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The ancient Egyptians had simple but well made furniture. The craftsmen and Egyptian woodworkers created the simple furniture for the common people while the most elaborate for the wealth and the kings. At the beginning of the Old Kingdom, which opens with the 3rd dynasty (2686-2613BC), we see the quality of royal Egyptian furniture made during this period can be seen in those examples in the 4th dynasty tomb of Queen Hetepheres (c 2600 BC) at Giza. |
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Ancient
EgyptianFurniture |
Most of the Egyptian wooden frameworks were elaborated by gold sheaths, which had encased the Egyptian furniture. Hetepheres' furniture consisted of two armchairs, bed frame, bed canopy, carrying chair and two boxes.
The introduction of the wooden boxes were made at the end of
the Old Kingdom. They were manufactured with flat, gable, barrel and shrine
shaped lids. Some were very large and were designed with a pair of poles that
enabled the box to be carried by a team of porters. In one tomb
scene we see such a box being carried by fourteen men.
During the Middle Kingdom we find boxes were customized to hold cosmetics. Many
were designed like crates to hold small alabaster jars which held perfumed oils.
Other boxes have been found to contain mirrors, kohl containers, combs and
other items. Other elaborate boxes held jewellery, these were usually inlaid or
veneered with sheets of ivory or exotic timbers bought from lands south of
Egypt. Chests were used to store domestic possessions such as linens, clothing,
jewelry, and make-up.
Scribes even had boxes in which they stored their writing implements and palette. Their boxes were usually painted to imitate the stringing and veneered panels found on more ornate boxes. The Egyptian bed was a rectangular wooden frame with a mat of woven cords. Instead of using pillows, the Egyptians used a crescent-shaped headrest at one end of the bed. Beds were made of a woven mat placed on wooden framework standing on animal-shaped legs. At one end was a footboard and at the other was a headrest made a curved neckpiece set on top of a short pillar on an oblong base
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.
The ancient Egyptian stool was made from wood, and had a padded leather or woven rush seat. It is the most common item present in ancient Egyptian homes. A low, square stool, the corners of which flared upwards and on top was placed a leather seat or cushion, was the most common type of furnishing. The stools’ 3 or 4 legs were very often carved to look like animal legs. Wealthy people had their stools and all furniture in general was richly decorated with gold or silver leaf. The more common people would have things painted to look more expensive than they were.
The ancient Egyptian furniture was in general lower in height than contemporary furniture with beds being about 300mm high and the stools being extremely low by modern standards. As to the lowness of the seating pieces, the short stature of the early Egyptian people may have had some influence, their average height being only a few inches over five feet .However, their chair remains indicate them being quite high off the ground, requiring a footstool to be reached, and once seated the footstool was used to support the sitter's feet.
By the time of the Second Dynasty the stool appears to have
differentiated into a new form reserved for royalty and high ranking members of
society. It became more substantial in its construction, sometimes having a low
back rest and was often higher than the stool. Sometimes a cushion was added.
Middle Kingdom furniture had a wide collection of small tables. These
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.
Those chairs made during the Middle Kingdom had either short backs over which was draped a cover or cushion or they had backs of full height. Such chair backs were curved and made from angled slats of timber. We see that they stood on slender gazelle-shaped legs. Often chairs were painted to simulate animal skin which were painted with a technique which resembles cow skin.
By the Fourth Dynasty the chair reached a high point in its
refinement and elegance. After then the seat in its two forms (the chair
used by nobility and royalty and the stool used throughout the rest of the
society) remained virtually unchanged for twelve dynasties (to around 1320 B C).
By the New Kingdom, the homes of officials and nobles would have been
furnished with a wide range of furniture. Again the stool was the most
popular.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.
Curved Egyptian
stools.
Stool designs with similar shapes are also recorded. The folding stool shown
represents a typical example of this variety. Leather or a material weave would
form the seat section or 'stretcher' of the stool. Perhaps the naturally formed
curve assumed by the seat when sat upon was imitated in the solid construction.
Egyptian furniture and in particular chairs, evolved into some quite complex
forms, requiring a high level of skill in their design and crafting as
demonstrated in the construction details in
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 eyes and neck feathers. We also see that lion legged stools and chairs were used in the homes of high ranking officials.
The "Egyptian 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 coloured
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.
By the New Kingdom, Egyptian furniture was highly prized and was often
sent as tribute to the rulers of neighbouring countries. Fragments of Egyptian
furniture have been excavated at sites around Western Asia.
Courtesy of www.kingtutshop.com
1This paper is based on the Postgraduate Diploma in Ergonomics research
project performed by Kim Gurr under the supervision of Leon (Physiotherapy) and
Phillip (Social Sciences). Kim died unexpectantly before finalising this paper.
Abstract
Seating is an important issue for contemporary ergonomics. Its frequent use by humans and its association with musculoskeletal disorders are just some of the reasons for its importance. To understand the place of seating in modern Western societies it is useful to understand its history. This history is also important as we consider transferring Western ergonomics research on seating to 'other' cultures.
This paper presents an overview of the ancient and modern history of Western seating, with particular emphasis on the design influences over this 5,000 year period.
The history of supported sitting or seating, has a long and colourful history beginning at least with the Egyptians some 3000 B C. The types of seats used and their functions have undergone a myriad of changes over the millennia, providing a useful insight into how our current understanding of seating in contemporary Western society arose. We present a linear temporal view of the historical development of seating to trace the influences of culture on the design and the functional purpose of seats. The historical knowledge summarised here is distilled from a great variety of texts, for it seems our fascination with the 'chair' is as alive today as it was in ancient times.
As an introduction to the history of seating, it should be noted that despite the huge amount of information documented on seat types, only three types of distinctively different seats developed. These were the stool (both fixed and folding), the bench and its antecedent the chest, and the chair. Associated with the development of the seat are other objects, many of which remain with us today, such as the table and footstool.
It is also interesting to note the different groups involved in the development and production of seats, as their tools, materials and knowledge were integral to the designs which emerged during the different periods. Basically the initial chair or seat makers were the carpenters and then the joiners, who were followed by the cabinet maker and craftsman. They were followed by the decorator, then the upholsterer until the beginning of the Twentieth Century, at which time the inventor emerged, to be closely followed by the architect and then the professional designer. Most recently seating has become part of the domain of the ergonomics profession. All these groups have been responsible in their various ways for the development of seating. Of course their behaviours and actions have been constructed within their cultural frameworks, for example, the seat has often been associated with political power, religion, art, and the notion of aesthetics throughout its long evolution.
