Yıldız, Inar 328 -Mesopotamian and Egyptian Furniture and Interior Decoration 1 INAR 328 Furniture...

Yıldız, Inar 328 - Mesopotamian and Egyptian Furniture and Interior Decoration 1

INAR 328 Furniture Styles in History Part II: Ancient Furniture

Mesopotamian and Egyptian Furniture

Mesopotamian Houses

The upper classes such as priests and merchants lived in double-storey houses. Craftsmen and trades people genereally built a single storey building.

Houses wer built form mud bricks dried in the sun and were centered around a courtyard to get light and air to the rooms as well as security and protection.

Mesopotamian Furniture: Furniture included foot stools, tables, few storeage chests. Bed sometimes

used, but usually people slep on mats on the floor. Some Mesopotamian furniture was quite elaborate, with elegant upholstry,

carved animal-like legs, and relief inlays. Although virtually no examples have survived, inlays and reliefs provide an

idea of what furniture form the Tigris-Euphrates Valley looked like. Tables, stools, and thrones are illustrated in works from about 3500 to 800 BC. A Sumerian standard –a box on a pole (c.3500-3200) BC., Iraq Museum, Baghdad) has shell inlays that illustrate very simple chairs and thrones. Also surviving is a Sumerian harp (c.2685 BC.) currently exhibited in university of Pennsylvania Museum, Philadelphia, that has rich, colorful inlays and a bearded bull’s head carved in the round and covered in gold foil. A stele, or carved stone slab, made about 2300 BC. Shows a backless throne that appears to have been elegantly upholstered but had very plain straight legs. The furniture shown in a relief dating back 9th century BC, currently exhibited in British Museum, London, of the Assyrian king Ashurnasirpal II and his queen is more elaborate, with tables and thrones supported on trumpet-shaped and animal-form legs and embellished with relief decoration.

A ‘turned’ throne with lion legs, sculptured feet and ‘tassels’, depicted on a ceremonial doorframe. Persian, 6th century BC.; Standard of Ur:


Entertainment scene; Accesories and furniture from Mesopotamia area. 2.3 Assyrian king on his throne. Persian King on his throne. Egyptian Furniture and Interior Decoration: Ancient Egypt was a land in which very few large trees grew. Although wood was so scarce, it seems that this encouraged the natives for the best use of what they possess or could possess through importation. The wealth of early examples of furniture from this country which survive today is a product of the practice of burying furniture in the tombs, ,n the belief that it would be needed in the afterlife; the dryness of the desert environment and the taboo, is spite of the violation of the treasure hunters, helped for the preservation many of these funerary pieces for later generations. Even craftsmen were allowed a simple chest and a stool in their graves. However, most of the ancient Egyptian surviving furniture has come from the tombs of the members of royal families and the aristocratic classes, notably the Fourth Dynasty Queen Herepheres and form eighteenth dynasty yuya and Thuyu (grandparents of Akhenaton), the grand vizier Kha and his wife Meryet, and the Pharao Tuttankhamun. Wood Used for Furniture and Interior Decoration: Acacia, carob, fig, juniper, doum palm, sycamore and some other local wood were used. Hardwoods like ebony were imported from eastern Africa, and cedar and pine from the Lebanon, mainly from Byblos. The Palermo Stone records of Snefru's reign: Bringing of 40 ships filled (with) cedar wood. Also the story of Wenamon’s trip to bring timber is interesting. The Use of Wood: Besides the usage of timber and wood for the construction of the Egyptian barks and naval ships, it was used for furniture making. The building industry did not use much wood, as houses were built of adobe bricks and temples and tombs of rock. Still, some wood was needed for roofs, second storey floors, shutters and doors, and the pillars supporting the ceiling were often trunks of palm trees. Furniture - beds, chairs, stools, tables, cabinets and chests – musical instruments, board-games and toys were generally made of wood, and, when in the possession of the affluent, often with inlaid decorations and mostly painted. As a cheaper alternative to stone, tombs were at times built from wood, and so were coffins. Originally, these were simple boxes, but with the passage of time they began to receive painted decorations and their shape reflected that of the mummy buried inside them. Wood was also not infrequently used for other burial equipment such as statues or canopic jars. Carpenters and cabinetmakers worked in groups and had a sophisticated array of tools. Axes and saws for cutting the trunks into planks, adzes for shaping, planing and shaving, awls and bow drills for boring holes, chisels and wooden


mallets for shaping and cutting grooves. For lack of jaw-vices they tied the logs to be sawed in half to a pole sticking in the ground, smaller pieces of wood were clamped down with a hand or a foot while the other hand held the saw.

