HISTORY OF FURNITURES

Renaissance
Baroque
Neoclassicism
19th And 20th Centuries
FURNITURE DESIGN HISTORY-Timeline
• Furniture design has been a part of the human experience
since the beginning of history.
• Evidence of furniture survives from as far back as the
Neolithic period in the form of paintings, wall murals
discovered at Pompeii,
• In sculpture and examples have also been excavated in
Egyptian pyramids and found in tombs in of modern day
turkey.
• THE advancements, developments, styles and materials in
furniture design CHANGES OVER PERIOD OF TIME.
EVOLUTION
INTERIOR DESIGN AND DECORATION DATES BACK TO THE PALEOLITHIC
ERA.
DRAWINGS FOUND IN THE CAVES IN SPAIN AND
FRANCE SHOW EVIDENCE OF WALL DECORATION.

THEY USED GROUPING AND SPACING CONCEPTS

AS WELL AS LIMITED UNDERSTANDING OF
PERSPECTIVE

SCULPTURED FIGURE IN STONE ,IVORY AND CLAY

DEPICTED THE HUMAN FORM OFTEN .

THESE DRAWINGS AND ARTEFACTS REPRESENT THE FOLLOWING

1. CREATIVE EXPRESSION IS INSTINCTIVE.

2. THE ART OF INTERIOR DESIGN DATES FROM EARLY HUMANKIND AND SERVES
AS AN INTEGRAL PART OF HUMAN PSYCHE…```
 Neolithic Period Furniture:
• 3100-2500 BC in Skara Brae,ORKNEY-SCOTLAND
• Stone furnitures.
• Due to a shortage of wood ,the people of Skara Brae build with stone, a
readily available material that could be turned into items for use within
the household.
• Each house was equipped with an extensive assortment of stone
furniture, ranging from cupboards, dressers and beds to shelves and
stone seats.
• The stone dresser was regarded as the most important as it symbolically
faced the entrance in each house and is therefore the first item that was
seen when entering a house.
Ancient Egyptian Furniture

• third millennium BC
• Perfect climate for preserving organic funitures.
• There were two severe sides to the furniture :
1. the intricate gold gilded ornate furniture found in the tombs of
the Pharaohs
2. the simple chairs, tables and baskets of the ordinary Egyptians.
• Characteristics of Egyptian furniture:
• Ivory or glass inlays were common.
• Use of gold on the legs of tables and chairs
• Legs were crafted with animal heads or feet- bull and lion or human
form.
• Chests- crafted architecturally-taking the form of miniature
buildings.
Ancient Egyptian Furniture
Ancient Egyptian Furniture

gilded bed and

chairs from the
tomb of Queen
Hetepheres
FURNITURES IN EGYPT
Ancient Greek Furniture
• klismos chair
• Characteristic of this early furniture were highly influenced by the
furniture of the ancient Egyptians with a stiff, rectangular, and unflattering
shape.
• In the 4th and 5th centuries, once the Greeks developed their own style,
furniture became less square and rigid and more curved and flowing.
CHARACTERISTICS OF THE STYLE:
• Greek folding stools might have plain straight legs or curved legs that
typically ended in animal feet.
• Mortise and tenon joint
• The most common form of Greek seat was the backless stool
• Construction material wood, stone or metal, such as bronze, iron, gold
and silver.
• Tables were round with 3 legs.
• High seated chairs were combined with foot stools
• Leg forms- plain rounded, columnar or trumpet form depicting animals.
Klismos chair, with curved backrest
and tapering,outcurved legs
Ancient roman furniture
• 500BC-340AD
•INFLUENCED BY THE GREEK STYLE
• Used klismos chair, greek couch and table.
•Later used more bronze and marble with ornamnetation.
Characteristics of roman furniture:
• Couches developed armrest and a back
• Klismos became bulkier.
• Furniture could be dismantled
• Tables were made of marble, bronze, gold asnd silver,
adorned with precious stones.
• Animal carvings appeared elsewhere, not just on the legs.
• Veneers were used for decoration.
Saxon furniture
• Saxons are germanic tribes settled in great britain during
middle ages.
• Had tables in the hall covered with table cloth
• The upper class had beds made out of straws and pillows. The
bed was screened from the hall for privacy.
• Sparse furnitures
Medieval Furniture
• 400-1400AD
• the medieval period was a stark and somewhat crude
time, and that is reflected in the furniture styles of the
era.
• The furniture of the medieval period is very distinctive
in style.
• Its most notable characteristics are ornate wood
carvings on the border of chairs and canopy beds,
garish structural layouts and colours that are basically
grey, beige or black.
• Forms were mainly square or rectangular with very
little in the way of curved lines or circular forms.
• Characteristics of medieval furniture:
• The furniture of the medieval period is very distinctive in style.
• Its most notable characteristics are ornate wood carvings on the
border of chairs and canopy beds,
• garish structural layouts and colors that are basically gray, beige or
black.
• The medieval period was a stark and somewhat crude time, and
that is reflected in the furniture styles of the era.
• A chest could store items, and items could be transported in it. It
could also be used as seating, a table, or even a bed if needed.
• Seating is on bench or stools.
• Chairs were rare. Owmed only by the upper class.
• THE MIDDLE AGES (MEDIEVAL) -400-1400AD:
– BYZANTINE (350-1450AD)
– ROMANESQUE (1000-1300AD)
– GOTHIC (1100-1400AD)
BYZANTINE- 350-1450AD

