Throne Desk and Armchair

Whitley earned a national reputation for his workmanship in the contemporary studio furniture movement of the 1970s and 1980s. He created his first Throne Chair in 1978. Whitley’s Throne Series was inspired by the 17th-century concept that domestic chairs could function as seats of distinction for honored guests or heads of households. The specific source of inspiration for the series was a 17th-century Jacobean wainscot chair he saw in Edinburgh, Scotland, in a room softly illuminated by light from a leaded-glass window. Whitley’s contemporary interpretation accentuates the protruding pegs on the 17th-century chair as well as the worn yellow tones on its arms and back.