This chair is known as a "Greek" chair because the legs are similar to those on Greek thrones and stools, which Godwin sketched from the Elgin marbles in the British Museum. The design is advanced for its time. The lack of superficial ornament and overall angularity were inspiration to the modern design movement. Though Godwin was not the only designer to develop a vocabulary using the slant back (Christopher Dresser incorporated one into a chair design during the same period), the chair provides a dramatic visual continuum from Godwin to other designers, like Frank Lloyd Wright and Gerrit Rietveld.