Furniture

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Furniture

Tomb and Household Furniture. Egyptian craftsmen were famous for their chairs, stools, beds, and storage boxes, and they improved their techniques in the course of a long history. Almost all of the furniture preserved from ancient Egypt comes from tombs. Some furniture was specifically made for tombs and thus is less functional. Other furniture found in tombs shows signs of wear, demonstrating that it was originally used in households. This household furniture is generally of a higher quality and sturdier than furniture manufactured only for burial.

Early Dynastic Period. British archaeologist W. M. F. Petrie (1853–1942) discovered furniture dating to Dynasties 1 (circa 3000-2800 b.c.e.) and 2 (circa 2800-2675 b.c.e.) at Abydos, Saqqara, and Tarkhan. The legs of both beds and chairs were carved to resemble a bull’s legs. Imitation of animal forms in furniture elements continued throughout Egyptian history. The earliest chairs and bed frames were made of wood, with some elite examples in hippopotamus ivory. The chair seats were made of rushes that were woven and plaited across the frame.

Old Kingdom Furniture. In the Dynasty 3 (circa 2675-2625 b.c.e.) tomb of Hesyre, a government official who served under Djoser, family furniture was illustrated. Some beds had bull-shaped legs, while others were made of bent wood. Stools and chairs had both bull-shaped and straight legs. Hesyre also owned boxes decorated with hieroglyphs. This type of decoration for wooden boxes and chests continued throughout Egyptian history. Furniture found in the tomb of Queen Hetepheres I, mother of Khufu, illustrates the high quality of Dynasty 4 (circa 2625-2500 b.c.e.) craftsmanship, at least among products made for the royalty. Hetepheres’ bed was surrounded by a canopy frame, armchairs, and storage boxes that were made from wood covered with a thin sheet of gold. The canopy frame supported a curtain designed to keep out insects and the cold. The curtain was stored in a gilded box, inlaid with faience. The canopy frame had joints sheathed with copper coverings, which would have protected them during repeated assembly and dismantling. Armchairs had lion-shaped legs and solid panels on the back and seat. These panels were covered with goose-feather cushions. Decorative panels, placed between the armrests and seat frame, were carved with the hieroglyphic sign for Lower Egypt, which is three papyrus flowers entwined.

Middle Kingdom Furniture. By the Middle Kingdom (circa 1980-1630 b.c.e.) utilitarian furniture included simple stools with tapered legs, which can be found at the site of Beni Hasan. Stools were in widespread use, and many have animal-leg designs based on bulls, gazelles, and lions. There were also folding stools with two rectangular interlocking frames fastened by a bronze rivet. A stool made from latticework was popular, as was a simple three-legged stool used in the workshop. Tables were manufactured

with a cavetto cornice, a concave element at the top, and torus molding, a rounded side. These tables thus imitate architectural elements, which are also found on many boxes and are found on temple pylons.

New Kingdom Innovations. Most of the New Kingdom (circa 1539-1075 b.c.e.) designs follow Middle Kingdom prototypes. Yet, the majority of preserved furniture comes from the latter period. The new type made in the New Kingdom is a round-legged stool. Round legs were handcarved with a spike at the top, with a pivot at the bottom that might have been turned on a lathe, though there is no other evidence for the turning lathe in Egypt before the arrival of Alexander the Great (332 b.c.e.).

Types of Wood. The earliest Egyptian furniture was made from acacia, sycamore fig, and tamarisk wood. All of these woods are indigenous to the Nile valley and continued to be used in all periods, but the better furniture was made from imported woods. The Egyptians began to import cedar from Lebanon in Dynasty 4. Ebony came from parts of Africa south of Egypt by Dynasty 6 (circa 2350-2170 b.c.e.). These two woods were used in elitequality furniture. A coffin discovered at Saqqara was made from a kind of plywood that alternated layers of wood at right angles that were then pegged together.

Tools. Early stone tools used in the Predynastic Period (circa 3100-3000 b.c.e.) were not appropriate for making fine wooden furniture. When copper tools began to be used in Dynasties 1 and 2, the quality of furniture improved dramatically. The tomb of Ti, carved in Dynasty 5 (circa 2500-2350 b.c.e.), depicts a carpenter’s shop. In this shop artisans used adzes, saws, chisels, and a bow drill to make furniture. Sandstone was used like sandpaper to smooth the surface of boards. Geoffrey Killen, an authority on ancient furniture, believes that Middle Kingdom representations of carpenters’ shops show an assembly line with a workman repeating one task and passing the furniture on to a colleague. New Kingdom illustrations of carpenter shops, in contrast, show one craftsman using all of the tools at his disposal, apparently making a complete object by himself.

Joints. Egyptian carpenters invented several methods of joining pieces of wood, many of which are still used by modern carpenters. The most important of these joints is the mortise and tenon, known since the Early Dynastic Period (circa 3000-2675 b.c.e.). The dovetail joint was already used on Hetepheres’ furniture in Dynasty 4. Nails were nearly unknown.

Surface Finishes. Many furniture pieces were coated in white plaster. This coating allowed the carpenter to disguise the poor quality of wood. Other pieces were painted over a thin gesso foundation. Gesso was also used to set inlay, which could be made from faience, colored stone, or gold foil. Furniture from Tutankhamun’s tomb was finished with marquetry and veneers. Tutankhamun’s chairs were also decorated with scenes. Among the most famous is a chair back depicting the king, seated, while his wife rubs his shoulder with oil. The scene is created entirely from glass and silver inlay pressed into gold foil.