Pair of Mexican Hand-Painted Polychrome Ladder-Back Side Chairs with Rush Seats

A related pair of Mexican folk art ladder-back side chairs — likely Michoacán or Guerrero workshop production, circa mid-to-late 20th century. Both carry turned wood frames finished in a warm red ground and decorated with hand-painted polychrome florals across the back slats, seat rails, stiles, and stretchers. That full-coverage painting is the premium feature: roses, tulip and pod forms, and scattered blossoms in white, blue, yellow, and green, with chip-carved and ringed stile accents extending the decoration down the full frame. The seats are woven tule rush in a traditional herringbone chevron, with looped and knotted underside construction consistent with Mexican artisan workshop practice.

The two chairs are not a matched set, and that distinction works in the lot's favor. One carries rounded ball finials over blue chip-decorated stile sections and a floral vocabulary of fuller roses. The second has blue obelisk-style pointed finials, black-painted turned stile rings, and elongated tulip and pod blossoms in a distinctly different hand — evidence the two came from different makers or workshops within the same regional tradition. The original polychrome paint should be left as found; the honest wear is part of the value.

Full-coverage hand-painted decoration extending onto the stretchers and seat rails separates these from plainer export examples, where painting is typically confined to the back slats alone. The pairing of two distinct but harmonious workshop chairs produces a livelier visual grouping than a uniform matched set — and pairs of this type command a meaningful premium over singles at auction. Mexican painted furniture of this kind connects directly to the folk art traditions long imported and sold through Taos and Santa Fe dealers, and decorator demand across the region remains steady.

CONDITION

Good and fully functional; tested and sound. Both chairs show finish wear and paint loss throughout — flaking at the feet, stiles, and high-contact edges consistent with age and use. The tule rush is coming undone on one chair; the construction is traditional and the repair is straightforward for anyone working in authentic materials.

DIMENSIONS / SPECIFICATIONS

Chair One (ball finials)

• Overall: 35" H × 19" W × 15½" D
• Seat: 17" W × 16" D × 13" H

Chair Two (pointed finials)

• Overall: 34" H × 19" W × 15½" D
• Seat: 17" W × 16" D × 13" H

• Materials: Wood, woven tule rush seat
• Quantity: Pair (2 chairs)