The study of history can sometimes fool us into the belief that societies progressively improve on what has come before, as our body of knowledge increases. This notion is dubious, and the reader will note the 'ruptures' in the historical progression of seating within Western culture. We hope to present a reasonably concise view of the history of seating that will be of interest to ergonomists, and in particular to raise some questions about the quite evident ruptures we find in its development. For it seems we do not march slowly forwards to an ultimate solution in this regard, but rather we tend to reinvent and then forget.
The ancient history of furniture comes to us principally from the art records left to us by earlier societies. Occasionally, such as in the case of Tutankhamun's tomb, real pieces can be examined and described first hand. Given that this history is based principally upon pictorial records, some generalisations are often made by writers in the field to create a cohesive picture for their readers. This paper should be read with this caveat.
2. Ancient History
"The Egyptians equipped their houses with great skill. They developed benches, folding beds, and especially chairs and stools of various kinds. The chairs are adapted to either squatting in the oriental manner - in which case the piece is lower than normal and its seat is deeper - or to sitting with ones legs hanging down in the western manner." (Geidion, 1948) p. 259
The ancient Egyptian furniture was in general lower in height than contemporary furniture with beds being about 300mm high and the stools being extremely low by modern standards. "As to the lowness of the seating pieces, the short stature of the early Egyptian people may have had some influence, their average height being only a few inches over five feet (Baker, 1966) p. 21." However, their chair remains indicate them being quite high off the ground, requiring a footstool to be reached, and once seated the footstool was used to support the sitter's feet.
The stool appears to be the most common and perhaps earliest piece of
furniture developed by early Egyptian culture, as seen in the early sculpture in
Figure 1. It was used throughout society for a variety of functions.
By the time of the Second Dynasty the stool appears to have differentiated into a new form reserved for royalty and high ranking members of society. It became more substantial in its construction, sometimes having a low back rest and was often higher than the stool. Sometimes a cushion was added, or so it would appear from historical records.
The addition of a low backrest to the chair is an interesting development
that is not seen again in the history of the chair. From the historical record
it would seem the low backrest is supporting the pelvis and sacrum in a fixed
orientation, allowing the lumbar spine to move fore or aft to a point of balance
.
By the Fourth Dynasty the chair reached a high point in its refinement and elegance (see Figure 4), After then the seat in its two forms (the chair used by nobility and royalty and the stool used throughout the rest of the society) remained virtually unchanged for twelve dynasties (to around 1320 B C).
As can be seen by the chairs depicted in Figure 5, sitting postures still included a folded leg position, with the chair's large seat area making this possible. It is also interesting to note the footstool with some of the taller of the chairs. The sitting postures shown with the legs hanging down, resemble very closely that shown in anthropometric tables used by today's furniture designers, with the thighs being parallel to the floor. To achieve this posture the Egyptians regularly used footstools, as stand alone objects, or built into the construction of the chair . No mention was made in the literature reviewed as to whether the furniture was custom made for individuals or whether a standard size had developed.
Another interesting and quite distinctive chair style that developed late in
Egyptian culture was the single curve and later the 'double curved' seat section
of the chair, It is not clear whether this style developed
for aesthetic reasons or for comfort.
Stool designs with similar shapes are also recorded. The folding stool represents a typical example of this variety. Leather or a
material weave would form the seat section or 'stretcher' of the stool. Perhaps
the naturally formed curve assumed by the seat when sat upon was imitated in the
solid construction stool and the chair.
Egyptian furniture and in particular chairs, evolved into some quite
complex forms, requiring a high level of skill in their design and crafting as
demonstrated in the construction
It is worthy of note that the timber workers of this period were limited
to copper tools, and that as far as historian are aware the lathe had yet to
appear. The chair with a sloping backrest remained the domain of the kings and
privileged classes, while the general populace used stools, squatted or sat on a
mat.
"The furniture of the upper-class home in Egypt differed little in its range of types from that found in Tutankhamun collection. The royal beds, chairs, stools, tables and chests had their counterparts in the houses of the well to do, but, as might be expected, the villa furniture was less ornate and, for the most part utilitarian....The ancient peasant, like the modern fellah, was accustomed to sit in a squatting position on the ground and so had no need of chairs." (Baker, 1966) p. 110
2.2 The Ancient Mesopotamian Era
The Mesopotamian empire developed concurrently with the Egyptian culture, and
it is clear that there was some interaction between the two, as seen in the
similarity of some of their furniture. It is known that stools and some chairs
were in use around 3100 - 2370 B C, as evidenced in the remains of pottery and
seals recently excavated, however beyond this there is little record of this
period. It is believed that the Mesopotamians "...lived at ground level,
upon mats and rugs with little more than cushions to give support"
(Hayward, 1975) p. 284. The exception to this way of sitting were the kings and
nobility, and for the gods, represented in the art of the time (see Figure 10).
"Among earlier representations there is scarcely ever more than one seated
figure, whose seat takes one of the number of forms, from a simple bench to an
elaborate high backed chair with a cushion turned legs and decorative
features" (Hayward, 1975) p. 284.
From the Akkadian period to the end of the Kassite period (2370 - 1150 B
C), evidence of cross legged stools and a box shaped stool with lattice side
panels are found.
The seats with the grid pattern in their sides have especial interest not only because of the frequency with which they appear in the seals of the period, but also because of the resemblance to a construction popular in Iraq today...Crates to hold vegetables and fruit are made in the same manner and it seems likely that we have here an example of a craft that has continued with little change for more than 4,000 years. The seat of the chairs are made of woven rush - craft known from prehistoric times. (Baker, 1966) p. 171.
