Indian Neoclassical Style Chair

Repousse is hammering from the back. Imagine doing that to a curtain.

This neoclassical style chair from India is contemporary, built of carved teak wood clad in silver repousse. Indian silversmiths have long worked metal over wood for thrones and furniture in princely households, and repousse lets a thin sheet take on the depth of carving. Fine lines run down every fold of the silver drapery at the back. Diamond finials sit on fluted posts, leaves are worked at the crest, and the seat rail shows a beaded edge. Striped hide covers the seat. It stands 41.5 inches high, 16 long and 18 deep.

All that labor, and it looks like a thrown towel.