• WHEN CONSTANTINOPLE BECAME THE CAPITAL

OF THE EASTERN ROMAN EMPIRE, FURNITURE
BECAME TO WIELD A MIXTURE OF ROMAN,
GERMANIC AND EASTERN INFLUENCES FROM
SOUTHWEST ASIA.
• BYZANTINE FORMS AND IDEAS INFLUENCED
ROMANESQUE, GOTHIC AND ITALIAN
RENAISSANCE STYLES.
• IN WEST ASIA, IT CONTRIBUTED TO ISLAMIC
ARCHITECTURE.
BYZANTINE
• CHARACTERISTICS:
• Wood an bronze. Gold, iron and ivor were uesd in inlays.
• Use of arabesque- curved and often repeated geometric
forms that echo plants and animals.
• Rich ornamnetation covered the whole surface.
• Exclusive pieces were encrusted with jewels.
• Low relief carving with animals, fruits and motifs of shells
and arches.
• The baldachin, or canopy, was hung over seats to signify
importance.
• Cupboards and chests were raised in short legs with animal
or scrollwork carving.
CAROLINGIAN STYLE-
pre romanesque

• heavy emphasis was put on the bed as the most important piece of furniture in a
home or castle
• lavish tapestries and hangings could be displayed on the canopy-style
• average houses had little furniture and primarily used three-legged stools and a
single, long table for utilitarian purposes.
Characteristics:
• very large dining tables of the trestle type
• legs elaborately carved with sculptural decoration such as animal forms
• The tables were rectangle in shape and could be easily taken apart, with the board
lifting off the x-shaped legs.
• writing furniture used in the study and library
• beds of the Carolingian era were made with turned wooden head posts and foot
posts and stood on high legs.
• Beds was used to receive guests
ROMANESQUE (1000-1300AD)
• It recaptured the roman style.but in a crude fashion.
• It exhibits greek, roman, germanic and celtic influence.
• The woodwork od scandinavia contributed to this style.
Characteristics:
• Rectangular with architectural carvings.
• Rounded arches and columns were carved into furniture panels.
• Features of church buildings- backrests emulated church facades and
finials resembling spires.
• Columns with dog-tooth patterns.
• Commonly decorated with animal and ribbon interlace.
• Has heavy chairs, benches and long tables.
• carved chests, simple stools, benches and trestle tables, and roughly
carved, pillared bedsteads.
• Chairs as we know them, with back and arm rests
 Gothic (1100-1400AD)
•Gothic style has its roots in the romanesque.
• Mor emasculine in appearance.
• Influenced by islamic architecture.
•The arabic tribes brought it into the eastern empire several centuries before.
Characteristics:
• Oak was the common material.
• Pointed, ogival arches, tracery (intersecting ribs of the kind used in rose windows).
• Decorative carving ofen looked like hanging textiles.
• Columns on panels and chest, finials, carvings of curled leaves or plants, the trifoil
and quatrefoil cloverleaf patterns.
• Baldachin canopies hung over beds.
• Seating and cupboards built into walls
• Trunks carved out of the trunk of trees.
• Iron straps attached to prevent the trunk splitting were often patterned as
ornamenetation.
 Renaissance Furniture (1400-
1600)
• the Italian Renaissance of the fourteenth and fifteenth century marked a rebirth
in furniture design, often inspired by the Greco-Roman tradition.
• Starting in the fifteenth century, a similar renaissance of culture, occurred in
Northern Europe, particularly in the Netherlands, Belgium and Northern France.
• These designs were distinctly different from that of Medieval times and were
characterized by opulent, often gilded designs that frequently incorporated a
profusion of floral, vegetal and scrolling ornamentation.
• The aim of these pieces were often to showcase the skills of the craftsmen who
made them.
Characteristics Of Italian Renaissance:
• Walnut wood
• Rich carving and ornamentation
• Marquetry to create jigsaw patterns of different
colours.
• Ivory and metal inlays
• Classical, egg and dart, and acanthus leaf motifs.
• Large tables made of marble with carved shapes
of hman torsos and bats wings.
• the folding chair came back into fashion.
French renaissance characteristics:
• Gothic structures were at first adapted to resemble
Italian Rennaissance pieces.
• Large dresser became common, often with caryatids-
or human figures carved into supports.
• Tables with removable tops were common (treslt
table).
• Human figures or griffins were used as supports. These
tables were made of wood rather than marble.
• Ex: the italian cassone chest, the heavily-carved and X-
shaped Dante nd Savonarola chairs, Prie dieu chair.
ENGLISH RENAISSANCE

