18th Century Seats for 21st Century Butts
Christine Coulson draws on her 25-year career at the Met for her new book Metropolitan Stories. An excerpt that can be found in a recent NPR story is told from the perspective of an 18th Century fauteil. The dent in the original fabric created by "an 18th Century butt" serves as a jumping off point for Coulson's imagination. As a "museum piece," the chair no longer fulfills its original purpose: to support butts. In the linked excerpt, the chair wistfully yearns for anyone (!) to come sit and give its life meaning once again. While we here at JTA certainly understand the desire to preserve the original upholstery on such a special piece, we also realize that chairs were built to be sat in. It can be a fun exercise to sit in a 300 year-old chair and let the imagination run wild with thoughts of who else's seat might have graced that seat over the course of centuries.
We currently have a large selection of seating still able to accommodate the backsides of the 21st Century. Click on the link below to see a wide variety of stools, sofas, settles, settees, Windsors, wing chairs, side chairs, ottomans, and on and on. Take a look and feel free to plop down in any of these (but do so respectfully, please!).
