This is a rare Renaissance Revival rosewood chair with elaborate carvings. Rosewood was not often used in this era since the previous era, Rococo Revival, used almost exclusively, rosewood. So much so that the trees were facing extinction. The governments in the Caribbean where most rosewood was procured, put strict regulations on the harvesting of these precious trees. This chair has no veneering, as rosewood has enough beautiful graining as to not require anything additional. It would be like “Gilding the lily” to put veneer atop rosewood, to be sure, however, there are some high-end rosewood pieces that did have some veneering done, it’s just not as common in the Renaissance era, and almost non-existent in the Rococo era. What that means for you (if you purchase this chair) is that you never have to worry about the veneering separating from the base wood, as is often the case with antiques from this era.

This chair is a strong, sturdy chair but it needs reupholstered as I’m sure you can see. Personally, I would rather invest in upholstering a piece of rosewood than any other wood as the loss would likely be less when reselling. The peach velvet is stained on the seat area, and whoever did the replacement upholstery, did a poor job with the button tufting, specifically, they did not sink the buttons deeply enough, and they did no pleating, just tufting which is an inferior, cost-saving technique. The seat of the chair is not sitting level…someone made a mistake with the leg lengths as the front is shorter than the back. I remedied it somewhat by putting a larger diameter caster on the front but I think it could use the next size up (I still have the original caster if one prefers it). This beautiful chair deserves to have the best, and to be placed in a prominent position in the home so others can readily appreciate it. It is really hurting me to let it go because of that wood and the carvings, but I have over-purchased and I’m out of room, however, I really won’t mind if it doesn’t sell.