A near pair of Indian ebony side chairs, late 17th century, Coromandel Coast, the pierced and twist-turned backs profusely carved in low relief with flowers and foliate scrolls, each with a shaped rail and bulbous finials, above a square caned seat with a carved and pierced apron, raised on twist-turned supports and stretchers punctuated by rectangular blocks, 53.5cm wide 45.5cm deep 95cm high, and 53.5cm wide 46.5cm deep 90.5cm high (2) Literature: A Jaffer, 'Furniture from British India and Ceylon: A Catalogue of the Collections in the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Peabody Essex Museum', London, 2001, pp.130-142. When similar pieces of this type began to be recorded in British collections in the 18th century, the prevailing thought was that they were surviving examples of early English furniture, owing to their dark colour, rigid square form, the use of twist-turning - which was believed to be common of Elizabethan furniture - and the often mythical decoration. Horace Walpole, who may have been responsible for this belief, asserted that this attribution, based on their physical attributes, was corroborated by the existence of such examples in houses with Tudor associations. For example, in 1748, he saw carved ebony chairs at Esher Place, Surrey, and posited that they must have belonged to Cardinal Wolsey, who had lived there after 1519. Condition report: The seats have been recently re-caned, areas of restoration, repair and replacement, some splits, chips and losses, general surface wear, scratches and dirt commensurate with age.