Italian Baroque Style Dining Chairs with Boars Head Crest Rail

• A/f, as Inspected - The letters "A/F" or "as inspected" as part of a description is the cataloguer's shorthand for "all faults" or "as found", meaning the item has some type of damage or deficiency, it is of uncertain date or provenance, and/or that the seller takes no responsibility for the completeness of the item or the accuracy of the description.
• Baroque Furniture - Baroque furniture is a style of furniture that was popular in Europe during the Baroque period, which spanned from the late 16th to the early 18th century. Baroque furniture is characterized by its ornate, decorative design, which often features elaborate carvings, gilding, and other embellishments.
  
  Baroque furniture was popular in many European countries, including Italy, France, and Germany, and it was often used in the homes of the wealthy and in royal palaces. The Baroque style is also associated with the Church, and many churches and cathedrals from this period feature Baroque-style furniture and decorations.
  
  The Baroque style of furniture is characterized by ornate and extravagant design elements that originated in Italy in the 17th century and spread to other parts of Europe, where it was particularly popular in the courts of royalty and the wealthy aristocracy. Baroque furniture is often made of rich materials such as gold, silver, and precious woods, and it is decorated with intricate carvings, inlaid designs, and gilded or painted finishes.
• Turned Legs - are legs which have been turned on a lathe. In use from the 16th century, turned legs on tables, chairs and cabinets became more frequent until, by the 1830s, the Georgian square or tapered leg was rarely found except in country pieces.
• Rail - A term used by cabinet makers for the horizontal sections of the frame of an item such as a chair or settee which have a front rail, a back rail and two side rails, and also on a door or carcase, where the rails are joined to the vertical framings.
• Oak - Native to Europe and England, oak has been used for joinery, furniture and building since the beginning of the medieval civilisation. It is a pale yellow in colour when freshly cut and darkens with age to a mid brown colour.
  
  Oak as a furniture timber was superceded by walnut in the 17th century, and in the 18th century by mahogany,
  
  Semi-fossilised bog oak is black in colour, and is found in peat bogs where the trees have fallen and been preserved from decay by the bog. It is used for jewellery and small carved trinkets.
  
  Pollard oak is taken from an oak that has been regularly pollarded, that is the upper branches have been removed at the top of the trunk, result that new branches would appear, and over time the top would become ball-like. . When harvested and sawn, the timber displays a continuous surface of knotty circles. The timber was scarce and expensive and was used in more expensive pieces of furniture in the Regency and Victorian periods.
• Turning - Any part of a piece of furniture that has been turned and shaped with chisels on a lathe. Turned sections include legs, columns, feet, finials, pedestals, stretchers, spindles etc. There have been many varieties and fashions over the centuries: baluster, melon, barley-sugar, bobbin, cotton-reel, rope-twist, and so on. Split turning implies a turned section that has been cut in half lengthwise and applied to a cabinet front as a false decorative support.

This item has been included into following indexes:

• chairs, sets of 6, timber
  • all styles and timbers 737
  • oak 92
• furniture, period or style - Baroque style 36