A couch (or sofa, for the eastern-minded) is a long upholstered seat that provides comfort for two or more people. The word comes from the French words for “to lie down” and may be an abbreviation of divan, a Turkish word for an elongated cushioned seat.
Historically, couches were used for sipping wine at the symposium, where participants reclined while discussing philosophy and politics. A bronze horse head tied with a panther skin and corkscrew curls is an homage to the wine god Dionysus and makes this sofa especially suitable for the leisurely activities of the symposium. Today, leather and boucle fabrics are common, while polyurethane foams and polyester fibers have replaced the less resilient horsehair stuffing of antique furniture. You’ll find a selection of well-made horse hair sofas at 1stDibs, in a variety of styles and time periods.