AN ANGLO-INDIAN CARVED HARDWOOD FOLDING CHAIR
Possibly Goa or Madras, Southern India, mid to late 19th century

Of typical C-shaped design, the caned back and seat with an intricately carved wooden frame featuring interlocking vegetal sprays, rosettes and floral bands, scrolling vines, and lush foliage, the crest decorated with a goddess icon within a temple flanked on either side by palaces resting on serpents, the sinuous arms, seat, and legs with foliate sides terminating into mythical animal heads possibly stylised makaras, approximately 136.8cm x 65.5cm x 92cm.

A number of these folding chairs were produced during the British Colonial period, usually made of ebony or ebonised hardwood. The shape appears to have been rather standard in the Bombay Presidency, and it has been suggested that the carving of the wooden frames was commissioned in Southern India, given the similarity of the architectural motifs on the crest and the furniture produced at the Madras School of Art. An almost identical example in ebony was successfully sold at Christie's London, 17 March 2009, lot 323, and a similar pair, 26 September 2012, lot 404.

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