A ''sgabello'' is a type of stool typical of the

Italian Renaissance The Italian Renaissance ( ) was a period in History of Italy, Italian history between the 14th and 16th centuries. The period is known for the initial development of the broader Renaissance culture that spread across Western Europe and marked t ...

. An armchair with

armrest An armrest (or arm-rest) is a part of a chair, where a person can rest their arms on. Armrests are built into a large variety of chairs such as automotive chairs, armchairs, airline seats, sofas, and more. Adjustable armrests are commonly found ...

s usually was a

chair A chair is a type of seat, typically designed for one person and consisting of one or more legs, a flat or slightly angled seat and a back-rest. It may be made of wood, metal, or synthetic materials, and may be padded or upholstered in vario ...

(''sedia'') of

hieratic Hieratic (; ) is the name given to a cursive writing system used for Ancient Egyptian and the principal script used to write that language from its development in the third millennium BCE until the rise of Demotic in the mid-first millennium BCE ...

(hierarchic?) significance. ''Sgabelli'' were typically made of

walnut A walnut is the edible seed of any tree of the genus '' Juglans'' (family Juglandaceae), particularly the Persian or English walnut, '' Juglans regia''. They are accessory fruit because the outer covering of the fruit is technically an i ...

and included a variety of carvings and turned elements. The legs could be either two decorated boards with a stretcher for support, or three separate ornamented and carved impost legs. This seat was often placed in hallways, carved with a family's ''imprese'' or emblem drawn from its

coat-of-arms A coat of arms is a heraldic visual design on an escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the last two being outer garments), originating in Europe. The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central element of the full heraldic achiev ...

. Its primary purpose was decorative, therefore the seat was not necessarily comfortable. Similar chairs were made in France, where they were known as a side chair. These had solid supports called rhombus seat supports. They were not used as stools.

Gallery

File:Italian 16th Century, Walnut Stool (Sgabello), Carved and Gilded, c. 1540-1560, NGA 1522.jpg, Italian 16th Century, Walnut Stool (Sgabello), Carved and Gilded, c. 1540–1560,

National Gallery of Art The National Gallery of Art is an art museum in Washington, D.C., United States, located on the National Mall, between 3rd and 9th Streets, at Constitution Avenue NW. Open to the public and free of charge, the museum was privately established in ...

File:Bartholomeus van der Helst - De bestuursleden van de schutterscompagnie van St-Sebastiaan te Amsterdam.jpg, Members of an Amsterdam '' schutterscompagnie'' painted in 1653 are seated on ''sgabelli'' that may have been heirlooms, as are the silver objects they inspect and display. File:Sgabello Joan Teres.JPG, 16th century ''sgabello'' of archbishop

Joan Terès i Borrull Joan Terès i BorrullHis full name is Joan Miquel Terès i Borrull, although his first name has been referenced as Joan, Juan, Jean, Johan, Joannes or Johannes and his Spanish naming customs, first family name as Terès, Terés, Térès or Tere ...

. File:Renässansstol s. k. scabello, 1500-tal - Hallwylska museet - 108417.tif, Sgabello, 16th-century.

External links

Encyclopædia Britannica articleRijksmuseum.nl
*{{Cite web, url=http://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/196580, title=Attributed to the Workshop of Giuliano da Maiano (1432–1490) and Benedetto da Maiano (1442–1497) {{! Chair (Sgabello) {{! Italian, Florence {{! The Met, website=The Metropolitan Museum of Art, i.e. The Met Museum, access-date=2017-05-07 Chairs Renaissance art