Throughout this period, sitting on a stool or chair without a backrest was quite popular, at least as far as records can tell us. "In the seals of the old Babylonian period the simple wooden stool with rounded legs and a single stretcher appears so frequently it seems probable that this was the seat most generally used at this time" (Baker, 1966) p. 172
The Assyrian and Neo Babylonian periods in Mesopotamia (1350 - 539 B C), see the chair and table being used together in artefacts depicting eating scenes. The chair is of a high backed variety, similar to that developed in Egyptian culture. The chair with the sloping back (evident in Egypt at the time), does not appear in Mesopotamia, even though it was apparent trade and cultural interaction occurred between the two regions. From the records remaining from this period it seems the high backed chair, often used with a footstool remained furniture of royalty and a privileged class.
In general there is a rigidity in the furniture portrayed, particularly in chairs, that perhaps reflects the severity of the people who owned it. Long before this time Egyptian chairs were made with a sloping backrest curved to fit the body. Such chairs were known to the Mesopotamians, but they are missing from the furniture portrayals of this period in Mesopotamian art. Instead there are tall straight chairs on which the occupants sit bolt upright. (Baker, 1966) p. 205.
The Aegean region was to become a cultural centre for the development and
refinement of supported sitting, and most particularly with regards to the
chair. However few records remain of this period to indicate the types of
furniture used. The notable exception is a miniature sculpture of a seated harp
player . How close this representation was to reflecting actual
seating behaviour remains a mystery. It is significant to note that this style
of chair had no apparent design link to the Egyptian or Mesopotamian furniture
of the time. The sparsity of information from this period may ensure that the
origin of this chair remains a mystery.
The Minoan's furniture history comes to us from the excavated ruins of the 'Palace of Minos' at Knossos. This period of development is sometimes known as the first civilisation of the European world, having elements of an advanced urban life and a well developed city; with the Palace of Knossos at its centre, and "surrounded by fine houses, villas and artisans residences". (Baker, 1966) p. 240
Unfortunately Knossos was destroying most of the relics from their
civilisation. The throne of Knossos; constructed of stone, is one of the few
remaining examples of furniture from this period.
Representations of stools were also found, similar to those
used by Egyptians of the time.
This era remains of great intrigue to historians as few records remain. It is the time of Homer and the Odyssey. Our knowledge of this time is constructed from the tales passed down through the generations, and most recently from the deciphering of some stone tablets (Linear B) in which chairs, tables and footstools are mentioned, "the descriptions give but few clues to the actual appearance of this furniture". (Baker, 1966) p. 249, but it is known they used benches, stools, high seats requiring the use of a footstool, and chairs with backrests that could be moved with some ease.
The Mycenaen civilisation ended abruptly around 1200 B C with the palaces burned and all records lost. The next five hundred years remain a blank as far as the archaeological record of furniture is concerned, and is sometimes referred to as the 'dark ages' of Greek history. The story is not picked up again until 800 B C.
This is a period of sophistication in design represented in the paintings and
sculpture of the time. Banquet couches for sleeping or dining are common. The
Greeks had become accustomed to eating in a reclining pose. It seems it was
common for men to 'lounge' together, each with his own couch, eating from low
tables that supported their food.
The designers and craftsmen of this period produced a well finished and
what is often referred to as 'classic ' Greek design in the chair.
The design appears to be of Greek origin, based upon the Egyptian and Greek thrones. The legs were generally curved, with a "back composed of three uprights fitted into a curved board at shoulder level" (Hayward, 1975 20) p. 15. The seats were light in weight and could be moved about a room as needed, providing flexibility in arrangement. They offered a new type of support for the back than the straight back, or slanted back chairs of earlier times. The backrest sweeps across the thoracic spine and supporting the back of the shoulders, From an aesthetic perspective the chair became composed of spaces and flowing lines. These chairs were to later form the basis of the design in the Eighteenth, Nineteenth Century and Twentieth Centuries.
The Greeks development of the couch, the chair and even the stool (see Figure 15) to some extent (which is evident throughout the Greek culture), seems based on a concern for the human form in their designs. Support is deliberately added to support the back, and perhaps it would be reasonable to suggest the first notions of 'Western comfort' appear in the designs. The seats appear in more common usage throughout the society, its use becoming a daily part of life for the 'well off Greek', and in particular the men and women of rank.
The furniture of this period remained virtually unchanged from the 'Early Greek period'. "The Classical era, as it pertains to furniture and architecture, continued without a break in Greece and the Roman world until the time of Constantine; and, although interrupted for long intervals, its influence has continued until today" (Baker, 1966 19) p. 285. The chairs, stools, couches and tables of this time have remained an inspiration to furniture designers, determining form and functional use patterns by Western cultures. The Greek furniture styles of this time were widely dispersed by the Greeks, and later the Romans; being found throughout Asia Minor, Italy, southern Russia, North Africa, and eventually in the East, were the stool exerted a great influence.
The stool developed in two forms. One, termed 'diphros', often had four perpendicular legs and a rectangular seat, often with a cushion or rug for padding. The other stool became known as 'diphros okladias' in which the legs cross, as in the modern stool. These stools, sometimes quite elaborate in design, could fold to allow easy transport when travelling.
The use of benches on which to sit became a common part of Greek culture,
used in schools and theatres and by philosophers and their audiences (see Figure
16). The benches sometimes had perpendicular backrests, but this was not common.
The Greeks were also accustomed to sitting on the ground. Significantly perhaps,
the 'speaker' would sit in an almost throne like chair, setting him/her apart
from the audience.
Footstools were in use whenever people sat in the higher chairs, see Figure 17. They were also used as a stepping stone to mount the high couches in use. As mentioned previously, the Greeks would eat in a reclining pose, food laid on table next to the couch. Once finished with, the table would be pushed under the couch.
Our notion of 'comfort' may be said to have derived from the Greeks, certainly they appear to have enjoyed their leisure time, adapting the chair for more comfortable support and developing furniture to suit their bodies in recline. It is with the Greeks, that the notion of supporting the body when sitting develops.
From this time on, excepting in the Roman Empire to follow, sitting in chairs becomes an almost foreign art, lost for centuries and revived only in the churches, and the halls of the powerful and wealthy.
The Romans did not develop the furniture of the Greeks much further. Rather, they kept the designs and added to the ornamentation and decoration. General styles similar to those of the Greeks were found distributed throughout the Roman Empire. Thrones became quite distinctive and certainly in Rome the chair was a 'seat of power'. The collapse of the Roman Empire signals an end to the furniture seen in these times. It is not until the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries that designs resembling the Greek and Roman styles re-appear.
