Set of Four French Neoclassical Fruitwood Lyre Back Chairs with Falcon Heads

Pair of antique Italian Neoclassical lyre back side chairs with carved rosette design at center of curved top back rails. Circa 1800. Look at all pictures and read condition report ...

“I know of no other chair like the single [sic] ‘lyre back’ one. . . . I certainly recognize it as a Boston chair considering all the individual elements, but the combination is particularly elegant.” So wrote noted scholar of Boston furniture Page Talbott when a set of four chairs of this design originally surfaced in the 1980s. Although the existence of four chairs in a specific pattern might imply that the chairs were originally part of a larger set, no additional chairs of this form have appeared in the intervening years. The lyre became a popular motif during the Neo-Classical period, and is frequently encountered as the back splat of klismos chairs, in no example more familiar than in a group of Duncan Phyfe chairs...

A set of four neoclassical side chairs. Mahogany with patinated brass inlay, details and sabots.

Interesting metal chair featuring a stylized lyre back and scrolling feet. Original bronze colour. Reminiscent of the work of French designer Marc Du Plantier.