Antique Chairs
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.