Armchair - Walnut - Rare office chair

The subject of the auction is a unique, monumental desk chair of rare rotating construction. The furniture represents a historicizing current (continental Neo-Renaissance), drawing directly from French palace furniture of the XVI and XVII centuries. The presented example is characterized by outstanding cabinetmaking craftsmanship and was made by artisanal methods, before the era of mass industrialization.

The furniture represents a historic and extremely rare form on the antiquarian market: the Caqueteuse chair (or chaise caquetoire). This name, derived from an old French term referring to furniture for free conversation, denotes a specific, slender geometry of the backrest, open, rounded armrests, and a trapezoidal or triangular seat with cut corners. Versions of this type mounted on a full rotating axis are among collectible rarities.

Louvre Museum (Musée du Louvre, inventory number OA 3118): The form, key dimensional proportions, and the unique undercarriage architecture (a massive central column supported by a system of sculpted consoles) directly reflect the famous Renaissance exhibit “Fauteuil tournant sur pivot” (dated 1570–1600), currently exhibited at the National Museum of the Renaissance at the château of Écouen.

Backrest iconography: The high, slender back is adorned with a deep, multi-figured bas-relief of mythological/allegorical character (depicting a winged Amora/Cupid and leaning ladies). The top of the back is crowned with a classical frieze featuring carved figures of lying putti (angels).

Traditional craftsmanship: The furniture is carved from solid noble wood (walnut/continental oak). The frame elements are joined using traditional mortise-and-tenon joints and secured with manually cut, square wooden pegs (visible in close-ups of the grain). No modern machine screws.

Inventory marking: On the wooden rosette of the base, a hand-engraved old inventory number “1522” remains, directly proving that the chair was part of a larger, wealthy palace, courtly, or museum collection.

Visual and technical condition: The piece is preserved in its original, unrestored (“garage”) state, with a thick, authentic patina of time. The wood is dry and structurally sound. The frame beneath the seat shows natural age-related surface cracks, losses, and old, entirely inactive traces of xylophagous insects (woodworms). The base is complete, the armrests and legs finished with carved volutes and turned leveling feet.