Why is it called a Chesterfield sofa?

Why it is called a Chesterfield sofa is because of the person who is believed to have first commissioned it. Popular lore dates the Chesterfield sofa to Philip Dormer Stanhope, fourth Earl of Chesterfield. The arbiter of taste and manners in 18th-century England was best known for publishing guides on how to behave in society to attain success. The story goes that he commissioned a sofa in the mid-1700s designed so he could sit on it while not wrinkling his clothes. He later bequeathed it to his godson, and the seating style spread in popularity, eventually becoming an icon of British interior design. On 1stDibs, shop a selection of Chesterfield sofas.