The Romance of Furniture

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 77, 22 June 1927, Page 12

The Romance of Furniture

HOME BEGINNING I. (Written for THE SUN.) “Domestic architecture may be called the history of man’s life indoors,” says Mr. W. Shaw Sparrow. “Each step in advance, however trivial and tentative, was brought about by one of three things, or by the three acting together and in unison—first, fear, with a wish to get away from dangers; second, comfort, an ideal wonderfully slow in its development. Refinement and privacy did not exist in early times. Third, a desire to protect women, followed by\ a feeling of some respect for their kind genius” ' Fear drove the mammoth-hunter into the depths of his cave, there to crouch in darkness while the lumbering shape of some prehistoric beast blocked out the stars or the snarl of the sabre-toothed tiger sounded in the stillness of primaeval night. Squatting on his haunches or lying coiled like a dog he had no use for furniture. A faint glimmer of the ideal of comfort was to come much later, after the discovery of fire had taught that his life need not be a perpetual chase, with himself always in the principal role —either as the hunter or the quarry. Caves gave place to circular holes underground in the advance of domestic architecture and then circular houses appeared on the surface. Centuries passed before the savage learnt to break the oval into four straight lines and the square house began. ANIMAL INSTINCT The animal instinct to lie on something soft taught him to carry dry grass to his sleeping-place and a development of the herd instinct brought about the beginnings of the community or family feast. So we have the idea of the bed-room and the diningroom, but ages elapsed before even the most rudimentary furniture was invented. ANCIENT CIVILISATION Of really ancient furniture there are few examples, for the main reason that they were in perishable materials. The other reason is stated by an authority who says, “However great the splendour of Egypt, however consummate the taste of Greece, however luxurious the life of Rome, the number of household appliances were very limited. The chair, the couch, the table, the bed, were virtually the entire furniture of early peoples whatever degree of civilisation they had attained and so it remained until the close of the Middle Ages of European history. “During the long Empire-strewn centuries which intervened between the lapse of Egypt, the obliteration of Babylon, the extinction of Greece, the dismemberment of Rome and the groat awakening of the Renaissance, household comfort developed but little. The Ptdlemies were as well lodged as the Plantaganets and peoples who spent their lives in the open air, going to bed in the early hours of darkness and rising as soon as it was light, needed but little household furniture”

Although there are a few examples of very old furniture in museums the main sources of information about it are in mural and sepulchral paintings and sculptures. Elaborately carved and gilded, the couches and chairs of Egypt stood on legs made to represent those of wild animals, and splendid textiles were the coverings. Chests and coffers held the wealth of jewels and raiment. The lion, the bull, and the ram also supported the furniture of Ninevah. The Assyrians inlaid their tables and couches with ivory and precious metals, the woods being cedar and ebony, and perhaps rosewood and walnut. Solomon’s bed was of cedar of Lebanon. Essentially Oriental in form, Greek furniture was I even more sumptuous than the modern. Bronze, damascened with gold and silver was used for the most costly appointments. The Romans, by employing Greek workmen and artists, absorbed the Grecian design, especially in chairs and couches. Their tables were of marbles and rare woods. In the later ages of the Empire in Rome and in Byzantium, gold and silver were plentifully used. Mediaeval fashions followed Rome in its thrones and seats. IN SAXON HALLS The Saxons made themselves homes of wood. The cabin or hall was the general sleeping room, as well as the chamber for feasts and for household work. The hall, little by little, threw out other cabins —a bower in which ladies and chieftains slept, an oratory, where they prayed, a kiln for baking bread, a byre for cattle; but in the hall many people still slept, and out of that one room the English house of to-day was evolved by more than a thousand years of very gradual progress. State seats in feudal halls were benches carved on tracery, the backs panelled and hung with cloths of estate and canopies above. Bedsteads were square frames, the testers of panelled wood resting on carved posts. Chests were of oak carved with panels of tracery and of Italian cypress. Wardrobes were rooms fitted for the reception of dresses, spices and valuable stores. BEOWOLF’S ADVENTURE In the poem of Beowolf, there is a description of the Saxon hall and its appointments. When Beowo-lf comes to the royal hall of Hrothgar, he and his comrades take off their armour and leave it in the porch with a keeper. Now they enter the hall as friends and peaceful men. Long tapestries, bright with the scarlet and gold thread of goodly deeds, drape the walls. The floor is variegated, either paved with shingles or tesselated with paving taken from a Roman villa. Around the hall benches are set, but Hrathgar’s chair or throne stands regally apart. The bottoms of the great twisted ale cups are apparent to the warriors at

every turn of their elbows, and the women replenish the vessels assiduouslv. The night wears on, the bard sings of ancient deeds, the fighters recall their prowess. At last the king reels off to the “bower” assisted by the Queen. They will sleep in queer-looking cupboards. As to Beowolf, he will cloze in the hall “the treasure-house of men, adorned with vessels.” The warriors uncover the bench planks and spread them over with beds and bolsters, but near at hand are laid their ringed-mail shirts, their helmets, their swords, and their wooden shields. During the 12th century in the Southern parts of England, Norman manor houses and the royal palaces were, as a rule, of uniform design, comprising a good hall and a chamber built in stone. This hall, like the Saxon’s, was a bedroom for the servants and retainers, bolsters and sacks of hay being placed on the benches and on the floor. Indoor life and the growth of sedentary habits exercised a powerful influence over the development of furniture. From being massive and exceedingly rare and costly, it became light, plentiful and cheap. In ancient times and in growth of our own civilisation, household furnishings in the crudest forms were the privilege of the great—no person of mean degree would have dared to use a chair, even if he could have obtained one.