Hardly anyone can imagine that quite ordinary interior items, such as a table or wardrobe, were once indicators of luxury and high status of their owner. Today, furniture decorates not only rooms, but also parks, gardens, streets. It is actively used in the organization of any environment of residential and public places, and is a separate branch of applied art.
The history of furniture, according to archaeological data, originates in very ancient times, when a person first begins to create comfort in his modest home. Resting places made of skins, wooden decks, cradles for babies made of wood. Unfortunately, all this has not survived to this day. The oldest examples of furniture were found in Egypt and date back to the third millennium BC.
First stool
Egypt, as one of the most ancient centers of human civilization, has managed to preserve the world's rich cultural heritage of the distant past. The architecture of temple and palace complexes, writing on stone and papyrus, the first knowledge in the field of mathematics,medicine and science, jewelry. This is where the history of furniture begins.
In the royal burials of the dynastic era 3400-2980. BC e. ordinary and folding wooden stools with elephant tusk legs, as well as individual fragments of ebony chests, were found. In the burials of crowned persons of the second millennium BC, archaeologists have found a semblance of a modern bed and chair. The bed was a rectangular wooden frame covered with a golden sheath, which was covered with ropes or straps in the form of a net. Her bizarre legs skillfully displayed the paws of an animal, a lion or a wolf. Various chests and caskets were decorated with patterns of geometric shapes and inlaid with green and blue malachite, turquoise and ivory. A special fashion for inlaid furniture was revealed in 745-718. BC e. during the reign of the XXIII dynasty.
Furniture in ancient Egypt was made from imported trees of strong species, it was distinguished by its special strength, rigidity and functionality. Used wood of cedar, fig tree, yew and olive tree.
Furniture of ancient kingdoms
With the development of civilization and the emergence of new empires, new pieces of furniture were born. The history of furniture in ancient Greece can be judged from sculptures and surviving images on vases. It is also known that the Greeks made chests of multifunctional use, which for a long time were the main piece of furniture.
The humid and hot climate of Ancient India formed a peculiar culture:people ate, sat and slept on the floor. Therefore, only for the interiors of the palaces of the nobility were cushions, carpets, low chairs without a back and stools made of an openwork frame with a round-shaped cushion seat. Furniture artisans in their products used everything that nature gave: stone, clay, shells, plant fiber, herbs and trees.
The ancient Romans were distinguished by a special delicate artistic taste, which was reflected in the decoration of their houses. They favored a variety of chairs and beds over tables. Their furniture was inlaid with precious stones and metals, and decorated with intricate carvings. Roman masters used colored marble as a material. At the same time, the first wicker furniture from wicker appears.
By the beginning of the first millennium of our era, some analogues of modern furniture arose.
From simplicity to art
The history of furniture design begins with its development and is closely associated with architectural styles. You can trace the evolution from the simplicity and unpretentiousness of products to their splendor and sophistication.
The Gothic era (XII-XV centuries) gives birth to its own unique style. If in the Middle Ages furniture was made more and more heavy, then with the invention of the “sawmill”, its volumetric structural elements were greatly facilitated. Interior items become comfortable and durable.
As the standard of living improved, requests began to be received from members of the nobility for more luxurious decoration of houses. Masters try to giveobjects of special harmony and grace: a carpenter, carver, gilder and painter take up the matter. Furniture becomes a familiar piece of furniture. In the same period, echoing the complex compositions of architectural structures, the first "multi-storey" furniture was created.
Arrival cabinet
If you carefully track the history of the appearance of furniture, you will notice that it was the chest that was the ancestor of various interior elements. Due to its mobility, it was one of the most important items in every home. The abundance of things stored in the chest from time to time served as its vertical "stretching". At the end of the 15th century in Holland, such a chest was placed on the end, and the first analogue of the cabinet was obtained. A little later, a second chest was attached to it, which became the prototype of a double wardrobe.
In France, at the beginning of the 16th century, the chest was placed on the underframe, as a result of which a “cabinet” appeared. And since that time, the era of the wardrobe has come, it is constantly being improved, turning into an exquisite and sought-after element of the interior.
Architectural styles changed, furniture improved and changed. Rococo pushed baroque and brought with it dressing tables, canapés and secretaries.
The advent of upholstered furniture
Objects resembling upholstered furniture have existed since ancient times. For example, in the culture of Persia, certain elevations, decorated with carpets and pillows, were used for rest and reclining. The inhabitants of Egypt and Greece, creating various models of seats, alsosoftened them with pads.
