Corner chair

A corner chair is a chair design with a four-corner seat arranged in a way that one corner, sometimes rounded, frequently with a cabriole leg, is positioned in front while the rounded or angled backrest is aligned with the two back sides of the seat.

[1] Quite popular in the 17th and 18th centuries, the corner chairs are currently mostly of interest as antique furniture pieces (a 1931 article describes the arrangement as "unusual"),[1] although similar designs with the high angled back are used as medical assistance devices to maintain the upper trunk position (for example, in cases of cerebral palsy).

[9] Gloag[8] states that the "roundabout" term was not contemporary, and the "burgomaster" name also appears to be modern.

[9] By the time of brothers Adam the seats became more or less square, with one corner (and a leg) protruding in the front.

Pynt and Higgs argue that the primary goal was ergonomics; the designers tried to improve the position of spine for the task of writing (thus yet another name, writing chair), but also provide two other guesses by other researchers: a better presentation of a dress of a seated lady (unlikely, as a body position with feet apart was not socially acceptable at the time) and actually filling a corner of the room (although some chairs are fitted with the writing easel, making it impossible).