When the nomads plundered Rome, they found chairs that made no more sense to them than the statues, the thermae, the inlaid furniture, and all the instruments of a differentiated culture. Their habit was to squat on the ground and so it remained. (Geidion, 1948) p. 262.
The traditions of the Classical arts were however not completely lost. The Christians took over the 'classical figures' and adopted them to their own uses. "...much of the legacy of antiquity was abandoned. All those lovely subtle curving shapes seen in Greek and late Roman furniture, the rounded backs and the sweeping sabre legs have vanished" (Hayward, 1975 20). The chair takes on an architectural form, usually massive in construction, and with a straight back (see Figure 19). The old skills had been swept away, and the craftsmen of this time using construction methods similar to older times, remodelled the chair anew. It was severe in its form and was only used by figures of power and authority, and for ceremonial purposes. Comfortable support did not seem a consideration. The notion of 'ascetic' was becoming popular in the monastic societies that were developing, with new furniture emerging to meet their needs. The handling of manuscripts and volumes of text encouraged the development of supported sitting in a new direction.
The early Gothic period was a time without the chair for the general population. The three legged stool remained a part of everyday life, but sitting was a very informal affair. People where accustomed to seating in very close proximity to each other, often crowded together
People sat on the bare floor and used cushions. They sat on stairs and steps leading up to the high posted beds. Romanesque chests...where for sacred purposes and much to high to have been used as seats. As chests became lower, we find them aligned along walls. They filled the role of chairs and couches. (Geidion, 1948 15) p. 264.
The chest became developed universal furniture of the Middle Ages . They were
portable, capable of storing ones' belongings, and they could be used to sit
upon. A characteristic part of Medieval life was transience of abode. Living
situations were often temporary, even with the nobility and kings, who travelled
with all their worldly belongings, usually in great chest. Folding stools
remained a useful addition to the travellers lot.
The chest's metamorphosis to the seat came about as people became less nomadic, and no longer required the security of a chest. As well, the chests of the time became quite ornate and uncomfortable to sit upon, and with the addition of the drawer the chest began its development as a 'chest of drawers'. The arrangement of chests around the walls became replaced by a continuous 'bench skirting', sometimes the whole circumference of the room.
The evolution of the chair remained in the hands of the monastics and
scholars of the period. While the common man made use of upturned buckets,
stools and crude wooden benches, the monastic communities were developing the
chair for utilitarian functions, i.e. record keeping , writing and painting.
They developed sloping tables, lecterns, and tables capable of angular
adjustments to hold their books and papers at eye level
It was not until the Eighteenth Century that horizontal tables became the principal type for these type of activities, a period associated with the development of libraries. The sloped desk has never regained the popularity it had at this time. Some clever designs can be seen from this period. The idea of a 'water wheel' arrangement, is a good example of the ingenuity of the time.
The chairs remained angular and austere in design, but often decorated and embellished in solemn tones. The high back-pieces were not intended to provide support and the hard angular construction of the chair would suggest to us the people of this time held a different notion of 'comfort' than contemporary society.
The monks were vowed to ascetic living. They little heeded such questions as how the body might best relax in a chair. Throughout its time the Medieval interior bore the marks of its austere origins. The ascetic ways of monasticism invisibly shaped the period in its own image. (Geidion, 1948 15) p. 301.
As the functions of the chair become more diversified, new designs begin to emerge such as the revolving chair, which first appeared in the Fourteenth Century, and was, by the Sixteenth Century highly refined. Its function was to facilitate the task at hand for the busy scholar. The use of hinges and pivots was commonly employed in the furniture designs of the time.
From the Sixteenth Century onwards chair design could said to be of a European style, and in the Nineteenth Century an American influence emerges. Most of our historical pre-occupation with the chair comes from these times, as living examples still remain as insights to the periods. Many texts have painstakingly classified the seating styles, and throughout the remainder of this paper some of these classifications will be used to assist in the categorising of the designs. It is not our intention to deal with each in its turn, but rather, to examine the contexts in which the changes occurred.
By the mid Sixteenth Century the chair was becoming a common piece of furniture throughout Europe. Made by cabinetmakers for the wealthier and noble members of society, the chair's design continues to become more diversified, often to meet the fashion tastes of the privileged classes. Chair design begins to move away from the heavy, and harsh angular shapes to a lighter design using frame construction, similar to that of the earlier Greek chair, incorporating flowing curves and a backrest intended to support the seated person. "Typologically speaking, it was the return of a forgotten standard: To create a support for the body that would allow highly relaxed posture. Posture and the chair are one". (Geidion, 1948 15) p, 301. the construction of the chair becomes almost skeletal in comparison to some of the earlier designs, as cabinetmakers employ quality joinery skills with fine pieces of timber to create what some describe as 'works of art'.
The chair designs were influenced by the tastes of the upper class and more powerful members of the society. It represented an expression of their tastes in furniture, and their rank. Perhaps a classic example of this type of influence is the role played by Napoleon Bonapart, considered responsible for the resurgence in the Greek and Roman styles of furniture. Employing architects sympathetic to his ideals, they resurrected the old styles using embellishments and designs from the Classical period. This influence spread throughout Europe as a populace clamoured for icons of a long lost past. This distinctive style in furniture design became known as the 'Empire design'; whose resurgence revived the idea of supporting the body with a backrest and often with armrests. "The curve intervenes...As its lines become fluid, the chair can adapt itself to the organic, to the body. The Seventeenth Century armrests and upholstered seat are relaxed and fused into a continuous curve, a shell moulded to the body". (Geidion, 1948 15) p. 312.
The 'chaise lounge' appears, a resurrection of the earlier Greek and Roman couch. New notions of comfort and posture emerge, based upon relaxation and support of the body in repose and upright sitting. Curved backrests, padded arm rests and the appearance of elaborate upholstery reflected a fashion that was to transcend the classical designs, as chair makers begin to adapt their designs to the idiosyncrasies of the human body. There are some authors however, who are of the opinion that the 'Classical Greek' designs were never surpassed in their beauty or form. The austere ascetic design of the Medieval age is forgotten, as a new culture reached into its past for forgotten origins. The chair becomes a work of art, highly regarded by the upper class, who at this time are the only group who can afford the luxury its use promised. The general populace were still using stools and benches, along with some crude copies of the contemporary styles. However, the chair was becoming a popularised object and with the commencement of the 'Industrial Revolution', its dispersion was guaranteed.
