R. Louis Bofferding Decorative and Fine Art Seating

The “Maximilian Lounge Chair” was John Vesey’s finest and most celebrated chair design — it was also his most expensive one to produce, and appeared in a 1959 issue of Vogue. The aluminum frame was wrought rather than cast, solid rather than assembled, and polished to a seamless satiny sheen. An industrial-aluminum screen supports the black-leather upholstery tufted in a pattern that harks back to the 19th century. So too does the chair’s form that’s based on low-slung Latin American planters’ chairs. One that belonged to the ill-fated Emperor Maximilian of Mexico...

This 1930s Italian bench is so over-scaled, and monumental in appearance, that it seems to have been made for the large room it was destined, rather than the comfort of a typical sitter. As such, it would function equally well as a low side table or a high cocktail table. We’ll allow the buyer to determine its use. The designer was Pierluigi Colli, and the fabricator Martinotti, the Turin furniture and interior decorating firm that was established in 1831, and exhibited at the 1876 Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition and the 1904 St Louis World’s Fair. Colli’s family owned a textile company that supplied Martinotti with upholstery fabrics, suggesting nepotism had something to do with his being hired as the firm's director in 1926. Nevertheless, he proved himself worthy as a designer and a businessman. Having studied in Paris at the Ecole des Arts Decoratifs, he befriended leading French designers, and arranged for Martinotti to retail Lalique glass and Jean Perzel lighting. In addition, the quality of their work, and Colli’s dedication to the modern design movement, prompted Carlo Mollino, Gio Ponti, and Gino Levi-Montalcini, among others, to have Martinotti fabricate some of their furniture. Colli’s claim to fame, however, is his own work as a designer, and his ability to master the vocabularies of every trend from Art Deco to midcentury modern. During the Great Depression, when nearly every nation floundered economically, fascist Italy...

One could be forgiven for thinking Claude Sené was a poor speller and dyslexic, since his stamp has a ‘G’ initial for Claude, and an inverted ‘N’ in Sené. ...

These earthbound chairs appear to be weightless. Such is the illusion that the designer René Prou was able to create in 1930s Paris with the aid of a highly-skilled upholsterer. Befo...

Over the course of five centuries of use, this Italian Renaissance walnut chair has acquired a rich patina. Its austere form is relie...

When new in the 1920s, this glamorous pair of 1920s chairs, which graft Asian and Art Deco styles, evoked the exotic orient for occidental buyers. Althou...

An 18th century chaise percée, from the bathroom of Baron Max Fould-Springer, Palais Abbatial de Royaumont and by descent his sister Baroness Elie (Lilia...

An Edwardian-style deckchair for a yacht in mahogany and brass with buttoned upholstery. The chair was one of several made in France for the Paris decorator, furniture designer, and ...

The walnut frame of this large, Louis XV-period sofa is unusual for its highly animated form. It is finely carved with flowers, leaves, bound reeds and scrolling vegetal forms. We ha...

Low, deep, and wide, this pair of armchairs is exceptionally comfortable, and the gold and black color scheme is very dramatic. What’s most distinctive about them from a design point...

This comfortable, superbly carved pair of Louis-Philippe armchairs is unusual in having been made of rosewood, an exotic timber that was rare in France at the 1840s. It is now upholstered in grey felt with black gimp. The chairs come from the estate of the international socialite KK Auchincloss. Born Boston in the 1940s, she moved to Manhattan where she launched a clothing line, designed jewelry for Tiffany, and said yes to a marriage proposal from “Shipwreck” Kelly, the legendary football hero. She would say yes again to Peter Larkin, an heir to the 825,000 acre King Ranch...

More sculpture than furniture, this finely-carved 1860s folding chair has a gilded and gessoed wood frame, and the original cut-silk-velvet upholstery material that was woven to fit....

These over-scaled chairs were said to have been designed by Chicago architect Sam Marx, but they were probably made by William Quigley, whose workshop ...

The delicate, lightweight chiavari chair was first made in the Italian town of Chiavari in the early years of the 19th century. Their elegance and grace would come to charm Mid-Century Modernists, and inspire Gio Ponti to create his Superleggera chair. Unlike most midcentury chiavari chairs...