Wing Back Chairs / Wingback Chairs

Upholstered Wing Arm Chairs

A new development in the history of English antique furniture during the Queen Anne period was the introduction of arm chairs with wings, high and low. Such wingback chairs had velvet covering or needlework and their carving was gilded or painted in imitation of contemporary French chairs of similar wingback design. It seems fashionable women of the age attempted to match the upholstery of the wing chairs with the curtains and hangings to be found in their rooms.

Walnut Wing Back Chair, 1720.

In Victorian times such winged easy chairs came to be called "Grandfather" chairs. Many of these high backed grandfather or wing chairs were made in the Queen Anne period and are also often associated with early Georgian furniture. The needle-worked upholstery closely followed the lines of the wooden framework beneath. Antique wing back chairs of England were large pieces and hence normally required stretchers until later shorter cabriole legs were used as in the picture above.