We think nothing of them today, they are everywhere. But relatively speaking, it was not that long ago they were very rare – that is, the humble chair. They have been an imposing symbol of authority throughout history including being the throne upon which the monarch sat, and the term “chairperson” still refers to a position of authority today.
The chair was one of the scarcest items of furniture to be found in the large halls of medieval Europe. Its use would have been reserved solely for the master. The record of the inventory of Gilling Castle Yorkshire, England in 1594 notes that the Great Chamber contained 28 stools but only one chair.
There were several styles of chairs which evolved during the middle ages and the latter part of the 15th century. One of the more prevalent styles was the box chair which was thought to have evolved from the early coffers (a box made from planks and held together with nails and metal straps). The design of the early box chairs had the back and front posts just as an extension of the corner posts of the coffer to form the supports for the back support and arm rests. With this design, it was not uncommon for the seat to lift to reveal a storage area within the chair.
The early chairs were often elaborately carved to emphasise the importance of the user they were built for. Their practical use usually involved the use of a cushion covered in the finest velvet and filled with down. Most of the early examples that survive today were made of oak.
It was not until around the 16th century where the design started to evolve more inline with what we see as a legged chair.
So pause momentarily and consider that if the chair had not evolved, today we might be sitting on stools and benches.
