Caquetoire

The caquetoire, or conversation chair, was an armchair style implemented during the European Renaissance.

It was largely used in France during the renaissance. This chair is one if the most well known pieces of furniture from the French Renaissance. This chair is often associated with groups of women that would sit in them and talk. The seat is not rectangular like most. Due to the lack of heating systems in homes, women tended to wear several layers of skirts and petticoats to keep warm. This often inhibited them from fitting into normally-proportioned armchairs. Thus, the seat is splayed so the women could easily sit in the chair with their large skirts. These chairs were also made from walnut not oak because the chair could be more elaborately carved.