Why a “clawfoot”?
The clawfoot motif (or, more accurately, claw-and-ball) did not originate with clawfoot tubs. It’s actually of Chinese origin, and originally represented a dragon’s foot grasping a pearl. This design was adapted by the seafaring Dutch, and can be seen in many 18th-century Dutch-style chairs. The clawfoot design began to appear in inventories of American furniture in the mid-18th century (e.g., “crow foot chairs” and “eagle feet and shells”), more than a century before the invention of the clawfoot tub. The claw and ball was a standard feature of the cabriole legs of Queen Anne and Chippendale furniture. The clawfoot took different forms in England and the U.S.: in England, it was usually an animal claw, while in the U.S. it was usually a bird. The likely reason for this difference is that the lion was the symbol of the British Empire, while the eagle features prominently in America’s national iconography.