• England got influenced by Renaissnce in furniture design not as much as france or

italy.
•Gothic influence continued into the 17th century as part of tudor style.
Characteristics of tudor style:
• Large, heavy and made of oak.
• Chairs with framed panels with linenfold carvings.
• Couches often built in window seats.
• Horizontal stretchers joined table legs at floor level.
• Oversized bulbouus tavle legs.
• Bulbs also appear on bed post.
• Touch of renaissance in columns and classical arches.
• Arabesque carving known as strapwork.
• Marquetry inlay of chequer or floral patterns.

• Ex: the box xhair or wainscot, the 4 poster bed.

 Jacobean furniture
• After the Renaissance there was a gradual change to a less
ornamented, quieter style of furniture. In Britain table legs, for
example became straighter and narrower than were typical of
earlier pieces and instead spiral turned legs became typical of this
period. In general furniture profiles became lower and more
rectangular. Later Jacobean furniture, during the era of Oliver
Cromwell the Protector, was very stern, square, and frugal, a
suitable style for a time of relative poverty. But with the return of
the monarchy under Charles II, Carolean furniture once again
became more ornate, characterized by intricate carved stretchers
and colourful upholstery with tasseled trim.
• By the end of the period, the influence of the British William and
Mary style was beginning to show. Compared to the Jacobean and
Carolean pieces this style of furniture was lighter and more elegant.
Inverted, cup-turned legs, bun feet, and serpentine stretchers made
this a very identifiable style.
characteristics:
• Jacobean and Cromwellian (the first two parts of the larger Jacobean
Period) furniture has straight lines.
• The earlier furniture of the period was heavy and cumbersome.
• The construction was framed. The basic design was a frame with panels to
complete the piece.
• Turning the legs and stretchers developed near the end of the period,
reducing the rigid appearance.
• Late in the period ornaments were applied although they did little to
enhance the visual appeal.
• The early feet on Jacobean pieces were straight and square. Late in the
period the ball foot was introduced.
• Crude “scratch carving” was used very late in the period as were painted
decorations.
• Very little upholstery. Most seats were wood or rush.
Jacobean (1600-1690)
• Jacobean is an English style of furniture, which is
medieval in appearance with straight lines, rigid
designs, sturdy construction, ornate carvings, and a
dark finish. Much of Early American furniture was
patterned after this style.
 Colonial furniture
• Across the water in the United States, during the early Colonial period, most
furniture arrived along with the first immigrants. They brought furniture pieces
typical of the Jacobean and Carolean periods in Britain with them, and then later
made their own furniture in a similar style. These pieces were generally sturdy and
heavily carved, many with turned legs and bun feet. In the harsher environment of
some of the Colonies these pieces were simpler representatives of their parent
styles, befitting the more straightforward and utilitarian life of the settlers.
• Other settlers also brought their influences with them to the colonies, most
notably the Dutch and French in the Northeast, and the Spanish in the Southwest.
Although recognisably different from the British inspired designs, the Dutch pieces
are essentially in the same tradition. However the different climate and different
wood available to Spanish colonists led to a distinctly different style known as
Mission or Southwestern.
• The earliest American-made piece of furniture is a chest made by Nicholas
Disbrowe around 1660. Uncompromisingly rectangular, its distinctively carved
frame-and-panel construction, although very reminiscent of earlier British Age of
Oak pieces, is already recognizable as a distinct American style. Many other early
Colonial era pieces, such as wainscot chairs and heavy joint-tables, are similarly in
the Age of Oak tradition.
Baroque (1600-1750)
The term baroque is applied to very ornate, exaggerated style.
It has a theatrical quality.
Characteristics:
• Heavily ornate with expensive materials.
• Features were sculptural and implied dramatic movement. S and C scrolls.
• Figural subjects holding the furniture up.
• Large and strictly symmetrical.
• Walnut ebony, ivory, silver.
• The use or ormolu- or gilt bronze- in inlays.
• Chairs with high backs, squatered llegs with curved, diagonal stretchers.
• Marquetry on wardrobe- called armoires-depicted famous events.
• Japanninf, an asian style of laquerwork, became common ornament on cabinets.

