CMU School of Drama


Wednesday, September 30, 2009

40 Styles of Chairs

Props: "There are 40 distinct styles of chairs embracing the period from 3000 B.C. to 1900 A.D. — nearly 7,000 years. Of all the millions of chairs made during the centuries, each one can be classified under one or more of the 40 general styles shown in the chart. This chart was compiled by the editor of Decorative Furniture. The Colonial does not appear on the chart because it classifies under the Jacobean and other styles."

2 comments:

Ariel Beach-Westmoreland said...

This seems like a wonderful jumping off point for research on a period piece. However I would hope that even more research would be done on the chairs. I feel like there is so much more variety within each of the "categories".

Brooke Marrero said...

This is a great reference for period seating arrangements. I am actually really surprised that in 7,000 years there are only 40 distinct stair styles. I wonder if some versions of chairs simply never caught on as a style of the time, or perhaps it's just that chairs don't tend to change often at all.