Men born into the first decades of the Nineteenth Century grew up in the firmly rooted belief that all products embodied high labour values and were to be won only by long toil. But now the machines began cutting to a fraction of their former cost, not only cotton goods, but also every product used in art and adornment." "Geidion, 1948 # 15] p. 345.
Along with this new notion of reproducibility of form, came a specialisation of not only labour, but also of space. Rooms reserved for special purposes, i.e. library, lounge, bedroom and dining room, each with specific furniture requirements. What was once the domain of the elite was becoming available to the common people, with the chair considered an important acquisition. The chair represented a sign of power and wealth, its use indicative of a lifestyle. More relaxed and sometimes asymmetrical sitting postures become more common as the chair looks to providing more support for the body.
With the advent of new technologies, methods and materials the upholsterer emerges as the new chair designer. Chairs and stools had used cushions and limited upholstery previously, but only in a small way to augment the woodworker. New fabrics and many types and designs emerge from the textile mills, and the upholster finds many imaginative uses for them, none the least the adornment of chairs." (Geidion, 1948 15) p. 364.
The upholsterer took the outline form or 'skeleton' of the wooden chair and transformed it into a completely new form. Soft padded edges, voluminous cushions and plush materials allowed the chair to lose its previous shape. it becomes 'boneless' and relies upon cushioned padding to provide the support. Backrests rise up to encapsulate the sitter, the seat depth increases to allow a 'comfortable' sitting position, and padded arm rests invite a flailed leg or weary elbow. Slumped, passive postures were invited by the chair, with some of the chairs actually being called 'comfortables' . These chairs made use of spiral springs placed in the base. Spring makers worked together with the upholsterer, to develop new shapes and styles, some not too dissimilar to the 'lounge suites' in use today.
Paralleling the rise of the upholsterer, other technologies were developing in the rapidly industrialised world. new ideas, materials and methods gave rise to the 'Patent' era in furniture design, which particularly flourished in the new colony of America. Patent designers, inventors and general gadget makers turned their energies to chair design. They became interested in the problem of motion; how to allow movement while supporting the body. The notion of adjustability and flexibility of design was paramount, as the new engineers dissected the chair into its planes, making each capable of regulated movement.
Patent designers left few stones unturned in their quest for relaxing and comfortable designs. Dentists and Barbers (previously the same professional group) chairs became fully adjustable in every conceivable direction in order to position the sitter in the most convenient position, whether for practical purposes or comfort. Railway seats for the new trains of the time could lay out flat, cantilevering above and below each other to allow the passengers a comfortable nights sleep (where have those days gone?). The chair became diversified in its form to meet each newly identified function, with support for the human body a high priority . The notion of passively positioning people in chairs becomes well cemented in designs from this point forwards, however different notions of postured positioning emerge. Relaxation and comfort, as demanded by the new middle class became the 'Holy Grail', for these chair designers.
The American Patent Office in the 1870's had 70 sub-divisional categories for
chairs of different purposes. Some of these designs were grotesque and awkward,
while others took account of the 'human physiology'. While Taylor was timing
work tasks, anonymous 'patent' designers were developing the first 'ergonomic'
chairs
Backache from sitting was recognised and accepted as a challenge by the
Patent designers, and as a result the rocking chair was developed. This form was
then merged with the revolving chair. Springs attached to the adjustable
backrest, allowing the sitter to move anteriorly or posteriorly with continued
support. At least that was the theory. The 'office' chair becomes a common part
of the industrial age, while other specialised chairs fill market niches. The
typist chair, which did not appear until the 1890's, some twenty years after the
introduction of the typewriter, received considerable attention in its design .
The seat was often capable of sloping forwards, as was common in 'sewing
machine' chairs of the time.
The backrest was spring loaded to provide support to the typists shoulders as they moved position. The guiding principles in the design are concerned with postural support and comfort, whether sitting upright, leaning backwards or reclining.
Unfortunately many of the early patents have been destroyed and lost forever, along with the concepts they developed. Some of the chairs of this time remain as a scant reminder to an innovative and prolific period in chair design, that was to be for the best part, forgotten by the chair designers to follow.
The beginning of the Twentieth Century was a time of revolt against the Patent furniture movement. Furniture was becoming an integral part of the house and office setting, with function assuming lesser importance to form. Aesthetic design became the guiding force, with the chairs place within, and its interaction with the space of the room of prime consideration. New materials in the form of steel tube, wire and later plywood provided designers with new scope for their designs and aesthetic notions, and as a consequence the way people sat was to alter again.
Around the 1920's the architects become the new guardians of chair design philosophies emanating from the German Bauhaus School. These designers were of the belief they were designing from a new premise, a new visual orientation of what the chair should be and how its form should interact with the space of the building into which it would become an integral component. The architects approached the chair as a form, rather than as a functional unit as seen in the Patent era. Along with this change in emphasis, the architects and their forms were to become famous for their work, as leaders in the avant garde world of design. Chair designers were no longer anonymous craftsmen or Patent holders, but rather, they became prominent social figures in their societies. Their often abstract designs were reflections and representations of their personalities and the new forms being created in their cultures. Experimental materials and the new qualities they provided, offered the architects the scope to construct previously unheard of designs, with the architecture of the building and the furniture used inside, designed to blend, to become one and the same. This notion remains with us today, and the later emergence of the 'interior designer', as a professional with specialised skills to coordinate a harmonious interior of a building; by combining colour, shape and form to achieve a balanced and spatially pleasant atmosphere within the building.
Marcel Breur, a famous student of the Bauhaus School incorporated the use of tubular steel, bent in smooth curves to imitate an earlier style of 'bentwood' furniture.
Breur later developed a cantilever design , still popular
today in some dining settings. The new materials and designs allowed the
construction of an aesthetic form, poised in space with no apparent solid
connection with the ground. The posture of the sitter was secondary to the final
appearance of the form. Chairs are photographed and advertised without the
person present. The appeal of the shape is marketed to the public, with the main
emphasis being on the 'feeling' the style and appearance of the chair will give
to the enclosed space of the building.