• Ex: pedestal cabinet, boulle armoire.

 Rococc (1700)
•Rococo grew out of baroque style in france in 18th C.
•Baroque – formal and masqueline. Rococco- feminine and delicacy.
Characteristics:
• Delicae and feminine,- smaller and lighter than baroque. Slender legs.
• Use of curvaceous, arabesque forms (S and C scrolls), scrolls and shells.
• An emphasis on asymmetry and ornamentation excluding restlessness.
• Furniture often filled spaces to complement the interior.
• Seating design was often the same as the wall panelling design behind it.
• Seats became more organically formed with wider arms.
• White and pastel colours and white decorated with gold and silver.
• Asian influence.
• intricate s- or c-shaped ornaments seen on nearly all furniture, mirrors and picture frames
• Asymmetrical and dynamic.
• Maximalism.
• No clean lines
• The curves are soft and it looks like the furniture has been carved from a single piece of wood.
• It is gilded or painted to complete the illusion of unity.
REVIVAL
Neoclassicism (circa 1750 – 1850)

In 18th C, the writings of philosophers of ancient greece

and rome were discovered.

Some if the important neo classical styles.

• Georgian (1715-1840)
• Louis XIV (1775-1795)
• Directoire (1795-1799)
• Empire (1795-1815)
• Regency (1800-1840)
• Biedermeier (1815-1848)
Georgian-
• georgian chairs was the serpentine line that ran from the cabriole leg into the
hoop or shield backrest.
• Chairs and sofa legs became straighter, backrests rectangular/ round form.
Louis the xiv:
• Rococco style became more masqueline
• Less curvaceous and more symmetrical
• Chair and sofa legs became straight, soda backs rectangular or round.
Directoire:
• A short lived french style.
• Elongated shaped furniture.
• Angular lines and ornamentation.
• Transtion b/w louis XIV and empire.
Empire:
• Grand furniture to glorify the emperor napoleon.
• Theatrical motifs and militaristic imagery,
• Egyptian symbold, vultures, lions legs, swans were popular features.
• Chairs had rolled horizontal legs and open arms.
Regency:
• Georgian style furniture became lightin furniture and decoration and colour.
• Foloows classical themes.
• Couches- similar to greek sofas.
• Trafalgar chair-elegant lines sweeping from the back into the rear legs.
• Dining tables were rounded.
• Symmetry
Biedermeier:
Marked by simplicity and elegance
Smooth and polished surface with little carving.
The grain of the wood was the important part ogf the ornamnetation.

