The (A seat for one person, with a support for the back)
chair is of extreme antiquity, although for many centuries
and indeed for thousands of years it was an article of state
and dignity rather than an article of ordinary use. “The
chair” is still extensively used as the emblem of authority
in the (The lower house of the British parliament) House of
Commons and in public meetings. It was not, in fact, until
the 16th century that it became common anywhere. The (Box
with a lid; used for storage; usually large and sturdy) chest,
the (A long seat for more than one person) bench and the (A
simple seat without a back or arms) stool were until then
the ordinary seats of everyday life, and the number of chairs
which have survived from an earlier date is exceedingly limited;
most of such examples are of ecclesiastical or seigneurial
origin. Our knowledge of the chairs of remote (The historic
period preceding the Middle Ages in Europe) antiquity is derived
almost entirely from monuments, sculpture and paintings. A
few actual examples exist in the British Museum, in the Egyptian
museum at Cairo, and elsewhere.
Egyptian chairsIn ancient (A republic in northeastern Africa
known as the United Arab Republic until 1971; site of an ancient
civilization that flourished from 2600 to 30 BC) Egypt chairs
appear to have been of great richness and splendour. Fashioned
of ebony and- ivory, or of carved and gilded wood, they were
covered with costly materials and supported upon representations
of the legs of beasts or the figures of captives. An arm-chair
in fine preservation found in a tomb in the Valley of the
Kings is astonishingly similar, even in small details, to
that "Empire" style which followed Napoleon’s
campaign in Egypt. The earliest monuments of Nineveh represent
a chair without a back but with tastefully carved legs ending
in lions’ claws or bulls’ hoofs. Others are supported
by figures in the nature of caryatides or by animals.
Greek and Roman chairsThe earliest known form of (A native
or inhabitant of Greece) Greek chair, going back to five or
six centuries before Christ, had a back but stood straight
up, front and back. On the frieze of the (The main temple
of the goddess Athena; built on the acropolis in Athens more
than 400 years B.C.; example of Doric architecture) Parthenon
Zeus occupies a square seat with a bar-back and thick turned
legs; it is ornamented with winged ((Greek mythology) a riddling
winged monster with a woman's head and breast on a lion's
body; daughter of Typhon) sphinxes and the feet of beasts.
The characteristic (An inhabitant of the ancient Roman Empire)
Roman chairs were of (A small ball of glass that is used in
various games) marble, also adorned with sphinxes. The curule
chair was originally very similar in form to the modern folding
chair, but eventually received a good deal of ornament.
The most famous of the very few chairs which have come down
from a remote antiquity is the reputed chair of (Disciple
of Jesus and leader of the apostles; regarded by Catholics
as the vicar of Christ on earth and first Pope) St. Peter
in (Click link for more info and facts about St Peter's Basilica)
St Peter's Basilica at (Capital and largest city of Italy;
on the Tiber; seat of the Roman Catholic Church; formerly
the capital of the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire) Rome.
The wooden portions are much decayed, but it would appear
to be (A native or inhabitant of Byzantium or of the Byzantine
Empire) Byzantine work of the (Click link for more info and
facts about 6th century) 6th century, and to be really an
ancient (Click link for more info and facts about sedia gestatoria)
sedia gestatoria. It has ivory carvings representing the labours
of Hercules. A few pieces of an earlier oaken chair have been
let in; the existing one, Gregorovius says, is of acacia wood.
The legend that this was the curdle chair of the senator Pudens
is necessarily apocryphal. It is not, as is popularly supposed,
enclosed in (Click link for more info and facts about Gian
Lorenzo Bernini) Gian Lorenzo Bernini's bronze chair, but
is kept under triple lock and exhibited only once in a century.
Byzantium, like Greece and Rome, affected the curule form
of chair, and in addition to lions’ heads and winged
figures of Victory (or ((Greek mythology) winged goddess of
victory; identified with Roman Victoria) Nike) and dolphin-shaped
arms used also the lyre-back which has been made familiar
by the pseudo-classical revival of the end of the (Click link
for more info and facts about 18th century) 18th century.
Medieval chairsThe chair of (Click link for more info and
facts about Maximian) Maximian in the cathedral of (A battle
between the French and an alliance of Spaniards and Swiss
and Venetians in 1512) Ravenna is believed to date from the
middle of the 6th century. It is of marble, round, with a
high back, and is carved in high relief with figures of saints
and scenes from the Gospels—the Annunciation, the Adoration
of the ((New Testament) the sages who visited Jesus and Mary
and Joseph shortly after Jesus was born; the Gospel According
to Matthew says they were guided by a star and brought gifts
of gold and frankincense and myrrh; because there were three
gifts it is usuall) Magi, the flight into Egypt and the baptism
of Christ. The smaller spaces are filled with carvings of
animals, birds, flowers and foliated ornament.
