Savonarola Chair with Mother-of-Pearl Inlay and Brass Pins

Several hundred slivers of shell, and it still expects you to sit down.

This Savonarola chair with mother-of-pearl inlay and brass pins comes from Syria, 20th century, in wood and mother-of-pearl. The curved X-frame goes back to the Italian Renaissance, and Syrian inlayers adopted it as a showpiece for their craft, made for grand rooms and for export. Slatted curves cross beneath a wide crescent back rail worked with rosettes and flowers. A pierced splat rises to a star-filled medallion, and small white leaf shapes run along every slat. It stands 42.5 inches high.

Sitting in it feels slightly like an offense. Sit anyway.