of some extravagantly rich undocumented moveable furniture. Andrea Brustolon's elaborate carved furniture aspired towards the condition of sculpture, such as the Dutch bases for console tables which look like enlargements of the work of the two Van Vianens, Paulus and Adam, perhaps the greatest Dutch silversmiths of the period. These carved pieces display the baroque tendency to develop a form three-dimensionally in space. Brustolon's walnut, boxwood and ebony pieces transcend ordinary functional limitations of furniture; they are constructed of elaborately carved figures. The framework of Brustolon's chairs, side tables and gueridons were carved as gnarled tree branches, with further supports of putti and male figures carved in ebony. Backrests of the chairs, which were never touched in the rigidly upright posture that contemporary etiquette demanded, were carved with allegories of vanity, fire and music, etc. The most extravagant piece delivered for Pietro Venier was a large side table and vase-stand of box and ebony, designed as a single ensemble to display rare imported Japanese porcelain vases. The eclectic allegories include Hercules with the Hydra and Cerberus, males and reclining river-gods (see ref.). For the Correr, less extrovert chairs bear female nudes extended along the armrests. For the Pisani, he carved a suite of twelve chairs (now at the Palazzo Quirinale) with flowers, fruit, leaves and branches to symbolize the twelve months of the year. Work by Brustolon is at the Villa Pisani at Stra. In 1685 Brustolon returned to the house where he was born at Belluno, and from that time devoted himself mainly to tabernacles and devotional sculptures in walnut, boxwood or ivory. His polychromed ivory Corpus from a crucifix is in the Museo Civico di Belluno, which preserves some of Brustolon's preparatory drawings for frames to be carved with putti displaying emblems. A pair of boxwood sculptures, The Sacrifice of Abraham and Jacob Wrestling with the Angel...

A fine Italian 19th century baroque revival style carved walnut figural throne armchair, attributed to Valentino Panciera Besarel (Venice, 1829-1902) in the manner of Andrea Brustolo...

This reclining armchair presumably was initialy designed for the Italian military, perhaps the navy. It would have been custom made for the barber on board to seat its clients. Beautifully cast it has great curves and proportions. The wide spread legs...

A very good Chippendale-period mahogany Gainsborough armchair, circa 1760. This is a lovely example of an early-George III Gainsborough library armchair in the sophisticated Chinese taste of the period. With well-executed blind-fret carving to the square legs and arm supports.

 Note the unusual treatment of the gently-outswept padded arms. Furthermore there is subtle shaping to the top of the back. The 'H' stretcher with pierced Gothick carving. Professionally upholstered to a high standard and overstuffed in a neutral soft velvet, with float buttons and close nailed. Raised on old brass castors. Lovely, rich, old colour and patina. In excellent condition with a sturdy frame throughout. These Georgian library armchairs are sometimes also known as Martha Washington chairs...

Re-edition of an 18th century Venetian armchair, hand-carved with beautifully crafted detailing. Hand finished in a gesso white patina, aged and distressed. It has been reupholstered...

English Chippendale mahogany spoon back library chair with flanking scrolled fluted arms and resting on fluted squared legs, splayed rear legs with the original connecting stretchers...

18th century Italian giltwood armchairs.