SEDAN CHAIR. FRANCE, 1760-1770S.

This sedan chair—a one-seater transportable carriage—was executed in the second half of the 18th century in France. Equipages of that type came into Europe’s fashion from India and China. The influence of Rococo and Classicism is seen in the severe form and intricate décor of the sedan-chair. There are depictions of the coat of arms on oval plaques with a crown above them, on the door and on the back wall. This depiction allows assuming that this sedan chair was ordered and owned by one of the Dukes of Northern Italy. Still, it’s not determined how this unusual equipage came to Russia.

It was likely to have been brought as a valuable present and kept as a rarity. It was preserved in the collection of a famous collector Zubalov in the 19th century, then transferred to The Rumyantsev Museum. Later the equipage was acquired by The Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, from where it passed on to the Armoury Chamber of the Moscow Kremlin in 1924.