James I Salisbury armchair
Circa 1610 - 1620
Salisbury, England
W 26 1/4" × H 44" × D 18 1/2"
Stock # Marh2263
£8,950.00
James I joined oak caquetoire armchair. The baluster turned legs joined by moulded lower stretcher rails and carved chain-link design seat rails. The back rest panel carved with a large lozenge with rosette designs, the cresting rail carved with floral imagery.
The caquetoire, or conversation chair, was an armchair style which emerged during the European Renaissance.
It was largely used in France, and is one of the most well-known pieces of furniture from the French Renaissance. This chair is often associated with groups of women sitting and conversing. Due to fashions of the time and the lack of heating systems in homes, women wore several layers of skirts and petticoats to keep warm. This often prevented them from fitting comfortably into armchairs with rectangular seats. A caquetoire seat is splayed so women in their large skirts could easily sit.