Strange chair

I had never seen anything like it. But it is really old, I am sure. Got it for 70 euros from marktplaats(dutch graigslist), it is in bad shape...previous owner must have had a cat, scratches on the fabric. This person also claimed it came from an old belgian chateau(ofcourse... ).
What type of chair is this? The height of the seat is quite low. And what age? What type of wood has been used?

 

I don't know about the wood, maybe walnut?
I have seen these chairs referred to as slipper chairs, low so milady could don her slippers with ease.

 

Nursing chair seems to be untranslatable to dutch, same for slipping chair, but knitting chair does exist in dutch: breistoel...and while I was googling i found a similar looking chair from 1870, made by Horrix in The Hague, which was exhibited in gemeente(municipality) museum Den Haag. This is the only remotely similar one i could find.

 

Yes I figured that. It's just hard to look that up in another language. Dutch/flemish funiture items are not always mutually intelligible with english ones, it seems

 

As far as I know there are no Dutch or Belgian nursing or slipper chairs.
Knitting chair makes sense with those low arm rests. In a regular chair the arms get in the way of your needles. You end up sitting in an uncomfortable position.

 

I love it! Whatever it's purpose it would have came home with me!

 

I wouldn't go as far as to produce the need to fulfill its original intention, but yeah, I'd go to certain lengths to to get that home...........

 

It looks almost art nouveau ,doesnt it? Love the lines,Id have drug it home too.

 

Wrong kind of nurse.
The kind of nursing done in a nursing chair is called voeden or zogen. Both voedstoel and zoogstoel sound very strange to Dutch ears. I guess this is where the Dutch no nonsense mentality kicks in, why buy a special chair you only use for a short period of time, to do what you can do in a regular chair.

 

Oh, and there is SO MUCH that can be done in a regular chair...................

 

I know what thuis is....iT is a chair Made by the Horrix brothers in The Hage in the 1860 s. The model was populair for next to the chimney in the livingroom. We call a haardstoel (chimney chair)
The chair hals armlayers, like a butterfly, which was once a fasion item. I have seen sofa’s and other chair in this shape. I think the chair originaly was black, but there were also in mahogany
Does the chair has a rectangular stamp?
I know this, because i am a Horrix collector I have seen much Of horrix, and i have a lot of photos from Horrix furniture
Your chair is a Nice piece of Horrix, in the Netherlands iT would-be be about 150 euro’s wurth
F. Van Leeuwen the Netherlands

 

Welcome to the forum, F. Van Leeuwen.
Very nice information, thank you very much. Most Horrix furniture I've seen is more delicate, but then I am not a collector.
Opoe hasn't been around for a couple of months, I'll tag him, maybe that will get the attention of @opoe .

Just an aside, I think your Dutch spelling check was on while you were typing. (Thuis and hals)

 

Welcome to Antiquers F.V. Leeuwen!

 

And so there we have it, mystery solved! I haven't seen opoe since the ancient thingy, wonder where he got off too.

 

That back configuration is definitely not an American design! Just a thought on the function, usefulness and practicality of these specialised side (armless) chairs. I agree with the descriptive terms we use today but wonder if those were actually in use in the period. I guess a research spin into old trade catalogs and periodical advertising could answer that but I'm too lazy today. Consider what the ladies were wearing during this period- camisoles, pantelettes, stockings, at least one petticoat under yards of draped, voluminous skirts, underpanels and overskirts, all strapped together into the currently fashionable silhouette by a corset, some sort of reinforced cage, hoop or crinoline, possibly a horsehair-stuffed or wire bustle, maybe a long train, with several pounds of lace and passementrie. It would be difficult to wedge that package into chairs with arms. Based soley on physics, I expect these chairs were used on a daily basis by most women; nursing, knitting, slippering or otherwise.

 

Yells RIVEN OAK! @opoe wake up over there!