Another very ancient seat is the so-called “Chair of
Dagobert” in the (An art museum that is a famous tourist
attraction in Paris) Louvre. It is of cast bronze, sharpened
with the chisel and partially gilt; it is of the curule or
faldstool type and supported upon legs terminating in the
heads and feet of animals. The seat, which was probably of
leather, has disappeared. Its attribution depends entirely
upon. the statement of Suger, abbot of St Denis in the 12th
century, who added a back and arms. Its age has been much
discussed, but Viollet-le-Duc dated it to early (A Frankish
dynasty founded by Clovis I that reigned in Gaul and Germany
from about 500 to 750) Merovingian times, and it may in any
case be taken as the oldest faldstool in existence.
To the same generic type belongs the famous abbots’
chair of Glastonbury; such chairs might readily be taken to
pieces when their owners travelled. The faldisterium in time
acquired arms and a back, while retaining its folding shape.
The most famous, as well as the most, ancient, English chair
is that made at the end of the l3th century for Edward I.,
in which most subsequent monarchs have been crowned. It is
of an architectural type and of oak, and was covered with
gilded gesso which long since disappeared.
Passing from these historic examples we find the chair monopolized
by the ruler, lay or ecclesiastical, to a comparatively late
date. As the seat of authority it stood at the head of the
lord’s table, on his dais, by the side of his bed. The
seigneurial chair, commoner in (A republic in western Europe;
the largest country wholly in Europe) France and the (A constitutional
monarchy in western Europe on the North Sea; achieved independence
from Spain in 1579; half the country lies below sea level)
Netherlands than in (A division of the United Kingdom) England,
is a very interesting type, approximating in many respects
to the episcopal or abbatial throne or stall. It early acquired
a very high back and sometimes had a canopy. Arms were invariable,
and the lower part was closed in with panelled or carved front
and sides—the seat, indeed, was often hinged and sometimes
closed with a key.
That we are still said to sit “in” an arm-chair
and “on" other kinds of chairs is a reminiscence
of the time when the lord or seigneur sat “in his chair.”
These throne-like seats were always architectural in character,
and as Gothic feeling waned took the distinctive characteristics
of Renaissance work.
Chinese chairsDuring (The imperial dynasty of China from
618 to 907) Tang dynasty (618 - 907 AD), a remarkable change
happened in China. Higher seats first started to appear amongst
the Chinese elite and their usage soon spread to all levels
of society. By the 12th century seating on the floor was rare
in China, unlike in other Asian countries where the custom
continued, and the chair or more commonly the stool was used
in the vast majority of houses throughout the country.
RenaissanceIn Europe, it was owing in great measure to the
(The period of European history at the close of the Middle
Ages and the rise of the modern world; a cultural rebirth
from the 14th through the middle of the 17th centuries) Renaissance
that the chair ceased to be an privilege of state, and became
the customary companion of whomsoever could afford to buy
it. Once the idea of privilege faded the chair speedily came
into general use. We find almost at once began to reflect
the fashions of the hour. No piece of furniture has ever been
so close an index to sumptuary changes. It has varied in size,
shape and sturdiness with the fashion not only of women’s
dress but of men’s also. Thus the chair which was not,
even with its arms purposely suppressed, too ample during
the several reigns of some form or other of hoops and farthingale,
became monstrous when these protuberances disappeared. Again,
the costly laced coats of the dandy of the 18th and early
19th centuries were so threatened by the ordinary form of
seat that a “conversation chair” was devised,
which enabled the buck and the ruffler to sit with his face
to the back, his valuable tails hanging unimpeded over the
front. The early chair almost invariably had arms, and it
was not until towards the close of the 16th century that the
smaller form grew common.
The majority of the chairs of all countries until the middle
of the 17th century were of (A deciduous tree of the genus
Quercus; has acorns and lobed leaves) oak without upholstery,
and when it became customary to cushion them, (An animal skin
made smooth and flexible by removing the hair and then tanning)
leather was sometimes employed; subsequently (A silky densely
piled fabric with a plain back) velvet and (A fabric made
from the fine threads produced by certain insect larvae) silk
were extensively used, and at a later period cheaper and often
more durable materials. In Abraham Bosse's engraving (illustration,
left), a stylish Parisian musical party of about 1630 have
pulled their low chairs (called "backstools" in
contemporary England) away from the tapestry-hung walls where
they were normally lined up. The padded back panels were covered
with needlework panels to suit the tapestries, or in other
settings with leather, plain or tooled. Plain cloth across
the back hid the wooden framing. Stools with column legs complement
the set, but aren't en suite.
