hi.. this would be worth x-posting to /r/Antiques

I am only looking at little tiny photos,so don't take my opinion as gospel. But this seems a later chair carved to look 16th.c. Among other things, the letters seem wrong, modern: somebody circa 1890 making Ye Olde Text. The wear seems to indicate that a dark stain was put on to simulate old wood. But any expert should be able to quickly establish what it is. Usually when such theatre pieces are made, they are constructed with some modern techniques and methods ,so an examination would reveal things like planer marks under the seat, or modern glue. It may have just been somebody's "tribute" to old furniture, or it could be a fake. If it's in the USA, around 1900 there was quite a fad here for early English furniture, and there were a lot of fakes imported. Herbert Cecinski's The Gentle Art of Faking English Furniture is an amusing book on the phenomenon.

That said, the carving was a lot of work for somebody to do, and even if it is not Renaissance, it's a fun piece to have.