From the tubular steel designs emerged the 'moulded ply-wood' form, offering a
myriad of choices to the designer as the ply-wood could be pressed into complex
curves and shapes, allowing almost complete freedom in the final shape. The work
of Charles and Ray Eames, famous American designers, perfected a plywood
moulding technique which they used to develop their popular designs. These
designs are representative of the type of chairs that sold well and were widely
copied from the 1940's to present .
3.5 The Industrial Designer Era
Chair design and manufacture by this time had become big business, resulting in the further specialisation of its designers. The architects were left to design buildings, with a new profession; the 'Industrial Designer', assuming the chair as part of their portfolio of concerns. New philosophies of design emerged from this group. Styles become formalised with perhaps the most prominent of this time being 'streamlining', as seen in the cars, appliances and furniture; with curves and flowing lines used to accentuate the 'modern'. Furniture was freely available to the masses and the new consumer tastes that were developing. Chairs had become a common part of each persons working and home life, providing a place from which to work, eat a meal, or just a place to relax. Manufacturers were competing to have their styles accepted and adopted by the public and the institutions that housed them during their work or leisure time.
The industrial designer does more than trace curves. The studios of the leading design firms, where often over 100 draftsmen are employed, also undertake market research, re-organising of stores or factories, as well as design of building. Thus they must be decorative artists, architects and organisers in one. For them only one consideration counts: the merchandiser, dictator of taste in the United States...Now in the time of full mechanisation, reform takes place under the dictatorship of the market. All other considerations are secondary. (Geidion, 1948 15) p. 610
Chair design and the marketing of chairs divided into basically three
distinct types to meet the demands of the consumer. Chairs designed for
institutional purpose, chairs for the home and general consumer use, and chairs
as a form of artistic expression. new materials were continually deployed and
with the development of plastics, blown foam and urethanes, along with synthetic
coverings the designer had almost unrestricted options with which to create.
Nearly all designers, it seems are attracted to designing a piece of furniture.
Architects are convinced the chair is architecture writ small; industrial
designers are intrigued by the problem of combing mass-manufacture, modern
materials, new technology and good looks in a field which, unlike that of other
consumer durables, has in the past resisted change; and men and women who would
previously become fine artists have adopted furniture as a medium for self
expression and comment. (Dormer, 1987 22) p. 8.
The chair is designed to communicate with its audience, to expound the wealth and style of the owner, and determine the sitting arrangements expected of the users. Designers play with these variables in order to develop an aesthetically pleasing design that was also commercially viable.
The mass market demanded a stratification or segmenting of the chair manufacturers products. Low cost, mass produced chairs were targeted to the middle classes. International trade between the developed countries ensure the chairs dispersion. The style was most notably of simple geometry, with the chair having thin legs, a thin seat usually contoured, and a curved backrest to support the body, Perhaps the epitome of this style is the kitchen chair. The lounge chair, emerging during the reign of the upholsterer as chair designer, is further developed to blend into room spaces in a harmonious way. Their luxuriance, the carefully selected fabrics and large expanse of soft padding invite the sitter to collapse into their forms. Support is provided for the body with little thought given to the ultimate posture the seat demands.
The office chair attempts to balance a number of variables to provide an aesthetic technological and architectural design to attract buyers. It is also recognised as a tool of 'social engineering'. The chair will determine how people are arranged in social space, the importance of the persons position or status, and the nature of their work. Chairs for working purposes are clearly distinguished from chairs in which the sitter is invited to relax, such as the reception chair.
Some of the work chairs within institutions are designed to be stackable for easy storage and rearrangement of seating configurations, as well as durable and moderately priced; such as those used in schools, lecture theatres and conference rooms. They are often moulded in one piece, from polypropylene or plywood supported by a thin metal frame. These chairs are uniform in size without any consideration for anthropometric differences amongst people, rather they seem to represent an egalitarian notion of sitting.
The office or work chair has become a challenge for industrial designers and most recently in the scientific community in the guise of the "Ergonomist". Earlier designs of the 'contemporary chair' are reminiscent of the Patent era, with movable backrests, adjustable seat heights and pivoting seat pans. In an ad hoc evaluation of office chairs (1985), a design journalist Helen Buttery, asked various professionals to assess a number of office chairs.
This rather contentious notion has become the hallmark of ergonomics research in the area of sitting. The Norwegian furniture manufacturer, Westnofa, adapting the designs of Peter Opsvik and Svein Gusrud, have approached sitting and chair design from a different perspective. The 'Balans' range of chairs, now sold worldwide, suggest that by changing the angulation of the thigh, pelvis and spine, a balanced self supporting sitting posture is possible without the need for back support. This notion is new to the history of chair design, and as yet the market and the general ergonomic community seems undecided.
In Western society, the chair has become integral to the notion of posture.
The new chair designers assuming responsibility in the current era are the
ergonomists. This group, emerging from the science and engineering fields are
attempting to apply their tools to understand the physiological, anatomical and
psychosocial factors that may lead to better chair design. To suggest, after the
long evolution of the chair and supported sitting in Western culture, that we
are still not quite sure how to best sit people, is an interesting question,
about which a great deal of ergonomic research has concerned itself.
Baker HS (1966): Furniture in the Ancient World. London: The Connoisseur.
Dormer P (1987): The New Furniture: Trends and Traditions. London: Thames and
Hudson Ltd.
Geidion S (1948): Mechanization Takes Command: A Contribution to an Anonymous
History. New York: W.W. Norton and Company.
Furniture in Roman Egypt
Furniture found in Roman Egypt seems to be similar to that used elsewhere in
the Roman world. Egyptian style decorations seem to have fallen out of use. The
arid climate has preserved a great quantity of material, including complete
examples often better preserved than in other parts of the Empire. There are
several types of furniture attested: beds and couches, benches, stools and
chairs, cupboards, aediculae (household shrines) racks. The main material used
is wood. Bronze (too weak to support a body), bone and ivory are only
decorative. Iron can be used as support inside legs of beds and chairs.
