Seating furniture
Seating furniture
Until the end of the XVII century, seating furniture had to be stable above all. In order to be able to bear a corresponding weight, the feet of armchairs, stools and benches were often connected by crossbars. With the exception of peasant furniture, hardwoods such as walnut and oak were mostly used. The feet were usually made of straight boards, more rarely of intricately carved spiral-shaped pieces of wood or hand-turned.
It was not until the XVIII century that people realised that seating furniture had to be comfortable. For wallpapering, one mainly used hay and wool. Then they switched to seaweed and horsehair to obtain a “feather effect”. In the XIX century, iron and steel springs were added.
In France, seating furniture with curved legs was first designed in the Louis XIV era. In the Regence and Louis XV periods they became the standard. In early classicism, under Louis XVI, “curved legs” went out of fashion again and only became “socially acceptable” again after the Empire, under Louis Philippe. In addition to wallpapered seating, there was also some with a woven seat and/or backrest. (siège cané).
While the veneered furniture was made by ebenists, the chair makers (menuisier en siège) were responsible for the seating furniture. They usually worked in beech wood, oak or cherry. The carved seating furniture was then handed over to the tapestry makers. Sometimes the gilders came in between.
The best “Menuisier en sièges” were similarly prominent as the most famous ebenists.
Under Louis XV, for example, there were Foliot, Heurtault, Cresson. Under Louis XVI – Jacob, Sené, or Boulard. Parisian seating furniture from the XVIII century was often signed with an embossed stamp.
Most of the models were adopted by other countries and copies of them are still being industrially produced worldwide today.