This essay aims to apply the research method of historiography to explore the design change from the massage chair to the chaise longue that occurred in Britain, on the Continent and in the United States in the early twentieth century, and to analyze the change in the arguments of historians from different historical periods in related concepts. The writer outlines this design evolution, and then applies the method of historiography to disclose the change from three aspects. First, the changes in people's cognition of reclining posture and the concept of "comfort" from the cultural dimension are analyzed. Then, the relationship between the body and the chair is explored from the latitude of physiological science from an ergonomic aspect. Finally, a reflection on the phenomenon of the chaise longue as a modernist label is made from the social latitude at the methodological level of material culture research. From the perspective of cultural history and the history of science and technology, the development of historians' views on reclining posture, the concept of "comfort" and the relationship between human and chair in various periods are systematically sorted out, which is conducive to avoding the traditional perspective of research on modern design history research and undertake a more diversified exploration and understanding of the evolution of recliner design.