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The Folding Chair Through the Centuries

In the sixteenth century, the “sedia della forbice,” or scissors chair, descended from the faldistorium, in two main styles: the “savonarola” and the “dantesca.”

As a ceremonial seat, the folding stool evolved in two ways, one secular and the other religious. The Roman sella curulis assumes the form of the Carolingian (a dynasty that controlled the Frankish realm from the eighth to tenth centuries) “faldistorium” through the Longobard (named after a Germanic people from Scandinavia who settled in Rome) “sella plicatilis” in steel. The crossed legs became frontal instead of lateral to emphasize the “X,” a symbol of authority. One example is the throne of Dagobert I, king of the Franconians.

In the sixteenth century, the “sedia della forbice,” or scissors chair, descended from the faldistorium, in two main styles: the “savonarola” and the “dantesca.” These were followed by the “chair of petrarca” and the “sedia a tenaglia,” or princer chair, with the crossed legs again on the sides.

During the Baroque period, chairs with crossed legs were expensive, and the X symbol had great value throughout the period of Louis XIV-XVI. The name of Napoleon I’s field chair, the “fauteuil,” was derived from the older French word “faldestoel,” which in turn was derived from the Latin word “faldistorium.” The fauteuil is the ancestor of the twentieth century movie director's chair.

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