What fabric belongs on the seat?

Most Georgian antique corner chairs originally had drop-in seats covered in leather or worsted wool. These tough materials survived the daily friction of a working desk chair. Later Victorian examples often received softer fabrics. Upholsterers used floral tapestries or silk damask to match the prevailing fashion for cluttered parlours. You can recover a drop-in seat easily. The wooden inner frame lifts out, making it simple to strip back the old webbing and tack on a new cover.

My grandfather left me one of these chairs but it has a very low back that doesn't reach my shoulders, so was it made for a child?

The low back is a standard design feature of an antique corner chair. They were built to support the lower spine and elbows rather than the shoulders. Adults used them as desk chairs. The low rail stops the sitter from slouching back, encouraging an upright posture for writing while allowing free movement of the arms.

Why is only one leg carved?

Cabinetmakers often focused their decorative efforts on the single front leg because it was the only one clearly visible when the chair faced into a room. The three back legs remained plain to save time. When tucked into a corner, these rear supports were hidden in shadow.

The seat on the chair I am looking at seems solid rather than a padded cushion, so would they have just sat on the hard wood?

Solid wooden seats are very common on provincial antique corner chairs. Rural makers working in oak or ash turned out thousands of these hard-seated variations for farmhouses and taverns. Sitters often added a loose squab cushion for comfort. These flat pads tied onto the uprights and could be shaken out or replaced when they wore thin.

Home > Chairs > Corner Chairs > Page 2

Antique Corner Chairs from the 19th Century

← Page 2 of 3 →

Featuring a distinctive diamond-shaped seat with a single front leg and a wrap-around curved top rail, an antique corner chair was designed to tuck neatly into the right angle of a room or to provide a comfortable seat for writing at a desk.