Leather was not infrequently used even for the costly and
elaborate chairs of the faldstool form—occasionally
sheathed in thin plates of silver—which (The provincial
capital of Veneto; built on 118 islands within a lagoon in
the Gulf of Venice; has canals instead of streets; one of
Italy's major ports and a famous tourist attraction) Venice
sent all over Europe. To this day, indeed, leather is one
of the most frequently employed materials for chair covering.
The outstanding characteristic of most chairs until the middle
of the 17th century was massiveness and solidity. Being usually
made of oak, they were of considerable weight, and it was
not until the introduction of the handsome (King of France
from 1610 to 1643 who relied heavily on the advice of Cardinal
Richelieu (1601-1643)) Louis XIII chairs with cane backs and
seats that either weight or solidity was reduced.
English chairsAlthough English furniture derives so extensively
from foreign and especially French and Italian models, the
earlier forms of English chairs owed but little to exotic
influences. This was especially the case down to the end of
the Tudor period, after which France began to set her mark
upon the British chair. The squat variety, with heavy and
sombre back, carved like a piece of panelling, gave place
to a taller, more slender, and more elegant form, in which
the framework only was carved, and attempts were made at ornament
in new directions. The stretcher especially offered opportunities
which were not lost upon the cabinet-makers of the Restoration.
From a mere uncompromising cross-bar intended to strengthen
the construction it blossomed, almost suddenly, into an elaborate
scroll-work or an exceedingly graceful semicircular ornament
connecting all four legs, with a vase-shaped knob in the centre.
The arms and legs of chairs of this period were scrolled,
the splats of the back often showing a rich arrangement of
spirals and scrolls. This most decorative of all types appears
to have been popularized in England by the cavaliers who had
been in exile with (As Charles II he was Holy Roman Emperor
and as Charles I he was king of France (1630-1685)) Charles
II. and had become familiar with it in the north-western parts
of the European continent. During he reign of (Joint monarchs
of England; William III and Mary II) William and Mary these
charming forms degenerated into something much stiffer and
more rectangular, with a solid, more or less fiddle-shaped
splat and a cabriole leg with pad feet. The more ornamental
examples had cane seats and ill-proportioned cane backs. From
these forms was gradually developed the Chippendale chair,
with its elaborately interlaced back, its graceful arms and
square or cabriole legs, the latter terminating in the claw
and ball or the pad foot. (Click link for more info and facts
about George Hepplewhite) George Hepplewhite, (Click link
for more info and facts about Thomas Sheraton) Thomas Sheraton
and (Scottish architect who designed many public buildings
in England and Scotland (1728-1792)) Robert Adam all aimed
at lightening the chair, which, even in the master hands of
(A British cabinetmaker remembered for his graceful designs
(especially of chairs) which influenced his contemporaries
(1718-1779)) Thomas Chippendale, remained comparatively heavy.
The endeavour succeeded, and the modern chair is everywhere
comparatively slight.
18th century chairsThe 18th century was, indeed, the golden
age of the chair, especially in France and England, between
which there was considerable give and take of ideas. Even
(French philosopher who was a leading figure of the Enlightenment
in France; principal editor of an encyclopedia that disseminated
the scientific and philosophical knowledge of the time (1713-1784))
Diderot could not refrain from writing of them in his (Click
link for more info and facts about Encyclopédie) Encyclopédie.
The typical Louis Seize chair, oval-backed and ample of seat,
with descending arms and round-reeded legs, covered in Beauvais
or some such gay tapestry woven with (Click link for more
info and facts about Boucher) Boucher or (French painter (1684-1721))
Watteau-like scenes, is a very gracious object, in which the
period reached its high-water mark. The Empire brought in
squat and squabby shapes, comfortable enough no doubt, but
entirely destitute of inspiration. English Empire chairs were
often heavier and more sombre than those of French design.
19th century chairsThe (A French school of art and architecture
popular in the 1890s; characterized by stylized natural forms
and sinuous outlines of such objects as leaves and vines and
flowers) art nouveau school produced chairs of simplicity.
The (The arts of decorative design and handicraft) Arts and
Crafts movement produced heavy, straight lined, minimally
ornamented chairs.
20th Century and modern chairsThe 20th century saw an increasing
use of technology in chair construction with such things as
all-metal folding chairs, metal-legged chairs, moulded plastic
chairs and ergonomic chairs. The recliner (easy chair) became
a popular form, at least in part due to radio and television.
The modern movement of the (The decade from 1960 to 1969)
1960s produced new forms of chairs: the butterfly chair, beanbag
chairs, the egg or pod chair. Technological advances led to
molded plywood and laminate wood chairs.
History
of Chairs 
