Studio: international art (33.1905)

Ancient Chairs

which was evidently made for a wedding
gift, the carving on the back representing La
Fontaine d'Amour. This has the same form as
the judge's chair, and of that known as the
Abbot's Chair at Glastonbury, which dates
from the time of Henry VIII. The specimen
reproduced here, however, is less severe in
outline and subject, as befitting the joyous
occasion for which it was made. The lower
one on page 336 is a very rare X stool, the
bars being vertical, whereas the usual form was
horizontal. It came from a miller's at Eppau,
near Bozen, in South Tyrol, but originally
belonged to the monastery of St. Michael.
Except for the apes, which are of a later
period, the stool dates from the fifteenth
century. The ground-form is unusual in

italian chair sixteenth century

chairs, but as is to be seen in old missals, on
miniatures, and also in stone-relief in the choirs of
churches. In St. Stephan's Cathedral there is a
fine example in stone, which represents Pilatus
seated on such a faldisterium, Christ standing
before him. The one of the fifteenth century
was evidently made for a lady's use, it is so
dainty and graceful. That of the seventeenth
century on page 343 is much more severe, and may
have served for general use, for by that time the X
chairs had partly ceased to be destined for any par-
ticular use. The modern armchair was not un-
known to our forefathers in the early Middle Ages.
On page 330 two views are given of a Norwegian
chair from the church of Eoe, in Tellemarken.
The carving on the top bar represents six figures,
sixteenth century hands joined, and of graduating heights, the two

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