About this product
Leather Upholstered “Cockfighting” Chair, England, Mid 19th Century
Antique Cockfighting Chair
A cockfighting chair is a chair with broad armrests that form a yoke with the back rail to which a reading desk is attached. Broad in front but curving inward toward the back, the seat was shaped so that a reader could easily sit astride, facing the desk at the back of the chair and resting his arms on the ends of the yoke. Due to the fact that such chairs were shown in illustrations of cockfights, it was thought for a time that they were only made for this purpose. More correctly called reading chairs, they were first made in England for libraries in the early 18th century.