
A loveseat can be one of two styles of two-seat
chair
A chair is a type of seat, typically designed for one person and consisting of one or more legs, a flat or slightly angled seat and a back-rest. It may be made of wood, metal, or synthetic materials, and may be padded or upholstered in vario ...
.
One form – also known as "British two-seaters" – is essentially synonymous with "two-seat
couch
A couch, also known as a sofa, settee, chesterfield, or davenport, is a cushioned piece of furniture that can seat multiple people. It is commonly found in the form of a bench with upholstered armrests and is often fitted with springs a ...
". It typically has two
upholstered seats, is approximately 50" in seating length, and is typically shorter in length than a settee.
Another form, variously also known as a
tête-à-tête, courting bench, kissing bench, gossip's chair, or conversation bench, is any form of two-seat furniture where the two seats are arranged in an S shape, so that two persons can converse while looking at each other and being within arm's reach, while at the same time typically retaining a modest barrier between them.
History
While chairs wide enough to seat multiple people are not a novel concept, wide upholstered chairs intended for one person became popular towards the end of the 18th century to accommodate the wider dresses in fashion then, and these began to be marketed and sold as "loveseats" in the early 19th century.
The tête-à-tête style loveseat became popular in the Victorian era, and the design may have initially arisen in France.
Straight-fronted two-seaters or loveseats
File:Canapé executé pour Mr. le Comte de Bielenski, from 'Oeuvre de Juste Aurele Meissonnier' MET DP830899.jpg, French two-seater seettee, Paris, 1735, print, Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, colloquially referred to as the Met, is an Encyclopedic museum, encyclopedic art museum in New York City. By floor area, it is the List of largest museums, third-largest museum in the world and the List of larg ...
.
Giles grendey, divanetto, londra 1740-50 ca.jpg, British two-seater, London, 1740/1750, Cincinnati Art Museum
The Cincinnati Art Museum is an art museum in the Eden Park neighborhood of Cincinnati, Ohio. Founded in 1881, it was the first purpose-built art museum west of the Alleghenies, and is one of the oldest in the United States. Its collection of ...
.
File:Mobiliário artístico - Sophá causeuse (Zeferino José Pinto).jpg, ''Confidante'',confidante
in the Getty art & architecture Thesaurus. two-seater with triangular seats at either end, before 1897, rococo revival style, Portugal.
S-shaped two-seaters or tête-à-tête seats
Image:Love_seat - garden furniture cropped.jpg, Tête-à-tête garden seats.
Image:Sofa dali.jpg, A contemporary tête-à-tête sofa.
References
See also
*
Canapé à confidante, a sofa with a seat at each end
Couches
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