Armchair

This pair of armchairs belongs to a suite of furniture made for a Chinese-style drawing room in the Villa Silva, near Milan. Giuseppe Levati, a Milanese architect and decorative painter, probably designed the interiors and furnishings for the country house. Chinoiserie (a fanciful Chinese style) enjoyed a wave of popularity in Milanese interiors in the 1770s and 1780s, resulting in some of the most whimsical furniture of the eighteenth century. The painted decoration on these chairs was originally more vivid; the lime green, cherry red, and bright orange used in the 18th century were later painted over to reflect current taste.