egyptian furniture

7/30/2019 Egyptian Furniture

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EGYPTIAN FURNITURE


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Many Pre-dynastic burials in the Nile valley have the body placed on

wooden poles and covered with a matting made of plant fibre while

some burials are found in primitive wooden boxes.

By the unification of Upper and Lower Egypt we find bed frames were in

common use with many examples being found in 1st dynasty (3100-

2890 BC) tombs.

The quality of these bed frames ranged from conveniently shaped

branches that were lashed together, to sophisticated examples made

from rounded poles that were jointed together and supported on finely

carved bovine shaped legs.


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Of all the beds found, this one is the finest and most elaborate with a

carved ebony frame covered in gold sheet. It has a string-mesh mattress

and its footboard is divided into three panels.

The central panel is decorated in relief with the "sema-tawy" symbol of

unification; the other two panels show plant designs.

Noting the scratch marks on the gold, the excavator concluded that this

bed was actually used by the king during his lifetime.


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The Egyptian bed was a rectangular woodenframe with a mat of woven cords.

Instead of using pillows, the Egyptians used acrescent-shaped headrest at one end of thebed. Beds were made of a woven mat placedon wooden framework standing on animal-shaped legs.

At one end was a footboard and at the otherwas a headrest made a curved neckpiece seton top of a short pillar on an oblong base


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Headrests were used in

ancient Egypt and arestill used in some

African regions to

protect the head of the

sleeper and ease thecirculation of air around

the head in the hot

summer nights.


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At the beginning of the Old Kingdom, which opens with the 3rd dynasty

(2686-2613BC), there were major advances in building and the

associated trade of carpentry.

The quality of royal furniture made during this period can be seen in

those examples discovered by the American Egyptologist George

Reisner, in the 4th dynasty tomb of Queen Hetepheres (c 2600 BC) at

Giza.

When he opened the tomb, he found that the wooden elements fromwhich the furniture had been made had rotted away to powder.

However, it proved possible to reconstruct much of the Queen's furniture

by studying the positions of the gold sheaths, which had encased the

furniture, and the inlays that had fallen free and lay on the tombs floor.

Hetepheres' furniture consisted of two armchairs, bed frame, bedcanopy, carrying chair and two boxes.


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We see the introduction of the wooden boxat the end of the Old Kingdom. They weremanufactured with flat, gable, barrel andshrine shaped lids. Some were very largeand were designed with a pair of poles thatenabled the box to be carried by a team of

porters. During the Middle Kingdom we find boxes

were customized to hold cosmetics. Manywere designed like crates to hold smallalabaster jars which held perfumed oils.Other boxes have been found tocontain mirrors, kohl containers, combs andeven a pair of slippers!

Other elaborate boxes held jewellery, thesewere usually inlaid or veneered with sheetsof ivory or exotic timbers bought from landssouth of Egypt.

Scribes even had boxes in which theystored their writing implements and palette.Their boxes were usually painted to imitatethe stringing and veneered panels found onmore ornate boxes.


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Tables were widely used for the

display of vases or holding water

pots. Many are low with straight legs

and have a single stretcher strung

below the table top.

We also see that Egyptian

carpenters were constructing splay

legged tables which had cavetto

cornice mouldings below the edge of

the table top.

Slender vase stands were made

from thin strips of timber braced with

cross and angled struts. They were

fitted with a shaped collar which held

the round base of a single vase.

cavetto cornice


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Chairs made during the Middle

Kingdom had either short backs over

which was draped a cover or cushionor they had backs of full height.

Such chair backs were curved and

made from angled slats of timber. We

see that they stood on slendergazelle-shaped legs.

Often chairs were painted to simulate

animal skin which were painted with a

technique which resembles cow skinand was used on an arrow quiver case

which is preserved in the Egyptian

Museum, Cairo.


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By the New Kingdom, the homes of

officials and nobles would have been

furnished with a wide range of furniture, the

most common of which would have been

the stool.

Egyptians used a large number of different

types of stool. The most commonly used

were lattice stools that were made from

thin struts of timber with angled braces

supporting a double cove seat.

Round legged stools appear in some of the

more important Theban tombs. The

majority of legs from these stools were

hand rounded although there is a small

corpus of material which have legs that

appear to be turned. homes of high rankingofficials.


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During the New Kingdom we see carpenters

sitting on three legged stools which allowed

the stool to rest evenly on the workshop floor. The folding stool originates in the Middle

Kingdom and was made from two interlocking

frames with a leather seat.

New Kingdom examples are more elaborate

having the floor rails and crossing spindles

finished with carved goose head terminals

which are inlaid with ivory to imitate the eyesand neck feathers.


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This is one of the couches of King

Tutankhamun. It is in the form of the

goddess Mehet-weret, the cow goddess

of the sky whose name means "great

flood."

The two cow heads are surmounted by

two horns flanking a solar disk. The

eyes of the cows are inlaid with glass

paste and the body is decorated withdark brown spots. The legs of the cows,

which form the legs of the bed, are

fixed to a rectangular wooden frame.

The surface of the bed is made of fibers

covered with a layer of stucco.

The central panel is decorated with the

Djed and the Ankh signs, which are

covered with gold sheet.


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The furniture manufactured in the royal workshops

were not very different in design to that used by the

middle classes.

However, they were exquisitely embellished with

gold sheet, inlaid with colored stones and faience or

veneered with ebony and ivory. They were also

adorned with the uraeus and the symbols of kingship.Other pieces are inlaid with thousands of slivers of

coloured wood in either marquetry or parquetry

patterns.

The illustrious examples of furniture discovered inthe Tomb of Tutankhamun ( 1336-1327 BC) show

the outstanding quality of design and construction

achieved by 18th dynasty carpenters.


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egyptian furniture

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