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Traditionally, it was thought that the ancient Egyptians introduced lathe turning. Perhaps as much as 4,000 years ago. Despite a lack of hard evidence, it was assumed that a civilization as advanced as Egypt’s—known to develop the potter’s wheel and bow drill—possessed the technical know-how and skill to have made the invention of the lathe inevitable. Instead, scholars now believe that the lathe was invented later, around a thousand years B.C., and that its development may have occurred simultaneously among the Etruscans in Italy, the Celts in Great Britain, and the inhabitants of the Crimea. By the second century B.C., the lathe was known to most of the peoples of the Near East and Europe.
One of the reasons that lathe turning of wood was thought to be an older craft was the assumption that it represented only a slight modification of either the bow drill or, more significantly, the potter’s wheel. Although we know that the potter’s wheel was invented more than a millennium before the lathe, there are nonetheless strong affinities between the two crafts that have always had relevance to working craftspeople.
Both are based on the working of a piece of material that is shaped while revolving on a fixed point or points. Originally, the lathe was vertically oriented, like the potter’s wheel. With both devices the form of the material can change shape with great speed. Indeed, speed and regularity were the primary advantages that each apparatus offered. With both techniques additional work is necessary to prepare the finished product.
The interchangeable use of the terms "thrown" and "turned" to describe turned chairs up until the eighteenth century demonstrates the traditional association of the two crafts; in fact, the words "turner" and "thrower" mean exactly the same thing. One definition of the verb "to throw" offered by the Oxford English Dictionary is "to form or fashion by means of a rotary or twisting motion. To turn (wood, etc.) in a lathe." As Victor Chinnery recently pointed out, the word "turner" is from the Latin, a southern European term, while "thrower" is from Old German and northern Europe. "Throwing a pot" refers not to the physical action of forming clay on the wheel but, rather, to the revolving action of the wheel, as well as the counter-force applied by the craftsman to the spin. Both actions also clearly apply to the woodturning lathe.
Ancient turning
It is not known for certain what the earliest lathes looked like. Not until the third century B.C. is there a representation of a lathe. An Egyptian papyrus painting shows a vertical lathe being operated by two men. An assistant, who pulls on a cord to revolve the piece, being shaped by the turner. Pulling alternately with each hand rotates the work clockwise, then counterclockwise; cutting is done in only one of these directions. Eastern cultures craftsmen traditionally sat on the ground (as many still do), while most Western societies adopted an erect sitting posture. In the case of turning, the lathe was eventually mounted on a table frame, to be used mainly in a standing position. But because of the dearth of representations of turning, it is not clear when this change occurred.
Virtually all early lathes were powered by cord and required that a helper assist the craftsman. The early turners made bowls, platters, beads, among other things, and in the case of Etruscans and later Roman turners, furniture parts. Legs and stiles for couches or thrones were often turned from wood or ivory.
The turned bowl or platter became the most common turned object. Any type of similar metal implement did not supplant it—at least among the lower classes—for nearly two thousand years.
Medieval times
By the early Middle Ages, the turner had apparently become an accepted independent craftsman. Around 1150 a significant improvement was made by introducing the pole lathe . Although still driven by a cord, the new lathe used the tension of a bent tree branch or cut pole to provide a stronger and more convenient way of turning.
Coordinated with the pole was a treadle, which pulled down on the cord wrapped around the work itself, or on a spindle attached to the work. The treadle regulated the speed at which the piece turned. This arrangement dispensed with the need for an assistant. The pole lathe was one of the major technological innovations of medieval times; it remained the dominant type of lathe well into the nineteenth century .
The one troublesome feature of early lathes that the pole-and-treadle system did not address was the need for continuous motion. With these lathes, the craftsman could still work only when the work turned in one direction. It was necessary to wait until the piece revolved back and started turning in the correct direction before again applying tool to wood.
The Renaissance period
The search for a lathe that would turn in only one direction probably ended in the fifteenth century, when craftsmen began to make use of lathes powered by cranked flywheels and giant wheels powered by hand, foot, horse, and even water. The result was that turners could be more precise in their craft, that work could be speedier, and that turning on harder woods and even metals became practical. Leonardo da Vinci was one of the many inventors who designed an early continuous-drive lathe Nonetheless, most turners making objects for daily use continued to employ reciprocal, pole-and-treadle lathes.
The fifteenth century also marked the beginning of the rise of the turner’s trade. In 1478 an English Association of Turners was approved. This culminated in 1604 in the establishment of the Worshipful Company of Turners of the City of London. During these years turned furniture became common in Scandinavia (where it had been made as early as the thirteenth century) and in England, where the turner’s art continued to gain popularity well into the seventeenth century.
1550—1800
The craft of woodturning enjoyed its greatest period from the mid-sixteenth until the end of the seventeenth century when continuous-drive lathes became more popular. Although turning later became popular as a hobby among the aristocracy of Europe, the most elaborately turned European objects date from the period 1550 to 1800. Naturally, in America the great period of the turner came later, from the mid-seventeenth until the early eighteenth century.
Although the history of wood-turning is usually discussed in terms of the history of turning technology—i.e., of the lathe it is also true that the use of turning in furniture, architecture, household objects, and decorative elements was mainly dictated by style or fashion—in other words, by aesthetic decision rather that technological evolution.
From the mid-sixteenth until the early eighteenth century, the styles of Mannerism and Baroque influenced both sophisticated and folk objects. Although turned elements could exist in objects designed under classical influence, the restless spirit and experimentation of Mannerism, and the dynamism and complexity of the Baroque, provided a more sympathetic background for the flourishing of exuberant turnings.
Typical of the elaborately turned objects of the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries were the great turned chairs of England. Designed with either three or four legs, these massive throne like chairs were often made entirely of turned elements. The most common were the imposing high-back, four-legged chairs. Greatest elaboration was lavished upon chair backs and arms, especially the smaller decorative elements that spanned the structural members. The seventeenth century equivalent in terms of robustness and complexity were the great turned beds of Spain and Portugal. In these beds, head and baseboards were developed into elaborate decorative screens.
Similar elaborate Baroque spiral turning was also seen in somewhat simpler objects such as candle stands made from a single piece of turned wood. Despite the proliferation of these marvels of turning, the most common turned objects remained the simplest: bowls, platters, and handles on everyday domestic objects.
