Just some more info I'm finding interesting... reading through "The Early Furniture of French Canada". This info is relative to other than just Canadian furniture.

"Console legs" - When I read this, I asked, Now, what the heck is this. Bracketed legs. http://www.flickr.com/photos/4383614...in/photostream

Further reading about this chair: "Armchair, having bracket or console-shaped legs as in 'Os de mouton chairs', and an arbalète-fronted seat rail. A curious mixture of styles. The back is in Louis XIV curvilinear form, while the set-back armrests are in the Louis XV manner. The incurved front seat rail of arbalète form is very rare. The cross-stretcher is of the type known as a 'double chapeau de gendarme'."

Further reading about the armchair design: "The 'habitants', having seen this type of chair in the Seigneur's manor, quickly imitated it for use in their homes. A great variety of specimens exist, some roughly made and some the work of craftmen. At first, they were made with bracket posts, the two front legs rising to a certain height, then curving back in a continuous line to form the armrests of the chair. In the early eighteenth century, the armrest were supported by brackets (supports d'accoudoir en console) set back a little from the front of the chair, to allow the ladies, whose skirts had taken on more ample proportions, to seat themselves elegantly without feeling confined. ...."

I had never realized the origin of the setting back of armrests/armrest posts, from the front of the chair, was to accommodate the ladies, that way.

Sonny