The style and development of ancient Egyptian furniture - part 1

Magazine Antiques, April, 1997 by Geoffrey Killen

The design and quality of Egyptian furniture were renowned throughout the ancient world. Prior to the beginning of the third millennium B.C., ancient Egyptians made furniture from conveniently shaped branches and trunks of trees,(1) but woodworking of a high standard was flourishing along the banks of the Nile by about 2920 B.C. The furniture being made by that date employs construction techniques that are not very different from those used by modern carpenters.

Before the Early Dynastic Period (3100-2575 B.C.), wood had to be cut with primitive stone axes and shaped with simple copper tools, sharp flint knives, and serrated saw knives. However, the construction of frame-type furniture became possible with the introduction of more sophisticated copper tools, examples of which have been found in a number of First Dynasty tombs.(2) With these tools, carpenters were able to convert native timbers such as acacia into boards, cut complex joints, and form wooden elements in a variety of shapes.(3)

Ivory which had been used since Neolithic times, has a dense grain that Egyptian craftsmen easily carved into a large number of commonly used objects, such as caskets and furniture legs in the shape of those of a bull or an ox (see Pl. I). Such bovine legs are often found in the tombs of the kings of the Early Dynastic Period, no doubt because from the earliest times the king was associated with a bull, but such furniture legs were soon adopted by nobles and high state officials as well. Displaying fine anatomical detail of both vein and tendon structure, they stand on tall round drums carefully incised with ornamental rings, and projecting from the top is a tenon (broken on the example illustrated) that would have fitted into the mortise of the opposing rail.

Short wooden legs in bovine shapes were often used on Early Dynastic bed-frames. They were connected to the bed's side rails with mortise-and-tenon joints, and they had molded shoulders so that they fitted against the round rails. The joints were held tight by leather thongs that had been soaked in water and threaded through holes in the legs and then bound around the rail above. As the leather dried, it shrank and pulled the joints firmly together. By the New Kingdom, carpenters used hot glue made by boiling down the skin and bones of animals to fasten wooden furniture joints together.(4)

Stelae in the royal cemetery at Helwan show members of the royal family in the Second Dynasty (2770-2649 B.C.) seated on tall stools with bovine legs and papyrus-flower terminals at the ends of the side seat rails.(5) One stela shows a stool with a seat made from woven rush that was wrapped around the seat rails. Some beds were also sprung with this technique, although the best ones had webbing made from woven rush or leather straps that would have passed through slots cut in the inner and bottom surfaces of the side and cross rails.

According to George Reisner, who excavated the Old Kingdom (2575-2134 B.C.) furniture of Queen Hetepheres I, the wood from which the furniture had been made had deteriorated to the consistency of cigar ash.(6) Luckily, much of it had been encased in gold foil from which it was possible to reconstruct a good deal of the queen's furniture.(7) As seen in the reconstructed chair shown in Plate VII, the furniture was quite elaborate, with a spray of three fled papyrus flowers covered with thin gold sheet placed in each of the spaces created by the chairs arms. The foil-covered elements were then fastened together with leather thongs.

The queen's furniture was placed within an elaborate portable canopy that would have supported netting and curtains, which provided privacy as well as protection from both insects and the chill of the desert's night air. The curtains and netting would have been stored in a long rectangular box, and the queen's jewelery and toiletries in two smaller boxes. The queen's bed is like those of the Early Dynastic Period, but it incorporates a footboard, which prevented the bedding from slipping onto the floor. A thick mattress would have been placed on the sloping wooden surface of the bed.

The First Intermediate Period (2134-2040 B.C.) saw a cultural decline in Egypt that was reversed at the beginning of the Middle Kingdom. One method of surveying the furniture of the Middle Kingdom is through wall reliefs, paintings, and stelae. The very fine collection of Middle Kingdom stelae at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo reveals that major advances had been made in both furniture construction and design; for example, chairs had high, curved backs made from angled slats of timber. These chairs also appear to have had higher seats, which necessitated taller and more slender legs. Carpenters began to make legs shaped like those of gazelles as well as lions.

The importation of the alloy bronze, which made finer quality tools, and the continued use of imported timber such as cedar,(8) contributed to improvements in woodworking during the Middle Kingdom. The cavetto cornice with torus molding first used in architectural design during the Third Dynasty was quickly incorporated by carpenters for use on boxes and tables.(9) The Middle Kingdom tomb of Princess Sithathoriunet at el-Lahun contained the fragmented remains of a number of boxes, including a beautiful toilet box with a molded cornice and a shrine-shaped lid.(10)