Middle Ages Furniture

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Furniture includes objects like tables, chairs, beds, cupboards etc. It helps facilitate day to day activities like eating, sleeping, writing etc.
Furniture can be made of different materials like wood, plastic, stone and metal. The materials and designs used for furniture have been changing throughout history.
Prehistoric & Middle Ages Furniture
When nomadic life stopped and people started settling down in permanent homes, they felt the need for furniture. The earliest known furniture is known to be from a stone-age village in Sara Brae in the Orkney Islands in Scotland in 2,000 BC. The made stone furniture like beds and cupboards.
Rich people in ancient Egypt lived in large and comfortable houses. Inside, they had wooden furniture like tables, chairs and chests for storage etc. They used wooden head rests instead of pillows. While this flamboyance existed, peasants lived in homes made of mud - the concept of furniture for them, …show more content…

Furniture here included wall paintings called murals. The furniture was usually finely carved and beautiful to look at. They were also one of the first to use oil lamps for lighting. Here too, peasants used extremely basic furniture.

Furniture till Present
In the 16th century, life became even more comfortable for the wealthy. There was a wider variety of choices than in the middle ages, and not as basic. Oak furniture was extensively used in wealthy homes, which made the furniture bulky.
Glass windows became common, although the poor still used strips of linen soaked in linseed oil.
In the late 17th century walnut or mahogany replaced oak. Decoration too was done in different and newer ways. One was veneering. (Thin pieces of expensive wood were laid over cheaper wood). Some furniture was also inlaid with the mother of pearl to add value.
In the 18th century, furniture was mass produced for the first time. It was cheaper, but unfortunately this led to fall in quality and design

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