Antique Bergere Chairs
A bergere is an armchair with enclosed or filled-in sides, made either as a caned English library chair or an upholstered French salon seat, and built for long, comfortable sitting.
Antique Bergere Chairs
The form began in France in the eighteenth century as a deep armchair with closed sides for informal rooms. In Britain the name settled on the caned library and reading chairs of the early nineteenth century, where cane panels to back, sides and seat carried loose squab cushions. Both traditions sell under the one heading on Sellingantiques, and the archive is roughly as English as it is French.
Titles lead with timber and period more than form. Mahogany appears in 188 of 616 titles and Regency in 127, which is the English library chair: a caned mahogany frame, sometimes rosewood or simulated rosewood, sometimes named as a spoon back, curricle, reading or desk chair, and dated William IV or George IV as often as Regency. Around a third of the archive sits here, and so does most of the upper range.
The French side runs to salon and tub chairs, painted, gilded or walnut-framed, with Louis XV and Louis XVI style forms recurring; french appears in 146 titles and painted in 45. Alongside those sit Edwardian and 1920s caned chairs in oak and beech, made for conservatories, salons and desks, which make up a large slice by count and cluster at the lower end.
Pairs are the norm rather than the exception, with 'pair' in 236 titles, and the archive also holds sets of three, four, six, eight and ten. Dating is patchy: only 269 listings carry a clean year, spanning 1800 to 1930, and the numbered decades bunch in the 1900s, 1910s and 1920s, so the early twentieth century is better dated than the nineteenth.
Where The Range Splits
Period and frame timber do most of the work. Regency and William IV mahogany library chairs hold the top of the range, with rosewood, satinwood, satin birch, ebony and giltwood frames above them again. Undated Edwardian beech and ash chairs and plain 1920s cane work sit at the other end, and simulated rosewood is exactly what it says: a cheaper timber grained to imitate the better one.
Number counts too. A matched pair stands well above a single chair, and sets of four, six, eight and ten dining bergeres go higher still. Scale pulls in the same direction; 'large' turns up in 46 titles, with 'unusually large' and 'great scale' used on Regency and Georgian frames.
Attribution is the last lift. Gillows is the only workshop name this evidence supports, and it attaches almost entirely to Regency and George IV library chairs at the very top. Swedish satin birch pairs form a small, persistent seam of around eighteen listings and sit consistently near the top as well.
Antique Bergere Chairs Retail Price Guide 2026
Typical UK retail prices for bergere chairs, calculated from the Sellingantiques database of over a million retail prices indexed since 2003. This retail price guide relies exclusively on Sellingantiques data; no external sources or auction records are used, so the figures do not describe the wider market.
Bergere is simply the French word for shepherdess. Odd one-offs in the archive include a folding campaign steamer chair, a plantation lounger and a doll's rocking chair.
Gillows
The Antique Bergere Chairs Glossary
- Bergere
- An armchair with enclosed or filled-in sides, used on this site for both caned library chairs and upholstered French salon chairs.
- Caned
- Woven cane panels to back, sides or seat; 'caned' runs through 28 titles and 'cane' through 26, often as split cane.
- Library chair
- A deep caned or leather armchair for reading, with 'library' in 104 titles and 'desk' or 'reading' often alongside it.
- Tub
- A curved, enclosing back that sweeps round into the arms, named in 24 titles.
- Spoon back
- A back shaped in profile to the sitter, named in several William IV mahogany library chair titles.
- Squab
- The removable seat and back cushions that sit inside a caned frame; leather and feather-filled ones are mentioned in titles.
- Double caned
- Cane worked on both faces of the frame so no rails show from behind, recurring in Edwardian and Louis XV style pair titles.
Antique Bergere Chairs: Frequently Asked Questions
Are bergere chairs French or English?
Both. The form started in France, but the archive on Sellingantiques is roughly as English as it is French.
English entries run to caned mahogany library chairs of the Regency and William IV years. French entries are salon and tub chairs, often painted, gilded or walnut-framed, with Louis XV and Louis XVI style forms recurring.
Why are so many sold in pairs?
Salon and library chairs were made and bought in twos, and they have stayed together. The word 'pair' appears in 236 of 616 titles.
Sets go further: threes, fours, sixes, eights and tens all appear, usually as dining chairs. A pair sits above a single chair in the range, and a set above that.
What does caned mean on a bergere?
Woven cane panels filling the back, sides and seat of the frame, with loose squab cushions dropped in on top.
Double caned means the cane is worked on both faces, so no rails show from behind. It turns up in Edwardian and Louis XV style pair titles.
Which timbers turn up most often?
Mahogany leads by a distance, in 188 titles, and it is the timber of the English library chair. Walnut follows on the French side, with oak and beech on Edwardian and 1920s frames.
Rosewood, satinwood, satin birch and giltwood appear less often and sit higher in the range. Simulated or faux rosewood is a cheaper timber grained to imitate it.
How old are most bergere chairs for sale?
Only 269 of 616 listings carry a clean year, and those run from 1800 to 1930.
Regency is the dominant named period, with 19th Century used widely as a loose label. Among numbered decades the 1920s is the biggest, followed by the 1900s and 1910s, so the early twentieth century is the better dated end.
Do unusual bergere forms come up?
They do, though singly. Children's versions recur, including child's high chairs, a metamorphic high chair and a miniature Regency example.
Anglo-Indian frames are the scarcest origin: a carved ebony library chair from Galle in Ceylon, a reclining carved teak one, and hardwood frames appearing once or twice. A Klismos chair with bergere seat, a folding campaign steamer chair and a plantation lounger each show up once.