• Naples
• 18th c.
• Wood, gilding, oil on wood, leather, textile
• 172 cm x 70 cm x 86 cm

This sedan chair was purchased from a Dubrovnik family in 1990.It belongs to the type of wooden sedan chairs enclosed on all four sides and covered with a domed roof. The sedan chair has the shape of an upright square with a curved (S-shaped) rear side. Its sides and the door in the upper section are glazed. It is decorated with carved vegetable motifs in the rococo style, imitation of gilding, and rococo oil paintings. The roof is lined with black leather. The back-rest bears the owner's family coat of arms painted in gold colour. On the sides are two poles for bearing the chair. The interior that consists of a narrow seat with a cushion is lined with blue velvet with floral ornaments. The curtains and the cushion are made of blue silk.The rococo paintings at the rear side depict Hephaestus, the antique Greek god of fire and metalworking, the armorer of gods. The door is decorated with the allegory of painting and the sides with the allegory of music.The Museum holds six 18th-century sedan chairs of this type with rococo and classicist stylistic features. Based on their shape and decorations we conclude that these Dubrovnik sedan chairs are largely of Italian origin, as is their local name - "sedjete". The sedan chairs were used for taking patrician ladies on house visits, to parties that were held in the Dubrovnik salons, to churches and summer palaces. They were also used by the Dubrovnik gentlemen. The ladies were carried by their maids, and the gentlemen by soldiers or carriers. In a sedan chairs could comfortably seat one person, and was carried by two bearers on poles that were passed through metal studs.

Copyright MDC & Carnet
design NOVENA, Zagreb