Salon suite in wood carved with grotesque masks, sofa and pair of armchairs, circa 1880

Comprising a sofa and a pair of armchairs (one later converted into a rocking chair), decorated with grotesque masks.
Curved baluster armrests; front legs ending in hooves; arched back legs covered in black leather.

Sofa dimensions:
H. 94 cm, W. 120 cm, D. 57 cm
Seat height: 48 cm

Historical context
This suite belongs to the historicist taste of the late 19th century, a period during which the European decorative arts rediscovered and reinterpreted the motifs of the Renaissance and Mannerism, notably grotesque masks. Joinery and ornamental carving workshops then produced pieces with expressive decoration, combining technical virtuosity and formal imagination, characteristic of this revivalist aesthetic very much in vogue around 1880.