Gustavian chair
The chair of Swedish Neoclassicism: straight, light and with an oval medallion in the back.
The Gustavian chair brought the forms of antiquity to Sweden. Instead of the curved legs of the Rococo came straight, fluted legs like small columns, and the back was given an oval or round medallion.
The chairs were made by chairmakers in Stockholm but also in the provinces, where the style lived on well into the nineteenth century. A chair in the Gustavian style may therefore have been made fifty years after the time of Gustav III.
Materials: Beech, birch or pine, painted light grey; upholstered seat
Manufacture: Handmade by chairmakers in Stockholm and the provinces, with mortise-and-tenon joints.
Straight, tapering legs with fluting – grooves along their length.
The medallion in the back, often with a carved rosette or laurel wreath at the top.
The paint: linseed oil paint in light grey or pearl grey, often repainted several times.