A pair of late 19th/early 20th century Chinese rosewood Tai Shi armchairs and matching tea table, the open square back panels carved with bat above peaches longevity design within scrolls, open arms, panelled seat, the frieze with restrained scroll detail, stretchered square section legs. Provenance: The previous owner inherited from these from his great grandmother, she was born in Dunedin in 1872 and the chairs came into her possession in the mid-1890s. She lived in Dunedin her entire life and the chairs and table have been in their family ever since.
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- Frieze - An architectural term denoting the flat, shaped or convex horizontal surface of furniture, between the architrave and the cornice, usually found on a cabinet or bookcase, or on desks and tables where it may include drawers, the area between the top and the legs. In ceramics, the term refers to the banding, of usually a repeating pattern, on the rims of plates and vases.
- Rosewood - A dense timber that varies in shade to very light brown to almost black. When rosewood is cut and sanded the colour of the timber will turn black, and after polishing and exposure to daylight, the surface will gradually lighten over time to light brown with black streaks.
The name comes from the odour emanating from the timber when it is planed, sanded or cut.
Rosewood was very popular for use in Victorian furniture in the second half of the 19th century, and at that time most of the rosewood was imported from Brazil. However it also grows in India and Indonesia.
It is used in the sold for chairs and table legs, but for carcase furniture such as side cabinets and bookcases, and for table tops it is always used as a veneer.
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