Pieces of wood were joined by tenons or dowels and glued together. Occasionally metal nails were used. Minor flaws were then shaved off with an adze or covered with gesso and the artefact was burnished and finally painted.

The oldest piece of plywood was found in a third dynasty coffin, made of six layers of wood each 4 mm thick and held together by wooden pegs. Like modern plywood the grain of its layers was arranged crosswise to give it added strength. From 1750 B.C. onwards this plywood technique became widespread. The thickness of the layers was reduced to less than three millimeters and they were stuck together with a glue made from bone, sinew and cartilage applied hot.

Sculptors had a problem with the local wood as it very seldom yielded logs big enough for life-sized statues. They overcame this by joining a number of logs with wooden dowels. Wood became a popular material during the fifth dynasty.

The production of musical instruments called for special woodworking techniques. Often the wood had to be straightened or, conversely, bent into a permanent arc. This was achieved by heating branches before peeling off their bark and inserting them, still hot, into the forklike top of a peg rammed firmly into the ground. With an additional lever the branches were then bent into the appropriate shape.

Egyptian Furniture:

Very little Old Kingdom furniture has survived and hence we must resort to wall paintings to gain pictures of it. What can be seen from this period was divided into two groups: platform places such as benches, chairs, tables, beds couches, and stools; and boxes such as chests and cupboards.

Surface ornamentation from the Old Kingdom was in the form of gilding and carving. However, shape, proportion and texture are the factors to reveal their decorative character which in fact recalls the status of their owner.

From Egypt, coffins as well as throne, beds and chests were found. Chests had bolt systems but without locks. Beds found in Egypt were decorated with ivory. They usually had footboard and a separate carved head-rest served the function of headboard and pillow.

Chair, originated from the backless stools which were first used in Neolithic period. The Egyptians made high becked chairs in 2800 BC. The most splendid chairs were made as thrones for the political leaders. e.g. kings. Thrones and chairs featured carved lion-paw feet, beds were decorated with animal skins and colourful mats, giving us a clue to the importance that the ancient Egyptians placed on decoration as well as comfort.


Fig. 3. 1-5 Egyptian Furnitures.

The presence of stools, footrests, small cabinets, small tables, and even vases, points to a very fairly high level organization in living arrangements, even at this early stage in the development of Egyptian culture. Four legged stools with animal shaped legs and sturdy square seats made from concave wood or woven or braided rushes were important items of the time.

Stools and footstools were common in antiquity. Crude three leg stools were common in Egypt. But also others with shaped seats, supported on four legs, square of rounded, strengthened by vertical and diagonal struts. Footstools were made to accompany armchairs. Armchairs were the symbols of status symbols. Armless chairs of varying heights with lion legs, became numerous during Middle Kingdom.

Tables are ancient forms developed by Egyptians and Greek times. Usually they were portable ones used for meals. Round tables on three legs were used by Ancient Greeks and later by Romans. Tripods were the earlier versions of these to hold cauldrons, braziers, etc.

Chests without drawers, cupboards and sideboards existed in antiquity. Egyptian chest which are usually known through the fresk painting found on the walls of the pyramids were usually designed to represent a house. They had vaulted lids and panelled sides, possibly simulating the exterior appearance of large contemporary dwellings. They usually had doors and window motifs on these decorations. Squares, circles and stripe motifs were turned into abstract ornament on Egyptian coffins and Greek vases. These reappeared on the furniture of 19th cent. designed by Mackintosh and Wiener Weskestätte.

Fig. 4. 1-4 Egyptian furniture and accessories.


