How do I better determine the age of this savonarola chair?
 

Hello, antique experts.

My mom received this Savonarola chair from her late mother, and luckily I caught her before she started slopping polyurethane on it.

I know it's at least 60 years old, but before mom spray paints it pink or something I wondered if anyone here could help me put an approximate age on it. Unfortunately it has no markings to speak of but I thought it was worth a shot to post it here.

Are there construction details or something that will help me determine if it is older, etc.?

The detail is a nice young man and his delicious pet lamb or goat or something.

thanks

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1464719432.jpg

[COLOR="Green"]Cut off one of the legs and count the rings?[/COLOR

Cool chair, I think its a whole lot older than 60 years, but I have no idea.

The Savonarola Chair - Traditional - Armchairs And Accent Chairs - by Design Toscano

Picture full on might help so we can see the feet.

That one looks Italian.

Could be as early as 14th century.

I'm going with 18th to 19th century.

Don't let mom spray paint it, could be worth $200 on the low end or $1,000 on the other.

Find an appraiser.

Here ya go, On Tour | Antiques Roadshow | PBS

Let us know if you make an episode.

tell me about the rug.

Look for imperfections in the scroll work on the arms and symmetry on the back. That will help tell you if it is hand carved or machine carved. Other things like machined flat head screws are also tell tale signs.

Most likely European from the late 19th century when there was a Renaissance revival in interior decor.

Hopefully it doesn't have one of these stuck to the underside:

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1464725740.jpg

Do I need to go down to Salem to pick this up?

Such a nice, violent detail.

Tis not a chair, it's a slicer for goat meat. The blood drains out and you drink.. Gives you mad keyboard skills..

You boyz are great thanks I'll do some more googling

You would think that with all the mad chops these folks had with a blade and design they would fashion furniture that was a bit more comfortable.

Its a beautiful piece though...

Its all about the fasteners. Are there any screws or modern nails holding it together?

I'm with Hugh. I want to know more about the rug.

That's not Old Sparky from Sing Sing is it?

From one picture and not seeing construction. ..whether it is hand made or machine made?

From the back splat looks like 1870 to 1900. American or European? It look like walnut and is of relativily good quality.

early 1900s would be my guess- back looks like it is not made of a single board and seems to be evidence of band saw use on the parts comprising the seat area. Look closely at the carved areas to see if there is evidence of hand tooling. If not it could have been carved with a pantograph. But just one digital photo of it is not enough to arrive on a definitive answer.

Best would be to compare the details of your chair to a known/dated example and look for clues.

Neat chair either way.

Very cool chair! It would be a real shame for it to end up with a layer of turquoise paint with random areas sanded through to give it a layer of fake patina covering up the real kind below.

Here's more pics for you:

There were no screws at all, seems like where there has to be something holding it together it's long skinny nails.

the hinge points are just a long steel dowel with a washer and either a pin on the end or just the dowel has been hammered to form kind of a rivet-end.

thanks

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1464818189.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1464818202.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1464818215.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1464818233.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1464818249.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1464818263.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1464818278.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1464818299.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1464818315.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1464818496.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1464818510.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1464818528.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1464818544.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1464818558.jpg

I'm thinking that is not near as old as some of the suggestions above.