ladder back

a chair back having a number of horizontal slats between uprights.

Origin of ladder back

First recorded in 1905–10

The ladder-back chair is, as its name denotes, decorated with horizontal supports, ladder fashion.

Chats on Cottage and Farmhouse Furniture |Arthur Hayden
A chair termed the "ladder-back" was in use in France at the same time.

Chats on Old Furniture |Arthur Hayden
In some types of Yorkshire tables the stretchers are splat-form, like a ladder-back chair.

Chats on Cottage and Farmhouse Furniture |Arthur Hayden
Rag rugs lay upon the floor, a table occupied the centre of the living room, and around it were four ladder-back chairs.

Finding the Lost Treasure |Helen M. Persons

ladder back

a type of chair in which the back is constructed of horizontal slats between two uprights