Pre-16th Century Chairs

Collapsable Chairs

X-Chairs - A Brief History of X-Chairs
This picture is from l'Oeuvre Notre-Dame Museum in Strasbourg, France, curtesy of the  Greydragon Furniture page .  Please visit the page for more images.  For directions on constructing, please see  Charles Oakley's folding chair page.	It is debatable if this was meant to be a collapsable chair, but it can be made as such. For construcion notes, we once again thank  Charles Oakley's coffer chair page , although I think the seat for this type of chair was commonly leather or fabric.
Known as the Glastonbury chair, this chair is detailed in Daniel Diehl's book pictured above.	The picture and construction notes for the Savronola chair are curtesy of  Charles Oakley's page.

Non-Collapsable Chairs

Four Legged Chairs
The first two pictures above are from St. Andesbuch (The Book of Trades) by Hans Sachs, originally published in Germany, 1568, and reprinted by Dover Publications in 199?.		This chair is from Vernis sericus by Johannes Stradanus, Italian, late 16th c.
The picture and construction notes for this chair are curtesy of Tom Rettie's Turned Chair page.	from Tudor Medicine Chest, by Brian Moss (1997)	from official catalogue of the Armada exhibition; Armchair from the Escoial (Philip II's palace), walnut and velvet
from Elizabethan England, by Alison Plowden (1982), engraving by Johannes Stradanus	from The Various and Ingenious Machines of Agostino Ramelli, originally published 1588, Italian/French

Other Chairs
	This chair and the similar stool are brought to us by  Tom Rettie's Turned Backstool page.  I have also seen illustrations of the stool being used as a table, without all the fancy turned rings as seen on Tom's work.
	A two legged chair in the Italian style. As described by Huntington Antiques : A most rare and elegant pair of late 16th/early 17th Century Walnut Sgabelli Chairs carved overall with finely detailed scrolling foliage and each featuring a bold pair of caryatid figures supporting heraldic shields deeply carved within the vase shaped back supports. With only minor patch restorations and very good colour and patination.

In addition to the chairs pictured here, there are many forms of benches (seats with no back) and stools (one-person bench) that I will not go into.