These are the characteristics that define non-Parisian French furniture. When regarding French chairs, as well as other pieces, a key distinction to keep in mind is that there are two important subcategories: provincial furniture, which was made by highly skilled chair and cabinetmakers from cities near Paris, and French country furniture, rustic pieces that were made for farmhouses in Normandy, hunting lodges in Burgundy, and modest cottages in the Ile-de-France. The forms of these pieces usually mirror Parisian styles but are shorn of excesses and adornments, such as ormolu, marquetry, and parquetry.

During the second quarter of the 18th century, France developed a modern economy and with it a middle class of merchants, agents, retailers, and administrators. The market sprang to life with hundreds of provincial cabinetmakers at work producing thousands of pieces in the mature vernacular of their regions.

Provincial pieces are refined and followed the current of Parisian styles, but they lack finesse in their construction. While the visible surfaces are smoothed and finished, the undersides of the seats are rough, with heavy sawmarks and untrimmed pegs. If a French chair looks refined but has a rough underside and is not stamped by the maker on the bottom of the seat rails, it almost surely comes from a shop in one of the larger provincial cities. Provincial seat furniture of this type is usually made with the same pegged, mortise-and-tenon joinery as the finest pieces made in Paris.

In French country furniture, the chairs are rarely pegged. The turned, dowel-form rails, stretchers, and stiles are glued and snugly joined to form the frame. This country furniture, and specifically the chairs, are clearly rustic. The styles are simpler, the woods are plainer, and the finish of the undersides and interiors is minimal. Where there is less effort to finish unseen areas in provincial chairs, in the country category there is none. The ladder-form backs of these country chairs, the simplest to construct, were common throughout every region of France. The seats are usually rush or sea grass. The woven seats were important, as dowelled joints without pegs are weak, and the tight weave of grass or rush was needed to hold the chair together.

Provincial and country furniture makers did not have the skills, tools, or manpower to match what was coming out of Paris. In particular, the making of a chair posed a difficulty: the two long vertical members that form the back of a chair. These are called the stiles, and they perform a double duty: The bottom halves form the rear legs, and as they rise up to pass the level of the seat, they become the supports for the backrest. Though this sounds simple enough, the thorny issue is that the stile cannot be straight. While the rear legs of the chair have to be angled slightly back for stability, the upper part, the backrest, must also angle back away from the sitter for comfort.

The popularity of provincial and country French chairs has spawned a corresponding industry of imitations and reproductions. The famous flea market in Paris is full of them, as are most of the antiques markets throughout France. Buyers should beware of sharp edges anywhere on a piece and especially lack of wear on the bottoms of the feet. New-looking fibers on the seats can be ignored, though, since these are repaired regularly without a loss of value, as most antique chair seats have been reupholstered or rewoven. The chairs may cost anywhere from $400 to $1000, depending on quality, comfort, and aesthetic appeal.

Provincial Problems When buying a country or provincial chair, always test the comfort of the chair before purchasing it. There are two construction problems in provincial chairs that most chairmakers couldn't overcome for two centuries. First, the bend of the line of the stile at the seat will be a weak point. If the sitter leans back or, worse, rocks back in the chair, the stile could break. Second, when the chairmaker cut anything but a straight piece from a board of wood, there was waste, and wood was expensive. Large shops could cut as many as a dozen stiles from a single board by nesting them together like spoons. But provincial makers, who were, by definition, small shops, couldn't afford to manufacture in volume and rarely made sets of more than four or six. As a result, a common flaw in provincial chairs is the lack of an angle in the backrests. Good French chairs are perfectly shaped to accommodate the back of the sitter, while many provincial chairs are too straight, and therefore uncomfortable.