Egyptians did not eat at large tables. A low offering table for personal use,

usually made of alabaster marble, was supplemented by a tall stand that had a ring rather than a top to be used for basin or ever. There were gaming tables, whose tops are inlaid very much like that of a chess-board. These tables had a drawer at one end to hold the pieces used for the game. Interiors of Egyptian Houses Throughout the history of the world, no region has been more influenced by the natural attributes of the land than Egypt. The rhythm of the Nile reflected the rhythm of life in Egypt for thousands of years. In ancient Egypt, the Nile was their main source for survival and for the great triumph of their civilization. The Nile was not only the source of water, but the ancient Egyptians had religious beliefs that focused on the Nile. They relied on the gods to control the annual ebb and flow of the river. They constructed their homes from the soil of the Nile, and built them in proximity to the river. When describing the life of an ancient Egyptians, it is virtually impossible not to consider this river as part of their way of life. Many of the major settlements in Egypt, such as Cairo and Giza, were located right along the corridor of the river Nile.

Egyptian palace; Egyptian house model; Egyptian houses near the sun temple; Model of a Egyptian house and its garden.

Egyptian houses were typically built in along the Nile. They had to be built high in order to avoid annual flooding from the Nile. The living areas were often on the top floors and many activities were done on the roof of the houses. High sand dunes were erected as barriers from flood water.

Houses of the Ancient Egyptians were built out of bricks made from mud. The mud was collected in leather buckets and taken to the building site. Here workers added straw and pebbles to the mud to strengthen the bricks. This mixture was then poured into wooden brick frames or molds. The bricks were left out in the sun to dry and to cure. These dwellings deteriorated after time, and new ones were built right on top of the crumbled material, creating hills called tells. Only buildings that were meant to last forever were made of stone. After the house was built it was covered with plaster, very similar to the technique used in adobe housing in Cyprus or Anatolia. Inside of the house, the plaster was often painted with either geometric patterns or scenes from nature. The interior of the houses were cool as the small windows let in only a little light

There were two types of homes typical in Egypt: The home of the workers’ and the town house. The average dimension of the workers house was approximately 4m by 20m. A typical workers home ranged from two to four rooms on the ground level, an enclosed yard, a kitchen at the back of the house and two underground cellars for storage. Niches in the walls held religious objects. The roof was also used as living space and storage. There


was little furniture, the best luxury was to own the beds and small chests for keeping clothes. There was no running water and sometimes a single well served an entire town. Egyptian villagers spent most of their time out of doors. They often slept, cooked, and ate on the top of their houses' flat roofs.

Entering from the street, there were steps into the entrance hall. The entrance hall had a cupboard bed, the use of it is uncertain. The next room had a distinctive wooden pillar in the middle supporting the roof. This was the main room of the house, and it was used as a shrine or a reception area. The master of the house had his master’s chair sitting atop a raised platform. There were several stools and one or two tables for the guests, and the room was lit by a high small window located above the roof of the first room. This room was decorated with holy images along the walls, and a table with offerings in front of a false door. Underneath the masters raised platform (dais), a trap door leads down a flight of stairs into the cellar, where valuables could be kept.

Behind the central room was a hall with a door on the side leading to a

bedroom. The bedroom and the roof were used interchangeably as resting areas. At the end of the hall was the kitchen with an open roof. In the kitchen was a door leading to another cellar that served as a pantry. Different heights in the roofs allowed for more private windows in the house.

Houses of the Wealthy Egyptians: Wealthy Egyptian people had spacious estates with comfortable houses. The houses had high ceilings with pillars, barred windows, tiled floors, painted walls, and stair cases leading up to the flat roofs where one could overlook the estate. There would be pools and gardens, servant's quarters, wells, granaries, stables,


and a small shrine for worship. The wealthy lived in the countryside or on the outskirts of a town.

The homes of the wealthy and noble classes were large. The typical town houses of ancient Egypt had many features similar to the workers houses. Town houses were typically two to three stories high. They were typically more spacious and more comfortable than the workers houses. They made high walls that supported multiple-story buildings by reinforcing them with beams. In multi-story homes, stones were often used in the first floor for greater strength at the base. The first level of the house was usually the working area where business was conducted, and servants would remain. The second and third floors are more adorned and were the living areas of the house with similar features to the workers home.

