Chairs have long caught the fancy of furniture lovers
and hence the great demand for antique rocking chairs
including antique small rocking chairs, antique European
dining chairs, antique oak dining room chairs and many
other varieties of antique wooden chairs can hardly be
surprising.
In India some antique chairs that can be found today
bear the traditionally Bengali folk art of ‘Batali’
grafting. Batali grafting is a style of wood carving and
craft which was used to decorate furniture pieces in the
years of the British occupation in India. Such furniture
pieces were often sent to Europe and hence the style of
wood-carving is even present in European antique
furniture.
Antique European furniture may also include intricately
and delicately-carved Mahogany wood-furniture in
traditionally European styles such as on sofa sets,
Victorian and Edwardian desks, cots and cribs, dining
tables and a variety of cabinets and corner tables.
However, in comparison, the traditionally Bengali
carvings stood out because of their distinct style and
the elaborate carving techniques such works of art
employed.
Today, Batali carving antiques are available in the form
of corner tables, display cabinets and a host of other
pieces of ornately carved furniture pieces. There are
also recreations and reproductions of such
furniture-pieces that are made today because of the
increasing demand for the traditional and antique
finish.
When buying such antiques though, one should remember that most antiques hail from a more flamboyant ear than the one we live in so some furniture pieces from those ear can be very bulky.
IMPORTANT NOTE: Items over hundred years are not permitted to be taken out of India without the permission of the Director General, The Archaeological survey of India, Janpath, New Delhi - 110 011.