A wing chair (also, wing-back chair or wing-back) is an easy chair or
club chair
A club chair is a type of armchair, usually covered in leather. It was created and made in France. Before it came to be known under its current name, it first appeared as the , the 'comfortable armchair'. It was given this name to distinguish i ...
with "wings" attached to the back of the chair, typically, but not always, stretching down to the
arm rest
An armrest is a part of a chair, where a person can rest their arms on.
Armrests are built into a large variety of chairs such as automotive chairs, armchairs, sofas, and more. Adjustable armrests are commonly found in ergonomic office chair ...
. The purpose of the "wings" was to shield the occupant of the chair from drafts, and to trap the heat from a
fireplace
A fireplace or hearth is a structure made of brick, stone or metal designed to contain a fire. Fireplaces are used for the relaxing ambiance they create and for heating a room. Modern fireplaces vary in heat efficiency, depending on the design.
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in the area where the person would be sitting. Hence, in the past these were often used near a fireplace. Currently, most examples of wing chairs are fully
upholstered
Upholstery is the work of providing furniture, especially seats, with padding, springs, webbing, and fabric or leather covers. The word also refers to the materials used to upholster something.
''Upholstery'' comes from the Middle English word ...
with exposed wood legs, but many of the oldest examples of wing chairs have an exposed frame with padded
cushions
A cushion is a soft bag of some ornamental material, usually stuffed with wool, hair, feathers, polyester staple fiber, non-woven material, cotton, or even paper torn into fragments. It may be used for sitting or kneeling upon, or to soften th ...
at the seat, arm rests, back and sometimes wings.
They were first introduced in
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
during the 1600s, and the basic design has remained unchanged since.
They did not become popular until the 1720s.
Though there are many types of wing chairs, there are two standard wing styles - the flat wing and the scroll wing. There are also bat wings and butterfly wings, among other types. The length, depth, vertical position and shape of the wings may vary from chair to chair.
See also
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Fauteuil
A ''fauteuil'' () is a style of open-armchair with a primarily exposed wooden frame originating in France during the early 17th century. A ''fauteuil'' is made of wood and frequently with carved relief ornament. It is typically upholstered on ...
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List of chairs
The following is a partial list of chairs with descriptions, with internal or external cross-references about most of the chairs. For other chair-like types (like bench, stool), see
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* 10 Downing Street Guard Chairs, two antique chairs used ...
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Woodcutters
''Woodcutters'' (German title: ''Holzfällen'') is a novel by Thomas Bernhard, originally published in German in 1984. A ''roman à clef'', its subject is the theatre and it forms the second part of a trilogy, between ''The Loser'' (1983) and '' ...
, a
Thomas Bernhard
Nicolaas Thomas Bernhard (; 9 February 1931 – 12 February 1989) was an Austrian novelist, playwright and poet who explored death, social injustice, and human misery in controversial literature that was deeply pessimistic about modern civilizati ...
novel in which the narrator repeatedly references the fact that they are sitting in a wing chair.
References
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Chairs
Upholstery