Corner chair
A corner chair is a chair design with a four-corner seat arranged in a way that one corner, sometimes rounded, frequently with a cabriole leg, is positioned in front while the rounded or angled backrest is aligned with the two back sides of the seat.
Quite popular in the 17th and 18th centuries, the corner chairs are currently mostly of interest as antique furniture pieces, although similar designs with the high angled back are used as medical assistance devices to maintain the upper trunk position.
History and terminology
The origin of the corner chair can be traced to six- or eight-leg chairs of Chinese palaces with marble seats, sometimes rotating. The Chinese chairs inspired the Dutch designs in William and Mary and Queen Anne styles in the 17th and 18th centuries, these adaptations are called burgomaster chairs, as they were used as chairs of office in settlements. Initially the chairs retained the round shape of the Chinese prototypes.The corner chair got its name recently and was contemporarily known under a variety of names. Gloag states that the "roundabout" term was not contemporary, and the "burgomaster" name also appears to be modern. However, the term "round about chair" and many other, less popular, ones can be seen in the New England inventories as early as 1738.
By the time of brothers Adam the seats became more or less square, with one corner protruding in the front. The original purpose of these chairs is confusing as the visual form is frequently "ungainly". Pynt and Higgs argue that the primary goal was ergonomics; the designers tried to improve the position of spine for the task of writing, but also provide two other guesses by other researchers: a better presentation of a dress of a seated lady and actually filling a corner of the room. The mass manufacturing of the corner chairs is associated with Colonial America ; these chairs were mostly used as desk furniture, though they occasionally included heavy skirt so they can be used as a commode chair.
Drepperd does not consider the three-legged/three-cornered Flemish chairs of the 16th century to be ancestors of the corner chair, despite them being similar in appearance. Some Hogarth chairs might also resemble the corner chairs, but, strictly speaking, cannot be classified as such.