Some of the finest woodwork of the fifteenth century was made by the Florentine workshop of Giuliano and Benedetto da Maiano (the workshop was responsible for the intarsia woodwork of the Museum's Gubbio Studiolo). Filippo Strozzi turned to the workshop for his portrait bust, the sculpture of his funerary chapel, and the designs of his palace and its furnishings. This three-legged chair is the most elaborate surviving example. The back is decorated with the Strozzi devices of the half-moon—like scallops around the edge of the disk—and a molting flacon perched on the family coat of arms. The three legs ensure that the scabello is stable on an irregular floor. They thus for a firm base for the tondo and, not incidentally, underscore the strength, sturdiness, and discipline of the patron and his family.
