A matched pair of walnut Italian single sleigh or lit en bateau beds, featuring sleek curved bedheads. These two beds show wonderfully rich colour and patination and are almost identical.
Italian sleigh beds (letti a barca) are very rare in comparison with the French ones and they stand out for their lighter and more graceful curves which also recall the gentle shape of a lyre or of a swan's neck, as the design of the curves are more extended and prolonged.
Finished all around (so that they can be positioned in the centre of a room), they have shaped feet which are moulded on one side only of the beds this is because these types of beds were designed to be also placed against the wall – hence the need to be flat on one side – and also complemented with a canopy high above the bed.
With both ends of each bed being of equal height they could work perfectly well as day beds.
Only single sleigh beds like these ones, also have the additional feature to be easily dressed to look and be used like sofas, by simply adding the right number of cushions and a pair of bolsters against the curved ends.
Sold with their made to measure wooden bed bases which are covered with cotton velvet and cotton printed/floral fabric.
Early 19th Century, circa 1815

217cm x 93cm x 93cm h 
211cm x 99cm x 94cm h
They both take a standard single mattress 190cm long