Each crest rail centered by a cartouche mounted with two griffins, the frame with blind fretwork, octagonal padded back flanked by applied masks and sunbursts to each corner, the arms with eagle head and foliate supports, scrolling acanthus and female terms to the foot of the back-posts, fluted tapering legs with stiff-leaf capitals, en suite with the subsequent lot
40³⁄₄ in. (103.5 cm.) high, 28¹⁄₂ in. (72.4 cm.) wide, 23³⁄₄ in. (60.3 cm.) deep

Possibly from a larger set from the Collection of Count Leopold Berchtold (1863 -1942), foreign minister of Austria-Hungry.
The Collection of Count Leopold Berchtold; Dorotheum, Vienna, 2 December 1966, lot 982.
Acquired from John Hobbs, London.

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Lot Essay

These extraordinary armchairs combine a remarkable range of exotic and classical motifs, ranging from confronting à l'antique griffins to Apollo's sunburst masks, extravagant acanthi terminating in eagle heads and Egyptian ladies similarly emerging mysteriously from foliage, all united by delicate treillage borders.

Although no definite design source has been discovered for these sculptural tours de force, they certainly reflect the influence of the avant garde dessinateur of the goût étrusque, Jean-Demosthène Dugourc (1749-1825). Dugourc produced designs for a series of armchairs with similarly exotic caryatid supports for projects he was working on for the Imperial court in Russia in 1784, while in 1788 he executed designs for the Spanish royal court for stools with similar delicate fretwork carving, see 'De Dugourc à Pernon', Exhibition Catalogue, Lyon, 1991, pp. 31 and 75.

This model has, on occasion, previously been attributed to northern Italy, whereas more recent research and other examples appearing on the market suggest origins from Austria or Germany. Furthermore, an example currently at the Österreiches Museum für Angewandte Kunst in Vienna attributes this chair to a Viennese workshop. Moreover, many of the known examples to appear on the market, such as a near pair sold Christie’s, New York, 18 May 2006, lot 823, have had German or Austrian provenances. A suite, comprising four fauteuils, a canapé, two benches and nine chairs, reputedly from the collection of Count Leopold Berchtold (1863-1942), foreign minister of Austria-Hungary, was sold at the Dorotheum, Vienna, 2 December 1966, lot 982. In addition, the aforementioned fauteuil in the collection of the Austrian Museum of Decorative Arts, Vienna, is examined in an article by scholar Christian Witt-Dörring, 'Empire oder höfisches Biedermeier', Kunst und Antiquitaten, November 1991, p. 19. A suite of four fauteuils and a canapé, probably from the Dorotheum set, was sold anonymously at Millon & Robert, Paris, 3 April 1995, lot 208; while a further fauteuil, described as German, is illustrated in Carlton Hobbs, Catalogue, 1993, no. 4, cat. 20. Most recently, a single fauteuil from the collection of Ezra and Cecile Zilkha was sold Sotheby's, New York, 20 November 2020, lot 126 ($44,100).