Description

These gilded benches, partially painted blue, rest on lion’s legs connected by a wreath with a female mask at the center. This kind of backless seat wasn’t rare in Rome throughout the 17th century. What is surprising in the specimens in the Zani collection is the powerful invention of the support, expression of a proto-neoclassical style, probably the work of an architect. We may compare this model to that of a bronze table in the Capitoline Museums with the coat of arms of Benedict XIV, dated 1742. This date would appear to fit even the benches in the Zani collection, two of the most original pieces of furniture of the time because of their unique archaeological taste.