Museum of Antiquity: A Description of Ancient LifeYaggy, L. W. (Levi W.)
History
Museum of Antiquity: A Description of Ancient Life
Yaggy, L. W. (Levi W.)
Civilization, Ancient; Classical antiquities
The forms of the chairs varied very much; the larger ones generally
had light backs, and some few had arms. They were mostly about the
height of those now used in Europe, the seat nearly in a line with the
bend of the knee; but some were very low, and others offered that
variety of position which we seek in the kangaroo chairs of our own
drawing-room. The ordinary fashion of the legs was in imitation of
those of some wild animal, as the lion or the goat, but more usually
the former, the foot raised and supported on a short pin; and, what is
remarkable, the skill of their cabinet-makers, even before the time of
Joseph, had already done away with the necessity of uniting the legs
with bars. Stools, however, and more rarely chairs, were occasionally
made with these strengthening members, as is still the case in our own
country; but the drawing-room fauteuil and couch were not disfigured
by so unseemly and so unskillful a support.
The stools used in the saloon were of the same style and elegance as
the chairs, frequently differing from them only in the absence of a
back; and those of more delicate workmanship were made of ebony, and
inlaid, as already stated, with ivory or rare woods. Some of an
ordinary kind had solid sides, and were generally very low; and
others, with three legs, belonged to persons of inferior rank.
The ottomans were simple square sofas, without backs, raised from the
ground nearly to the same level as the chairs. The upper part was of
leather, or a cotton stuff, richly colored, like the cushions of the
fauteuils; the base was of wood painted with various devices; and
those in the royal palace were ornamented with the figures of
captives, the conquest of whose country was designated by their having
this humiliating position. The same idea gave them a place on the
soles of sandals, on the footstools of a royal throne, and on the
walls of the palace at Medeenet Haboo, in Thebes, where their heads
support some of the ornamental details of the building.
Footstools also constituted part of the furniture of the sitting-room;
they were made with solid or open sides, covered at the top with
leather or interlaced work, and varied in height according to
circumstances, some being of the usual size now adopted by us, others
of inconsiderable thickness, and rather resembling a small rug.
Carpets, indeed, were a very early invention, and they are often
represented sitting upon them, as well as on mats, which are commonly
used in their sitting-rooms, as at the present day, and remnants of
them have been found in the Theban tombs.
Their couches evinced no less taste than the fauteuils. They were of
wood, with one end raised, and receding in a graceful curve; and the
feet, as in many of the chairs, already described, were fashioned to
resemble those of some wild animal.
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