Ex: the trafalgar chair, the gueridon table.

 19th and 20th centuries
• Progress in manufacturing techniques led to mass production.
• This led to cheap imitations of period furnitures
• New technologies meant that new materials like steel,
aluminium, plastic could be used.
 Victorian era:

• Marked the end of production by one individual craftsman and the

beginning of mass production.
• Functin became more important than ornamentation.
Characteristics:
• influence from gothic forms with heavy proportions, dark finish,
elaborate carving, and ornamentation.
• Exaggerated curves, lush upholstery and decorative carvings are
featured.
• Iron also made its appearance in the early Victorian furniture style.
• Low cost copies of previous styles.
• Rooms were often cluttered with several different styles.
• Revival styles adapted for modern living, becoming bigger and
plumper with heavy use of upholstery.
 Arts and crafts movement
• Fed up with cheap , mass production of past styles in
poor quality, the english architects started the ARTS
AND CRAFTS MOVEMENT.
• It promoted hand crafted matterials which were
functional and practical.
• Little ornamnetation, natural flowing forms, natural
colours and influence of gothic.
• ARTS AND CRAFTS MOVEMENT-COPPER AND LEATHER
STRAPS.

• EX: OTTOMANS ,
 ART NOUVEAU
• 1st 20th C modern style.
• Influenced by gothic, rococco, japanese minimalist styles.
• A reaction against the cheap imitation revival styles of the
victorian era.
• Art nouveau has 2 modes:
– Curvy lines
– A more austere linear style,
• Characteristics:
• Long curvy lines and whiplash motif
• Vertical lines and the effect of height
• Exotic woods
• Stylized flower and animals.
 Modernism -1900-present
• Main thinking behind modernism-FORM FOLLOWS FUNCTION.
• STYLE- FUNCTIOBNAL AND EXPRESSIONISTIC.
• Design has to suit large scale production and offer maximum comfort with
minimum of materials.
• Characteristics:
• Form over content
• A move away from ornament and natural forms, a focus on geometry ansd oblique
angles.
• Materials- plastic, bent steel, bent wood.
• Bright primary colours.

• ART DECO
• Bauhaus:
• Scandinavian (1930- present):
• POP AND OP ART: (1950-60’s)
• MINIMALISM: (1960-PRESENT)
 Modernist movements and style:
Bauhaus:
Because of the greater availability of a wider array of materials than ever before,
and because of an ever-expanding awareness of historical and cross-cultural
aesthetics, 20th-century furniture is perhaps more diverse, in terms of style, than
all the centuries that preceded it. The first three-quarters of the twentieth
century saw styles such as Art Deco, De Stijl, Bauhaus,
The Bauhaus school was founded by Walter Gropius in Weimar in 1919, the
Bauhaus was founded with the idea of creating a 'total' work of art in which all
arts, including furniture would eventually be brought together. The furniture
designs that emerged from the Bauhaus became some of the most influential
designs in modern design.
Characteristics:
• Bent steel tubular structure.
• Light weight and east to produce.
• The aim is to unify design and technology.
• Emphasis was on the knowledge of materialsand industrial techniques to build
them.
ART DECO :
The Art Deco movement began in Paris in the 1920s and it represented
elegance, glamour, functionality and modernity. Art deco's linear symmetry
was a distinct departure from the flowing asymmetrical organic curves of its
predecessor style art nouveau. Art deco experienced a decline in popularity
during the late 1930s and early 1940s when it began to be derided as
presenting a false image of luxury, eventually the style was ended by the
austerities of World War II.
Characteristics:
• angular
• geometric patterns and zigzag design
• influenced by art nouveau, cubism, egyptian and african art.
Scandinavian (1930- present):
• Light and simple
• Bent wood is used to produce organic forms.
• Scandinavian models fuse modern, functional ideas with traditional,
natural materials.
POP AND OP ART: (1950-60’s)
• Futuristic
• Capsule and pod shaped furniture.
• Sand egg shapes were the form.
• Bright in colour and made in plastic, paper or bamboo.
MINIMALISM: (1960-PRESENT)
• LOW LEVEL, BLACK AND MINIMALIST QUALITIES OF
JAPANESE FURNITURE .