Armchair (part of a set) 1749 - 1761

This armchair, part of a larger set, was crafted by Nicolas-Quinibert Foliot in 18th-century France. Foliot was one of the main suppliers of furniture to the French Royal court. Consider the chair's elaborate carving, and its luxurious fabric, emblems of aristocratic life. Furniture like this was not merely functional; it was a declaration of status, power, and belonging in a society sharply divided along class lines. What did it mean to literally inhabit such a highly coded object? How might it have shaped one’s posture, movements, and interactions? These chairs supported the bodies of those in power, literally propping up a system of inequality. While beautiful, objects like these can remind us of the social costs of luxury and the lives of those excluded from its comforts.