The layout of one of the northern Great Houses according to Petrie's educated guesswork 1 Main entrance 2 Doorkeeper's lodge 3 Offices, guest rooms 4 Pillared hall 5 Private quarters 6 The mandara, i.e. reception room for strangers 7 Open courtyard 8 Best hall, with columns and tank 9 Private rooms 10 Visitors' passage to the mandara 11 Women's hall 12 Women's quarters 13 Store rooms

Fig. Great House. Fig. The House of Dhehutinefer The House of Djehutinefer

Djehutinefer was a royal scribe and treasurer under Amenhotep II. He lived and was buried at Thebes, where drawings of his townhouse were found. According to the depiction of its outside, it was narrow and tall with a wide entrance. The walls were painted blue.

He had a second tomb made for himself where a kind of a cross section of his house was depicted.

They were usually two to three stories high. The ground floor was often reserved for businesses, while the upper floors provided living space for the family. Many people slept on the flat roof during the summer to keep cool.

Cooling was also a factor to keeping cooking outside. Egyptians always tried to keep their houses cool from the prevalent warm temperatures. Windows were constructed close to the ceilings in order to maintain cool temperatures indoors. Also mats were often spread on the floors for cooling. Proper sanitation was a luxury that only the wealthier townspeople could have. They would have toilets carved of limestone, and the sewage would be disposed of into pits in the streets.

Cooking was also often done on the roof. The food was prepared on the roof and brought down to the rooms by the servants. Cooking was done outside because it was considered dangerous to do it in an enclosed area inside the house.


Furniture in Egyptian Houses

s, even the wealthy ones, had a very limited assortment of The ancient Egyptianfurniture.

A low, square stool, the corners of which flared upwards and on top was placed a leather seat or cushion, was the most common type of furnishing.

Chairs were rare and they only belonged to the very wealthy. Small tables were made of wood or wicker and had three to four legs. There were tables, which were generally low and had four legs, though thr

and even one legged dining and gaming tables were known. These round xAwt-tables were mostly made of wood, but a few stone tables have also been found and some were made of metal. Their use does not seem to have

ee

.

ead out their ossibly not for all to enjoy:

been widespread, apart from their being placed in tombs as offering tablesIn funerary depictions these offering tables for the dead are laden with food. Pictures of feasting scenes show similar abundance; the rich liked to spr

food on tables for all to see, though pAt the table of one greater than you, Take what he gives as it is set before you;

Beds were made of a woven mat placed on wooden framework standing onanimal-shaped legs. At one end was a footboard and at the other was a headres

t made a curved neckpiece set on top of a short pillar on an oblong base.

Since the early Dynastic Period at least there existed beds with wooden frames on legs covered with strips of leather or cloth and white linen bed sheets. These frames were put together using tenons and mortices. No

res exist. d,

mattresses have been found, although pictuIt is however good when beds are readieThe masters' headrests safely secured;

Like many other African peoples the Egyptians used headrests madestone, ivory or wood, instead of pillows for sleeping on. It has been proposed that little cushions were placed on the headrests to soften them, but this conjecture is purely speculative. They were at times decoratedimages of Bes and other go

of

with ds, seemingly in an attempt to protect the

sleeper from evil. Headrests were connected with the rising sun and had therefore great

symbolic importance. They often supported the heads of mummies or were placed in the tomb near the mummy and figure more prominently in graves than any other piece of everyday furniture.

Lamp stands held lamps of simple bowls of pottery containing oil and a wick. Chests were used to store domestic possessions such as linens, clothing,

jewelry, and make-up.

Houses were mostly sparsely furnished. The majority of Egyptians did not

have many belongings that had to be hidden away. A chest or two was used to store valuables: textiles, jewellery.


A few baskets would furnish plenty of storing space. Tables were rarelyEven scribes, more affluent than the average Egyptian, did not write their scrolls sitting at

used.

a table, but generally squatted on the floor, holding a wooden board on which the papyrus was spread with one hand and writing with the other.

