long before rappers were “sittin’ on chrome” and sippin’ dom on their yachts the funky and soulful cats among us were sitting on something altogether different; they were sittin’ on wicker. yes folks, that is correct, as the older of us can attest there was a time not so long ago when wicker was some fashionable shi’ite. for proof one need only look to the thread which ran through the cultures of 60’s r&b through 70’s funk. the shot of the cool cat loungin’ in his wicker peacock chair (henceforth to be referred to as the “funk throne”) is a classic image which somewhere along the way fell out of fashion. sure today we’ve got bullet proof vests, bentleys, and diamond fronts, but i have to wonder, after 30 years in the stylistic dog-house, how long before some enterprising cultural looter seizes upon this forgotten classic and brings it roaring back?

first, as always, some history:

quote: Although the first piece of wicker furniture in America came over on the Mayflower, the American wicker furniture industry really dates from the early 1850s, when a young grocer named Cyrus Wakefield discovered large quantities of rattan on the docks of Boston. On ships that had been to Asia, the vines were used to keep cargo from shifting on the long voyage home. The properties and possibilities of the strange foreign material fascinated him. He sold his grocery store and started the Wakefield Rattan Company in South Reading, Massachusetts. The product proved so popular that Wakefield was soon importing his own clipper ships full of rattan, which was in great demand by basket and furniture makers. Wakefield then started making his own wicker furniture; he is known today as the father of the industry.

Some time after the Civil War the largest wood chair manufacturer in the United States began using rattan in the making of their chairs. a loom to weave the cane was invented and a way to install the cane seats so that they did not have to be hand woven was perfected. this automation reduced the cost of making wicker furniture dramatically. Before long wicker furniture was everywhere.

Early in the 20th century, as public taste veered toward straighter lines and more simple designs in furniture, Victorian wicker began to be considered too ornate. it had a huge resurgence in popularity in the 1960s and 1970s, however, and wicker furniture became a common sight in American homes once again.

which brings us directly to the appropriation of wicker from the old-fogies and it’s transformation into the briefly glorious funk throne. see below-

humble in-roads for wicker on this notations album cover.

here we see sugarfoot from the ohio players perched on his funk throne.

here we have good ol’ al, on what is likely the most famous funk throne shot of the era.

natalie cole in her queen’s version of the funk throne.

this is an ad circa 1974 put out by a clothing company called, fittingly enough, funk fashions. click the image to read the accompanying text which i believe sums up the inferred associations of the funk throne nicely.

here’s jack lord of hawaii-5-0 fame getting in on the funky action, or trying at least.

a gill scott heron album sleeve which illustrates my long held belief that anything a human can do, a gorilla can do funkier.

the true king of funk, george clinton, takes his rightful throne here on this funkadelic cover.

as with everything else what is at one moment hip eventually becomes lame. here is the blasphemous perversion of the funk throne at the hands of evil ad men. a piece for aloe products featuring a naked bow-tied white guy spells a figurative end to the funk throne’s reign better than any image i can imagine.

and it was exactly so. best i can gather by 1980 the wicker peacock chair and its offshoots, once the proud ass-rest for the stankiest, funkiest among us, seems to have fallen by the wayside and has remained in obscurity to this very day.

initially i’d intended on putting together a few “what-if” images to illustrate my notion that it’s high time for a return of the once mighty wicker peacock chair… i thought perhaps i’d drop kanye or common or madlib into one. as it turns out i accidentally came across an image which removed the need for any photoshop trickery-

yup, that’s the one and only nas chilling in his very own funk throne, and with a carved cane no less. this shot proved to me that my instincts were correct… i now fully expect a resurgence of the mighty wicker symbol of all things founkay. will 2006 be the year? we shall see.