So far, we have examined medieval knightly culture exclusively through the theme of armor and weapons, the history of battles and … castles. However, it is quite reasonable. A man at that time thought about weapons constantly, because his life was in him, a horse for him was the most important means of transportation, like a car for us today, and a castle - a castle - was his home. But … what about the furniture? What furniture did the same knights use? On what did they eat, sleep, where did they keep their knightly equipment? Let's get to know all this, and at the same time take a short excursion to one of the museums of an old Russian city. But, before we go there, it makes sense to get to know a little about what the people of pre-royal times came up with in relation to furniture, well, say, all the same Egyptians, Greeks and Romans? Is there anything that has passed in time or not?
In one of the Cypriot museums, an old chest was converted into an exhibition showcase!
Let's say right away that we were not very lucky here. There are not so many finds similar to the box from the museum in Anapa - ancient Gorgippii (see "Bows and arrows of ancient Gorgippii" - https://topwar.ru/99022-luki-i-strely-drevney-gorgippii.html) … But not isolated objects that have come down to us, but above all, their pictorial images, as well as antique texts indicate that already in ancient times people used all the main types of furniture, including chairs, tables and chests, which only slightly changed in the Middle Ages. according to fashion and traditions. In ancient times, they knew how to decorate furniture richly. Cover it with lush decor, inlay with precious woods, metal, smalt and even precious stones. Again, people reached such a high level of technology only in the 18th century. Although, on the other hand, people invented many practical and rational things already at that time.
In Saratov there is an art museum. A. N. Radishchev, and here it is just surprisingly a lot of Western European furniture of the Renaissance. There you can see well, simply amazingly beautiful chests and wardrobes. It can be said that the people of Saratov were lucky!
For example, in Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia, they knew benches and tripod stools, chairs with backs and armchairs with armrests, various types of tables with one or four legs, and also knew how to make folding tables, as well as beautiful playing tables. Were known bed-boxes (less often), completely luxurious-looking couches, and, of course, chests, and besides them, there were also large wardrobes and small lockers. In ancient Rome, they learned how to make furniture from metal. For example, these were round tables on animal paws, as well as bronze chairs, and even folding chairs with small tables. Greco-Roman art greatly influenced the consciousness of the barbarians who invaded Europe, pointing out the model to which they, savages, should strive, but they did not manage to reach the level of the past immediately.
Climbing the main staircase, on the left and right below you leave two cabinets that are absolutely marvelous in terms of the quality of the carving …
The fact is that the furniture bore the imprint of … the life of that time. For example, they tried to make furniture lighter, since the same king did not live in his palace constantly, but moved around the country from one royal castle to another, and his furniture traveled with him - chests, folding chairs and tables. That is, the furniture makers sought to make all these items "movable" so that it would be easier to handle them. And here it should be noted that chests, in which money, dishes, and clothes were kept, began to be of particular importance at that time. The chest became the object of the creative efforts of its creator, since it was always in sight, and besides, it also existed in several different forms - an oblong chest with a cornice, chests with carved pediments or chests made in the form of a sarcophagus. The simple and often very coarse furniture of the early Middle Ages was made from spruce in the north, and oak in the south. The furniture makers' tools were the simplest: an ax, a saw and, most likely, something resembling a plane. It is interesting that in distant Alpine settlements, samples of medieval furniture were found in the 19th century. But for all its primitiveness, the decor of such furniture was very rich.
And here is one of them … Stands on the left. And why in such an inconvenient place for viewing?
And this is the second … Standing on the right.
The art of carvers in this case is a rich Nordic fantasy, creating interweaving of patterns and animals, so you can look at these patterns for a very long time and every time you see something new in them. In Central and Southern Europe, furniture makers were helped by the achievements of antique technology, which were preserved, first of all, in monasteries (for example, an old lathe in the monastery of Sant Gallen). Having such mechanisms, the masters of the backs of chairs, armchairs and benches decorated with chiseled knobs. Well, the front walls of the box-like chests were decorated with rows of deaf semicircular arcades, rosettes, and garlands of leaves. As for the metal plates, they were no longer used only to fasten the plank structure of the chest, but could form beautiful decorative patterns on its lid.
A cabinet from 1647. The carved scene depicts the "Judgment of Solomon". Material - oak. Germany.
