What style is this piece?
This armchair is considered to be in the Renaissance Revival style. It was created around 1875, likely in Milan, Italy, but is based on Italian designs of approximately the 15th century. Artists of the Italian Renaissance, in turn, were looking to Classical art (ancient Greece and Rome) for inspiration. The figures on the side of the chair are quite Classical!
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What's the iconography about? Is it particular to the family? Or a popular story?
The imagery does not likely belong to a specific myth, story, or coat of arms but rather is a reference to Renaissance aesthetics from which this chair draws its inspiration. It is in the Renaissance Revival style.
Other indicators of Renaissance Revival furniture are classical motifs such as columns, capitals, and carved animal heads.
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