This unusual armchair is one of two that survive from H. O. Havemeyer's library, also called the Rembrandt Room. The Havemeyer house at 1 East 66th Street, completed in 1892, was a uniquely conceived home. Tiffany and Colman incorporated numerous exotic influences in these interiors, including Japanese, Chinese, Moorish, Viking, Celtic, and Byzantine. The prevailing theme of the room was derived from Celtic, Viking, and other medieval sources, echoed in the low-relief carved ornament and embroidered designs on the chair. As Mrs. Havemeyer recalled in her memoirs, the covering of different shades of smooth olive green plush was "quilted with various colored silks, also in a Celtic design to correspond to the carvings of the woodwork and chairs."
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