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Exceptional Carved Oak Peasant Chair
Ref: 2529
An exceptional carved peasant chair, solid oak, the back rest is highly decorative with a good quality relief carving of the Austrian Emperor, Franz Joseph 1, best known perhaps as the ruler whose declaration of war against Serbia following his nephew's assassination by an anarchist led to World War 1.
The inscription on the chair is a key to it's significance, it gives the Emperor's name but in Hungarian ("1. Ferenc Jozsef") and the date "1867". Franz Joseph ruled in a time when European empires were on the wane and nationalism was the thing, Hungary was one of many territories his family ruled (as King hence the crown on this chair) and in 1867 he made a deal whereby he continued to rule in name but granted Hungary a large degree of independence.
So potentially this is an important work of Hungarian national art and folk art.
What is not clear is the age of the piece, the style and carving looks like something authentic and dating from the 1860s.
whilst the very good condition and clean look suggest it may be a copy of an original from sometime in the 20th century. But having checked over 650 examples of chairs in the national collection in Budapest there is not a chair like this which is curious.
Seat 50.5 high
Hungary early to mid-20th cent.
H: 104cm (40.9in)
W: 41cm (16.1in)
D: 39cm (15.4in)
SOLD
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