Easy or "close" chairs were first introduced in England in the first half of the eighteenth century and enjoyed popularity there and in America for approximately one hundred years. There primary purpose was to provide a seat of rest for the owner but the wings and oversized back of the piece also served to shelter the inhabitant from drafts in homes before central heat and air. Generally, they were used in a bedroom and could be drawn up near a fireplace during the colder months of the year. Many eighteenth and nineteenth century easy chairs also featured a chamber pot, which provided to their owners a more genteel alternative to outdoor privies. With improvements in home heating in the early to mid-nineteenth
century, the production of easy chairs declined. "By the 1830's...the
need for chairs that caught and held heat...was greatly decreased".

(See: Southern Furniture, The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation,
Hurst/Prown, p. 162. Excellent condition with a great "nut" brown
patination!

Provenance: A North Carolina Estate.

CA.4.166