A hood chair or porter's chair was a type of
chair
A chair is a type of seat, typically designed for one person and consisting of one or more legs, a flat or slightly angled seat and a back-rest. They may be made of wood, metal, or synthetic materials, and may be padded or upholstered in vario ...
used originally in medieval
England and later
France. Usually made of wood, but sometimes formed in a high-grade
leather or red
velvet, it was placed by the front door of an estate or home for use by a gatekeeper servant who was in charge of screening guests and visitors. This was necessary since the
door knocker might not be heard throughout the house.
Since there were often cold breezes near a front door, the chair was designed to envelop and keep the servant relatively warm in his task of remaining at the door for long periods. It could be described as a hollowed-out
egg shape
An egg is an organic vessel grown by an animal to carry a possibly fertilized egg cell (a zygote) and to incubate from it an embryo within the egg until the embryo has become an animal fetus that can survive on its own, at which point the a ...
, with a very high and enclosed back, standing on end, four legs, with handrests and usually with a notch for a
lantern
A lantern is an often portable source of lighting, typically featuring a protective enclosure for the light sourcehistorically usually a candle or a wick in oil, and often a battery-powered light in modern timesto make it easier to carry and h ...
at the side, allowing the person to sink back into it out of the wind and await visitors' knocks. Notable current survivors exist at the
London Branch of the
Bank of England
The Bank of England is the central bank of the United Kingdom and the model on which most modern central banks have been based. Established in 1694 to act as the English Government's banker, and still one of the bankers for the Government of ...
, Museum of Leathercraft,
[http://www.museumofleathercraft.com ] Abington, Northampton and at various antique auction houses in the UK and US.
See also
*
List of chairs
*
Watchman's chair
References
{{reflist
External links
Bank of England Museum, Collections, Furniture, Porter's Chair
Chairs