Indian silver throne chair with auburn red upholstery

The repousse silver veneered armchair features four paw feet leading to intricately cast cabriole legs and seat frame with floral and botanical decorations. The seat is upholstered in red velvet between twin silver lion-head armrests. The backrest is upholstered in deep-buttoned red velvet, which was highly popular in the 18th Century, and is symmetrically bordered with ornately worked foliate silver mounts and surmounted by twin rampant lions and a central ovoid finial.

The cultural interchange between Britain and India proliferated in the 19th Century in correlation with the expansion of the British Empire and continued throughout the first half of the early 20th Century. Consequently, Indian princes began to adapt to the Western custom of elevated seating. Seats imitating the European Rococo style of the 18th Century, such as this one, therefore became very popular with the Maharaja and the elite in palaces across India. This chair, together with this larger example, are thought to have been made for the Gol Estate in Jaipur.