The Chair

The chair is of extreme antiquity and simplicity, although for many centuries and indeed for thousands of years it was an article of state and dignity rather than an article of ordinary implementation. "The chair" is still extensively implemented as the emblem of authority in the House of Commons in the United Kingdom and Canada, and in many other settings. Committees, boards of directors, and academic departments all use a 'chairman'. Endowed professorships are said to as chairs. It was not, in fact, until the 16th century that it evolved into common anywhere. The chest, the bench and the stool were until then the regular seats of everyday life, and the number of chairs which have survived from an earlier date is exceedingly limited; most of such examples are of ecclesiastical or seigneurial origin. Our knowledge of the chairs of remote antiquity comes from almost entirely from monuments, sculpture and paintings.

In ancient Egypt chairs appear to have been of great abundance and splendor. Fashioned of ebony and ivory, or of carved and gilded wood, they were draped with costly materials, magnificent patterns and supported upon representations of the legs of beasts or the figures of captives. During Tang dynasty (618 - 907 AD), a higher seat first began to appear amongst the Chinese elite and their usage soon spread to all levels of society. By the 12th century seating on the floor was rare in China, unlike in other Asian countries where the custom continued, and the chair, or more commonly the stool, was implemented in the vast majority of houses throughout the country.

 

 

In Europe, it owed in great measure to the Renaissance that the chair ceased to be a privilege of state, and became a normal item of furniture for anyone who could afford to buy it. Once the idea of privilege faded the chair speedily came into general implementation. We find almost at once that the chair started to change every few years to reflect the fashions of the present. The 20th century witnessed an increasing use of technology in chair construction with such things as all-metal folding chairs, metal-legged chairs, the Slumber Chair, moulded plastic chairs and ergonomic chairs. The recliner became an in demand form, at least in part due to radio and television, and later a two-part. The modern movement of the 1960s produced new types of chairs: the butterfly chair, bean bags, and the egg-shaped pod chair. Technological advances superseded to molded plywood and wood laminate chairs, as well as chairs made of leather or polymers. Mechanical technology incorporated into the chair enabled adjustable chairs, especially for office implemented. Motors embedded in the chair gave to massage chairs.