One question- What is the width of the seat?
The reason I ask is that to me, this chair has a distictly feminine look, like a ladies chair. However, the arms and the slats below them wouldn't allow a lady to arrange her skirts over the chair, or to accomodate a bustle. Does anyone have any thoughts on that? It would have been impossible to sit in with a Civil War era hoop skirt, and difficult with a an 1870's - 1890's bustle. Could the arms indicate a later period, perhaps early 1900's, when ladies skirts were slimmer and didnt need to spill over the sides of a chair? Or is this chair intended for the man of the house?