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Object Timeline

1960

  • We acquired this object.

2006

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2019

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"Cockfight chair" Reading Chair

This is a Reading Chair. We acquired it in 1960. Its medium is turned and joined walnut, leather, brass, tin. It is a part of the Product Design and Decorative Arts department.

Much like cricket fighting, cockfighting is a blood sport between two gamecocks held in a ring. While this chair was intended as a specific piece of furniture dedicated to reading, it also became known as a cockfight chair, likely due to its capability for the user to safely sit with the padded back shielding them from the violence of the fight.

This object was featured in our Object of the Day series in a post titled Cockfight chair.

This object was donated by Mrs. Paul Moore.

Cite this object as

"Cockfight chair" Reading Chair; England; turned and joined walnut, leather, brass, tin; 1960-164-16-a/c

This object was previously on display as a part of the exhibitions The Virtue in Vice and IDEO Selects: Works from the Permanent Collection.

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If you would like to cite this object in a Wikipedia article please use the following template:

<ref name=CH>{{cite web |url=https://www-6.collection.cooperhewitt.org/objects/18431709/ |title="Cockfight chair" Reading Chair |author=Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum |accessdate=23 October 2019 |publisher=Smithsonian Institution}}</ref>