Antique Orient Savonarola chair

Antique Savonarola chair with brass inlays.

This unique piece of jewelery is not an industrially manufactured mass-produced product, but rather high-quality craftsmanship with many lovingly crafted details. All parts are handcrafted from solid wood.

This luxurious oriental chair is made of teak and lovingly handcrafted with brass inlays.

The rich floral design of the chair is typical of oriental inlaid craftsmanship. The surface of the chair has been polished and sealed with shellac.

The filigree patterns have been inserted in elaborate manual work.

The artfully decorated chair is a tasteful eye-catcher in every apartment.

Height approx. 115 cm, width 67 cm and depth 60 cm

Seat height 52 cm

What is a Savonarola chair?

A Savonarola chair is a chair with a distinctive X-shaped frame. This chair is native to the Mediterranean, where various versions were made across ancient Rome, Greece and Egypt, with examples of the chair dating to at least 2,000 BCE. Several furniture companies make modern Savonarola chairs, including replicas of antiques along with chairs updated for modern aesthetics. It is also possible to purchase antique chairs through auction houses, antique dealers and specialist furniture stores.

Originally the Savonarola chair was designed to fold along the point of the X in the frame. This allowed the chair to be used for military campaigns and other outdoor activities. Over time the design became more ornate, and the chairs often lost their ability to fold as a scrollwork back was added and the chair was outfitted with heavy scrollwork armrests and increasingly elaborate seats. The traditional Savonarola chair used a frame with numerous legs that crossed, creating a set of slats along the side of the chair, and this design continues to be used in most Savonarola chairs.

These chairs were often covered in fabric nets or pieces for comfort, and sometimes included cushions and other features designed to make them more comfortable to use. Over time the Savonarola chair came to be regarded as a sign of high social rank, with chairs becoming quite expensive and therefore available only to the upper classes. The basic X of the frame was also fairly elaborate, with curves on the struts forming the X which gave it a more stylized appearance.

The chair is probably named for Girolamo Savonarola, a 15th-century French cleric who briefly ruled Florence. People can also refer to the Savonarola chair as the X chair, Dante chair, or scissors chair. These chairs are close to the Renaissance, a period during which they were extremely popular across Europe. Numerous depictions of the design can be seen in art from this period, and in interior design schemes meant to have a Renaissance flavor, a Savonarola chair can be used as a decorative feature.

Although linked to the Renaissance in the imagination, these chairs can also be updated for more modern aesthetics. Modern chairs can be made from wood, metal, plastic and other materials and while they retain a look and feel which may be familiar, they have designs that branch out from the traditionally ornate Savonarola chair.