phaeton

Any open-air four-wheeled sporting vehicle with seating for two is classified as a phaeton. Phaetons could accommodate one, two, or four horses. There were many variations of the phaeton. A popular version was the high-perch or highflyer phaeton, made fashionable by the Prince Regent. Its exaggerated elevation often made it dangerously unstable, which, naturally, made it popular among sportsmen.

The print, showing a high-perch phaeton, is from the magazine Gallery of Fashion, August 1794. (It's so high off the ground, one has to wonder how the ladies got up into it!)

This glossary term is categorized as General
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