{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O55040"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O55040/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006BF3213/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006BF3213/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2006BF3213","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2017JT6895","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O55040/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O55040","accessionNumber":"W.47:1-1948","objectType":"Reading chair","titles":[],"summaryDescription":"","physicalDescription":"Writing chair with narrow back, curved, flat crest rail and trapezoid seat, all upholstered in close-nailed black leather. The crest rail is fitted with swing-out drawers to hold writing equipment; at the centre back of the rail hangs a hinged writing slope with can be propped up with a ratchet support. The seat is sharply indented at the back to accommodate the sitter's legs and has a drawer in the front. It is raised on cabriole forelegs with pad feet joined to the back legs by a curved, paired stretcher.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Unknown","id":"A1848"},"association":{"text":"","id":""},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"mahogany","id":"AAT12221"},{"text":"leather","id":"AAT11845"}],"techniques":[{"text":"carving","id":"AAT53149"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"","categories":[{"text":"Furniture","id":"THES48948"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"FWK","id":"THES48597"},"images":["2006BF3213","2017JT6895"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"003","id":"THES344401"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""},{"current":{"text":"003","id":"THES344401"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Reading Chair","id":""}],[{"text":"Drawer","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"England","id":"x28826"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1725-1735","earliest":"1725-01-01","latest":"1735-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"82","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"79.5","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Depth","value":"73","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"120","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"with both arm drawers open","note":""},{"dimension":"Height","value":"42.5","unit":"cm","qualifier":"to top of seat rail","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"54","unit":"cm","qualifier":"widest point of seat","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"All taken from object: seat height: 47cm; height with slope raised to max extent: 99cm; height with slope raised (to second slot from top) - 95.5cm; depth with slope extended : 89cm (86.5cm extended to second slot);","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"","historicalContext":"In the arms of this chair are swivel drawers for writing equipment. The reader would sit facing the back, his legs astride with a book open on the desk. Chairs of this design are sometimes called cock-fighting chairs, but this is not a contemporary term. This type of chair was still manufactured almost a century later, for Thomas Sheraton in The Cabinet Directory (1803) illustrates one on plate 5 and mentions in the text that the chair was intended 'to make the exercise (of reading) easy, and for the convenience of taking down a note or quotation from any subject.\n\nThis chair is thought to have been in the possession of the poet John Gay (1685-1732). ","briefDescription":"Reading chair, English, 1725-1735, said to have belonged to John Gay","bibliographicReferences":[],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[{"text":"LIBRARY READING-CHAIR\r\nENGLISH; about 1720\r\nCarved mahogany upholstered in leather.\r\n\r\nIn the arms are swivel draws for writing equipment. Thought to have been in the possession of the poet John Gay (1685-1732). The reader would sit facing the back, his legs astride with a book open on the desk. They are sometimes called cock-fighting chairs, but this is not a contemporary term. This type of chair was still manufactured almost a century later, for Thomas Sheraton in The Cabinet Directory (1803) illustrates one on plate 41 and mentions in the text that the chair was intended 'to make the exercise (of reading) easy, and for the convenience of taking down a note or quotation from any subject.","date":{"text":"pre October 2000","earliest":null,"latest":"2000-09-30"}}],"partNumbers":["W.47:1-1948","W.47:2-1948"],"accessionNumberNum":"47","accessionNumberPrefix":"W","accessionYear":1948,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE","Reading Chair","Drawer"],"assets":["2019LN8547","2019LW8787","2019LW3699"],"recordModificationDate":"2025-04-23","recordCreationDate":"2001-02-15","availableToBook":true}}