By the middle of the 17th century, during the period of classicism, France, as a true trendsetter in the interior, gave birth to the first models of modern upholstered furniture. The history of the creation of a comfortable seat tells that at first chairs and sofas were covered with a simple fabric. As the layered clothing of aristocrats became lighter, sitting on hard seats became more and more uncomfortable. Fabric-covered furniture began to be filled with sheep's wool, horsehair, swan's down or dry grass.
Boule style furniture
In the second half of the 17th century, an outstanding master who worked in the workshops of the Louvre under Louis XIV, gives birth to a special style of artistic furniture. André-Charles Boulle combines well-known ways of decorating furniture in one work, without losing the clarity of the picture as a whole and the logic of the design itself. As a professional ebony artist, he gracefully combines different types of wood, using gilded copper for the first time. Having previously studied the technique of tortoiseshell inlay, the master decides to apply it to furniture decor.
Charles Boulle left a significant mark on the history of furniture development. Currently, his preserved collections can be seen in the Louvre (Paris), the Getty Museum (Los Angeles) and in a number of French palaces.
French Empire style furniture
The change in the nature of furniture in France at the end of the 18th century was influenced by the passion for antiquity. Bonaparte's campaigns and the archaeological excavations of Pompeii contributed significantly to this trend. Style,replacing classicism, symbolized the greatness and power of the empire (empire) created by Napoleon.
The attraction to antiquity was reflected in the decoration of houses, which began to be decorated in a Greco-Roman way, according to history. In production, furniture of this style was distinguished by characteristic architectural forms (columns, consoles, pilasters), which were used to divide the front of chests of drawers and cabinets. The situation was not distinguished by convenience, preference was given to the beauty, massiveness of objects. The use includes bookcases with bars, open sideboards, standing mirrors. Sliding elements are invented.
History of Russian furniture
Unlike European furniture, most of the exhibits of which have been perfectly preserved, the furniture of Russian antiquity is presented in a very modest amount. Due to little surviving historical information, the dates of creation of some elements are not precisely determined and cause controversy. It is known that the manufacture of furniture in Russia was closely associated with the construction of a dwelling, the architecture of which developed extremely slowly and was of a very stable character. The interior of the houses was quite simple, even the furniture of we althy people did not differ in sophistication. The main items were benches, tables, stools and benches, chests appeared much later.
Furniture in the history of Russia begins to develop only in the 17th century, when the international relations of the state are expanding significantly. Chairs with high backs, armchairs, caskets and Venetian mirrors appeared in the royal chambers. AtWorkshops are being established in the Armory Chamber. And in the 18th century, iron furniture of high artistic quality began to be made in Tula.
Russian furniture quickly joined the general flow of European development and managed to maintain its originality and national features.
A chair for everyone
In the 19th century, the Austrian craftsman Mikhail Thonet, dreaming of simple and compact furniture, began to experiment with wooden details. Studying the possibilities of the material, he subjected it to various deformations in every possible way. He managed to invent steel molds and tires for bending wood: in the process, several segments were simultaneously bent. This gave rise to mass production. The rational use of material has led to the cheap manufacture of chairs and armchairs.
Until the end of the 19th century, in general, about 50 million chairs were produced at a very affordable price, which were sat in America, Europe and Russia.
Furniture for children
The history of children's furniture began in ancient Egypt, where small beds were found in graves, differing from adults only in size. It is worth noting that until the 18th century, for the most part, people did not bother with a separate bed for their child. Young children slept most often with their parents or older children.
Specially separate children's furniture as such has not been produced anywhere for a long time. The interior of the children's room resembled the parents' bedroom with a large bed, carpet and paintings, and there was no play area.
The Renaissance gave the childrenfurniture racks, which most often began to be used for books. Changing tables, along with chests of drawers, appeared in the 17th century, but their popularity came much later. This is due to the fact that only we althy families made the purchase to decorate children's rooms.
Fun Facts
- In ancient Greece, benches, stools and chairs were predominantly used by women and children. Men preferred couches and beds.
- According to legend, armrests on chairs appeared after one unpleasant incident at the funeral of the pharaoh. During the official ceremony, the guest fell off an uncomfortable bench.
- In 1911, the inventor Thomas Edison introduced concrete furniture, which, despite its durability and beauty, remained unclaimed.
- The King of France and Navara Louis XIV entered the history of furniture as the owner of the largest collection of beds - 413 pieces.
- The bar counter was invented in the Wild West as a shelter for bartenders from the bullets of disgruntled customers and bandits.
- The one kilometer long sofa was made in Russia in 2014. It can simultaneously accommodate 2.5 thousand people.