Ornamental turning
The use of turning as a decorative device would never again be as popular as it had been in seventeenth-century Europe. However, beginning in 1700 the craft of ornamental turning was seized upon by the aristocracy as the latest fad. Turning as a hobby was not new, but in the eighteenth-century leading aristocrats sponsored books for amateur turners (known as turning manuals). These books helped to further the popularity of the craft.
Ornamental turning consists of intricate surface decoration on either flat or rounded surfaces, as well as the production of elaborately shaped objects in their own right. Often, the two aspects of ornamental turning are combined in single objects. Complicated turning can be accomplished on traditional lathes of great precision; but the unique surfaces and shapes of what is usually described as ornamental turning require special lathes that allow both cutting tool and object to revolve independently and at the same time. These unusual lathes allow the cutting tool to move in almost any direction.
The Hapsburg emperors of Austro-Hungary, beginning with Maximilian I (ruled in 1493—1519) were among the earliest to adopt turning as a royal hobby. Two of his successors, Charles VI (ruled 1711—40) and Joseph II (ruled 1765—90) were both proud possessors of royal lathes.
It was in France, however, that the hobby of ornamental turning reached its apogee. In 1701, Charles Pluier published L’Art du Tourneur, the first manual on lathes and turning. Every type of lathe, tool, and project is described in greatest detail. The main topic of this "how-to" book for upper-class gentlemen was ornamental turning. It is more than likely that France’s most famous turner, Louis XVI (ruled 1174—92), used the text. Unfortunately for French turners, the coming of the Revolution meant the end of royal sponsorship. Along with many of the French aristocracy, the vogue for ornamental turning was transferred to England, which became the center both for amateur ornamental turning and for the transformation of turning from a craft into an industry.
Nineteenth-century England
Credit for the interest in ornamental turning in England was due not only to the importation of a Continental passion but also to a firm of lathe-makers founded in London in the 1780s by John Jacob Holtzapffel. Holtzapffel’s firm remained in business until 1914, producing about twenty ornamental lathes per year. These exceedingly fine, expensive machines were prized by turners and they remain sought after today. In addition to their lathes, the Holtzapffel family gave the world of turning five out of six projected volumes in the series Turning and Mechanical Manipulation—an encyclopedic treatment of ornamental turning covering such minutiae as how to turn eggshell, stone, or jewels. In England, turning attracted not only aristocratic men but also middle-class hobbyists (who could not afford Holtzapffel lathes) and women (some of whom could). The first woman to acquire a Holtzapffel lathe was the Marchioness Townsend, who registered her lathe at the Guildhall Library in London on December 21, 1798.
Industry
While nineteenth-century England provided the arena for the continuation of the century-old hobby of ornamental turning, it was also the place of the industrialization of turning. The leading figure in this development was Henry Maudsley. Since Maudsley was mainly concerned with the precision turning of metal, his story cannot be told here. What is significant, however, is that by the early nineteenth century the technical aspects of the craft of woodturning were largely fixed in place Although certain innovations, such as large-scale turning using steam engines for power, would not become common until almost the twentieth century, the technology and expertise for virtually all types of craft woodturning are largely the same today as they were more than a century ago.
The United States
The history of woodturning in the U.S. begins in the seventeenth century with the emigration of wood-workers from Holland and England. Turning in the U.S. never quite achieved the bravura quality of sixteenth-century England or later Spain, but everything from chairs to bookstands was made with elaborately turned parts beginning in the second half of the seventeenth century. One unusual aspect of turning in America was the use of so-called split turnings, which were cut in half lengthwise and applied to the front of chests. More characteristic were the simpler turnings on eighteenth-century ladder-back chairs, bowls, pestles and mortars, boxes, and even toys. All these objects were made in the traditional manner well into the nineteenth century.
Although complexity and elaboration were most often looked to for demonstrations of the turner’s art, no examples of woodturning are more beautiful than the quiet, refined turnings of the Shakers. The versatility and mastery of woodturning achieved by this famous religious community are demonstrated both in the wide range of turned objects they produced—from the tiniest bobbins and pegs to larger pieces of furniture—and the subtle variation in turned shapes (best seen by comparing their unique chairs).
Architecture
The use of turnings in architecture has a long history in Western, Eastern, and African countries alike. Arabic windows and decorative screens have, for centuries, made use of small and delicate turned pieces all joined together in elaborate compositions. Heavier turnings used in doorways to churches and houses appeared in Scandinavia from Romanesque times. Ships have long been fitted with turned elements. As with stable architecture, seagoing vessels contained functional elements such as rails and balusters, as well as decorative features including sculptures and finials. In the U.S. products of the turner’s shop became common in houses beginning in the 1720s, when turned balusters and newel posts began to appear with greater frequency.
The period that saw the most prolific use of turned elements in architecture was the mid-nineteenth century, particularly in the U.S. Detailing in Victorian architecture (what is sometimes called "gingerbread") was distinguished by the use of elements that were mainly cut out on a jig saw or turned on a lathe. In these houses—both free-standing country houses and urban row houses—turned elements were used not only on staircases (certainly the most common use) but also on the exterior, for structural columns, post, and even architectural screens.
African and Eastern countries
The origins of lathe turning were in the Near East, yet it was apparently unknown in continental Africa until colonial times. The only tradition of turning in Africa—one that continues today—is that of the itinerant craftsman who carries a portable lathe and generally makes bowls. The turned lacquer bowls and platters of Japan are well known, although they are usually discussed and exhibited because of their lacquer finishes, the fact that they are turned being rarely mentioned. The origins of lathe turning in Japan probably date to the ninth century. At that time, highly organized groups of nomadic wood-workers—the lathe workers called rokuroshi—traveled the country carrying portable lathes and making use of local forests for necessary materials. Their work consisted mainly of small objects intended for domestic or ceremonial use.
Although little has been written on the subject, the English turner Holtzapffel visited turners in India, Persia, and Arabia in the nineteenth century. Indian turners were itinerant and, like the African turners, made their lathes by driving stakes into the ground. Persian turners used an open box as a frame for turning while Arab turners had more complete and adjustable lathes (still portable), with which they produced ornamental woodwork used for screens and oriel windows with elaborate latticework. All these craftsmen worked sitting on the ground.