Kitchen work was done crouching with the cooking utensils laid out on the n sat floor. In many houses there would be a few low stools, but people ofte

simply on the ground. This tradition continued until lately. And while the wealthy slept on

mattress filled with straw or wo

beds, the ol, a mat o

poor had to mar even the plain

ke do with a floor.

Mattings

Chairs and stools were rarely used, and most ancient Egyptians sat on thfloor, which was, even in palaces, made of stamped

e clay; and mats to sit on

were introduced early. Bed frames were covered with mattings made of plaited strips of material, such as leather or cloth.

Windows and, at least during the earliest times of the dynastic period, dowere at times be covered with mattings which could be

ors rolled up when not in

use. A reminder of these door mattings are stone cylinders above Old Kingdom tomb entrances, simulated rolls of matting.

Mats were also often hung on walls. They could be decorated by using varying plaiting techniques or differently coloured strands of material.

Ships, according to Herodotus, had sails made of papyrus matting. Mats played a role in funerary practices early on. The corpse was often la

out on a mat, covered with or wrapped in it. id

Since the early Dynastic Period at least there existed beds with wooden frames on legs covered with strips of leather or cloth and white linen bed sheets. Th d mortices. No mat

It is however good when beds are readied,

ese frames were put together using tenons antresses have been found, although pictures exist.

the masters' headrests safely secured;

There are two examples of excavated villages, one at El-Amarna, and theother at Deir el-Medinah. The workers village at El-Amarna was laid out alonstraight narrow streets, within a boundary wall. The houses were small, barrack-like dwellings, where animals lived as well as people. Many houses had keyhole-shaped hearths and jars sunk into the floor. There was no well in the village and the water had to be brought from some distance away. Life must have been far more pleasant in the village of Deir el-Medina, home tothe workers of the Theban royal tombs. There was a single street with ten houses on either side. The houses in

g

this village had three large rooms, a yard and a kitchen, underground cellars for storage, and niches in the walls

. for statues of household gods Egyptian Revival Furniture:


. tremely popular in

of

ctive uity can be accentuated with

gyptian ornaments, carvings, hieroglyphics and pyramids. The furniture during the Neo-classic era are valuable and beautiful and ideal

nbul, Habitat II, 1996,

y’s

In the early 19th century, Napoleon carried out several military campaigns in Egypt. He was fascinated by ancient Egyptian designs and Egyptian décorEgyptian style furniture and Egyptian home décor became exFrance, called Empire furniture, and this fashion quickly spread to the restEurope as well as to England, Regency furniture, and America, American Empire. This began the Neoclassical era in furniture design. The 20th century interest in Egyptology and pyramid theories has again popularized Egyptian fashion and décor. Egyptian theme furniture is attraand fun, and the atmosphere of mystery and antiqEproduced starting points for room décor in Egyptian style. Sources: Hawkes, Jacquetta (1976/1983). The Atlas of Early Man, (Assisted by David Trump), London Housing and Settlement in Anatolia: A Historical Perspective, IstaTurkey, History Foundation. Morley, John (1999). Furniture, the Western Tradition, History, Style Design, 1999, London, Thames and Hudson. Karageorghis, V. (1968). Cyprus, (Archaeologia Mvndi), Geneva Philip, Peter (1995). “Early Furniture” in: Payne, Christopher (ed.) (1995). SothebConcise Encyclopedia of Furniture, London: Conran Octopus. P. 13-22. Furniture Styles: http://www.furniturestyles.net/ http://uk.encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761563034_8/Furniture.html

eir_el_medine.htmEncarta: “Furniture”: http://nefertiti.iwebland.com/building/d http://nefertiti.iwebland.com/building/djehutinefer.htm http://nefertiti.iwebland.com/building/senusrethotep.htm

tmhttp://nefertiti.iwebland.com/timelines/topics/furniture.h http://nefertiti.iwebland.com/basketry/index.html http://nefertiti.iwebland.com/building/ays_palace_2.gif http://nefertiti.iwebland.com/trades/carpenters.htm http://nefertiti.iwebland.com/timelines/topics/wood.htm

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Yıldız, Inar 328 -Mesopotamian and Egyptian Furniture and Interior Decoration 1 INAR 328 Furniture...

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