Sgabello

A sgabello is a type of stool typical of the Italian Renaissance. An armchair with armrests usually was a chair (sedia) of hieratic(hierarchic?) significance. Sgabelli were typically made of walnut and included a variety of carvings and turned elements. The legs could be either two decorated boards with a stretcher for support, or three separate ornamented and carved impost legs. This seat was often placed in hallways, carved with a family's imprese or emblem drawn from its coat-of-arms. Its primary purpose was decorative, therefore the seat was not necessarily comfortable. Similar chairs were made in France, where they were known as a side chair. These had solid supports called rhombus seat supports. They were not used as stools.

Gallery

File:Italian 16th Century, Walnut Stool (Sgabello), Carved and Gilded, c. 1540-1560, NGA 1522.jpg|Italian 16th Century, Walnut Stool (Sgabello), Carved and Gilded, c. 1540–1560, National Gallery of Art File:Bartholomeus van der Helst - De bestuursleden van de schutterscompagnie van St-Sebastiaan te Amsterdam.jpg|Members of an Amsterdam schutterscompagnie painted in 1653 are seated on sgabelli that may have been heirlooms, as are the silver objects they inspect and display. File:Sgabello Joan Teres.JPG|16th century sgabello of archbishop Joan Terès i Borrull. File:Renässansstol s. k. scabello, 1500-tal - Hallwylska museet - 108417.tif|Sgabello, 16th-century.