Well, today you can see the remains of everything that has survived from the devastated setting of castles and monasteries in museums … However, one of these museums will be discussed directly in the captions under the photographs. And we will continue the story now about the chests of the Gothic style. Here it should be said, first of all, that at the beginning of the XII century in the feudal society a consciousness of knightly dignity, generally recognized moral principles and, along with them, higher living standards were formed. The knights were richer, but the merchants also got richer, supplying them with more expensive goods, and this, in turn, was reflected in the craft workshops. Many branches of the craft were very strictly segregated from each other, and quality standards were just as strictly set. For example, there used to be only one carpenters' workshop. And now such shopkeepers as countertops, chests and cupboards have emerged from it, who could already make much thinner furniture. At the beginning of the XIV century. in Augsburg, the sawmill was invented, so now the boards for furniture could be sawed, rather than hewed out each one with an ax! Moreover, already at the beginning of the 16th century. in Regensburg, they learned how to cut thin plywood from multi-colored wood, which were needed for inlays (intarsia); now they could lay out massive walls of chests and other furniture.
Supplier of the 18th century with griffins. Italy, Venice.
Well, the chest itself at that time was a jewel and was also a symbol of the growing prosperity of the young bourgeoisie. In the XIV century, its front wall began to be covered with heraldic animal reliefs borrowed from the knightly culture, and at the end, in the late Middle Ages, graceful pediments, rosettes, crucifers and voluminous carved human figures were used. The ornament depended on the type of wood: curls of leaves were carved from conifers in southern Germany, Tyrol and Austria; but in Scandinavia, in Northern Italy, England and Spain, they used hardwood, and there furniture was decorated with crisscrossing wicker ornaments, and in the Rhine region and in France - garlands of flowers and fruits.
Wood carving was very popular in Europe and throughout the Middle Ages, and in the New Age … Carved altar in 1636. Italy.
The medieval chest was very beautiful, but not rational - it took up a lot of space, and could not be larger than a certain size. Therefore, as soon as the nobility began to live “settled” and stopped moving from castle to castle, a new piece of interior decoration appeared: two chests stacked on top of each other turned into a decorated wardrobe. In Flanders, they began to manufacture spiked wardrobes, the predecessors of the sideboard. It was a chest-like chest, set on high steps (spikes) and equipped with doors in front. At the bottom they were connected by a plane that served for all metal utensils that could be placed on it for the sake of beauty.
The fantasy of the masters gradually diverged: for example, in the Netherlands and France, chairs appeared that looked like thrones with a high back and … a chest seat. Well, the chest itself, leaving the knightly castles, took the place of the ceremonial thing. The oldest way to design it was to break down its front panel into frames and panels (and here's what is interesting: in Siena their number was odd, but in Florence it is always even!). Human figures began to be placed in the corners of the chest as caryatids, or caissons and medallions on the panels of the chest were “populated” with them in many, using historical and mythological plots for this. In Lucca and Siena, gilded stucco molding came into fashion, but in Upper Italy - in Cremona and Milan, intarsia were used based on paintings by Brunelleschi and Uchello with landscapes and architectural views with a characteristic emphasis of perspective - which at that time was apparently just fashionable. From the East, at the beginning of the Renaissance, came the fashion for the so-called Chertosian mosaic, made of ebony and ivory plates.
Chest-chest of the 17th – 18th centuries Italy.
In the second half of the 15th century, the chest continued to be improved. The foot of the chest began to be heavily profiled, and the carvings on it became more and more convex. As a result, an ordinary knight's chest has become a striking work of art. Well, all of its decor: carving, inlay or painting remained on the front side. It is characteristic that in the "heyday of the chest" (1470-1510), such luminaries of art as Botticelli, Pollaiolo and Pietro di Cosimo were engaged in decorating it. “Wedding chests” (cassone) appeared, decorated with profile portraits of the spouses looking at each other, while their new coat of arms was depicted in the central part of the chest. In the middle of the 16th century in Rome, under the influence of interest in everything ancient, the first chests in the form of sarcophagi, on lion's paws, decorated with mythological motives, appeared. There was also a kind of "cash-punk" chest, or a bench-chest with back and side walls.
Here it is - the wedding chest. Italy, XVI century. Walnut.
But already by the end of the 17th century. the chest becomes exclusively a subject of peasant life, and people belonging to the upper strata of society abandoned them, no matter how beautiful they are! A chest of drawers took the place of the chest, and only family jewels could still be hidden in an elegant inlaid chest-chest! However, in England beautiful chests covered with black lacquer with bronze decor and colored inlays were made even at the end of the 18th century. but this was more likely the result of British pretentiousness than any significant social trend.
Cabinet-bureau, Holland, 17th century
