Furniture

Historically, the most common material for making furniture is wood, but other materials, such as metal and stone, have also been used. Furniture designs have reflected the fashion of every era from ancient times to today. Whereas in most periods a single style dominated, diversity of old and new styles influences present-day design. Some of the most highly prized furniture used in contemporary homes, however, are antiques—pieces anywhere from 50 to 300 or more years old. Today the most astute designers are eclectic, and furniture ranges from innovative designs to adaptations of historical models for special needs, including also carefully made reproductions that duplicate early examples.

The basic requirements of a furniture design are complex, for appearance has always been as important as function, and the general tendency has been to design furniture to complement architectural interiors. Indeed, some forms were conceived architecturally, with legs designed as columns; other forms were at least in part anthropomorphic, with legs in animal forms. Furniture design ranges from simple to elaborate, depending on the pieces’ intended use rather than on the period in which they were made. The earliest records, such as ancient Mesopotamian inventories, describe richly decorated interiors with gold cloth and gilded (overlaid with gold) furniture. Some surviving ancient Egyptian examples are elaborate and were originally sheathed in gold, but many very plain pieces were also made in ancient times. In the history of furniture, however, the elegant work is emphasized, because in general it has been the best preserved. In addition, elaborate designs reveal the most about a period because the elaborate changes more frequently than other styles to reflect new ideas. The simplest work, made for the farmer or worker, tends to be more purely functional and timeless; tables and chairs used by working people in 1800 bc are surprisingly like tables and chairs in farmhouses of ad 1800. Dutch genre paintings of the 1600s and early 19th-century American paintings depict rural interiors that often look remarkably similar.

Reconstruction of the prehistoric house with any certainty is impossible, although all indications are that it contained furniture. A history of furniture must begin with a discussion of the oldest surviving examples, those from the 4th to the 6th Dynasty (c. 2680–2255 bc) of Old Kingdom Egypt.
The dry Egyptian climate and the elaborate burial procedures are in part responsible for the extant pieces, which include stools, tables, chairs, and couches. In addition, wall paintings give insight into the design of Egyptian furniture. In both design and construction the methods used in ancient Egypt are followed wherever furniture is made today. In large pieces, particularly seating and tables, the mortise-and-tenon construction familiar in ancient Egypt is still in use, although the tenon may be replaced by a dowel to speed up production. The sides of more delicate boxes and chests were put together in ancient Egypt by dovetailing, a technique that persists in contemporary work. One ancient Egyptian stool illustrated on a wooden panel (c. 2800 bc, Egyptian Museum, Cairo) from the tomb of Hesire has animal legs as the supports. It does not differ much from a chair (c. 1325 bc, Egyptian Museum) from the tomb of the New Kingdom pharaoh Tutankhamen.

A chair, table, couch, and canopy (c. 2600 bc, Egyptian Museum) from the 4th Dynasty tomb at Giza of Queen Hetepheres, Khufu’s mother, were reconstructed from remnants of their original gold sheathing. They have animal legs, a solid chair back, and arm supports of openwork panels in papyrus patterns. The bed, higher at the head, has a headrest and a footboard. The relief decoration on some of the furniture consists of symbols of gods and scenes of religious significance. Other surviving tables and stools are restrained in design, with legs that are beautifully made but plain. Ornament could have also been applied originally in stamped metal sheathing, but wall paintings do illustrate simple, upholstered pieces.