Design for Six Chairs with Scarlet Upholstery (verso: Sketch for Sofa) 1800 - 1850

This is a design for six chairs with scarlet upholstery, rendered anonymously in ink and watercolor on paper. The color scarlet, prominently featured, carries its own weight, historically linked to royalty, power, and even sacrifice. The chair, an emblem of authority and status, takes us back to ancient thrones, symbols of dominion. The designs here, however, suggest a transition. While the chair's form retains a sense of dignity, the scarlet upholstery injects warmth and perhaps a touch of rebellion. Think of the papal red, a colour that has been reinterpreted across centuries, from the robes of emperors to the dresses of courtesans, each time absorbing new shades of meaning. One chair design includes arms, calling to mind the ‘Sedia Gestatoria’, the portable throne upon which Popes were carried: a striking contrast to the domesticity of the chairs at hand. Consider how symbols, like dreams, are not fixed but fluid, shaped by collective memory and the undercurrents of the unconscious. The scarlet chairs, then, are not just furniture designs; they are vessels carrying echoes of power, luxury, and the enduring human desire for comfort and status, resurfacing in an endless dance through time.