Amy J L Baker Benjamin Charvat Popular Books

Amy J L Baker Benjamin Charvat Biography & Facts

Ancient furniture was made from many different materials, including reeds, wood, stone, metals, straws, and ivory. It could also be decorated in many different ways. Sometimes furniture would be covered with upholstery, upholstery being padding, springs, webbing, and leather. Features which would mark the top of furniture, called finials, were common. To decorate furniture, contrasting pieces would be inserted into depressions in the furniture. This practice is called inlaying. It was common for ancient furniture to have religious or symbolic purposes. The Incans had chacmools which were dedicated to sacrifice. Similarly, in Dilmun they had sacrificial altars. In many civilizations, the furniture depended on wealth. Sometimes certain types of furniture could only be used by the upper class citizens. For example, in Egypt, thrones could only be used by the rich. Sometimes the way the furniture was decorated depended on wealth. For example, in Mesopotamia tables would be decorated with expensive metals, chairs would be padded with felt, rushes, and upholstery. Some chairs had metal inlays. Mesopotamia Sumeria Materials Most Sumerian furniture was constructed out of wood, reeds, and other perishable materials. Sumerian records mention many kinds of wood. One example is a type of wood named Halub wood. It is described as a kind of wood used to make beds, bedframes, furniture legs, chairs, foot-stools, baskets, containers, drinking vessels, and other prestigious goods. Timber, a wood which would have been imported from Lebanon, was used for carpentry. Timber and Halub wood were not the only kinds of wood the Sumerians used. Some other types of wood were kusabku, Sulum Meluhi wood, and date palm. Kusakbu wood, which was either teak or mangrove wood, could be used for inlaying thrones with lapis lazuli. Sulum Meluhi wood may have been ebony. However, no ebony has been found at archaeological sites. Another possibility is rosewood imported from Harrapa. Date palm was imported from Meluhha. The source of date palm is a contentious topic. Because date palm grew in southern Mesopotamia, they may have not import date palm from a foreign country. Instead, it is possible that they imported a material similar to date palm. Bamboo or Sugarcane from Magan was used by Sumerians. They described it as "reeds bundled together to look like wood." More kinds of wood used by the Sumerians included palmwood, wicker wood, hardwood. Kinds of wood were not the only materials in Sumeria. Felt, rushes, leather, skin, and wool were used to make materials such as padding and rugs. Metals such as bronze, copper, silver, and gold had many uses in Sumeria. They could be used for inlaying. Sometimes metals would be used to make rings for furniture legs. Chairs Beds, stools, and chairs made of palmwood or woven reeds were used in Sumeria. Wealthy citizens would have chairs padded with felt, rushes, and leather upholstery. The most expensive chairs were inlaid with bronze, copper, silver, and gold. In Akkad, the finest furniture would be inlaid or overlaid with panels and ornaments of metals, gemstones, ivory, faience. Chairs would also have brightly colored wooden and ivory finials depicting arms and bull's heads. Sometimes these finials would be cast-bronze or carved-bone. Oftentimes the chairs would have bronze panels that had images of griffins and winged deities carved into them. The Royal Standard of Ur showcases the king of Ur on a low-back chair with animal legs. The seats depicted on the Royal Standard were likely made of Rush and Cane. During this period of Sumerian history chairs were not used by the majority of people. Most people simply sat on the floor. Low-backed chairs with curved or flat seats and turned legs were incredibly common in the Akkadian Empire. Beds Although there were beds in Sumeria, most people slept on the floor rather than beds. The Sumerian bed was a wooden bed on a wooden frame. The bed frame was a tall head-board decorated with pictures of birds and flowers. Sometimes the bed's leg would be inlaid with precious metals and shaped to look like animal's paws. Some Akkadian beds had ox-hoof feet. The upper class in Sumeria would use leather, cloth strips, carefully woven reeds to form the sleeping platform. Wealthy Mesopotamians had beds with wooden frames and mattresses stuffed with cloth, goat's hair, wool, or linen. The marriage bed was an important kind of bed in Sumeria. It was where couples engaged in sexual intercourse after a marriage. If the bride did not get pregnant, the marriage could be invalidated. Mats People would cover their floors with mats woven from reeds, skin rugs, and woolen hangings. During the early parts of Sumerian history, reed mats would be fastened to sticks and stuck into the ground or houses. Sometimes reed-mats were used to make houses. The roofs of certain houses would be flat mud spread out over mats. These mats would be supported by cross beams. Another way of supporting these huts was to tie bundles of reeds together and bend the top inwards. These bundles would serve as arches. Some food would have been sprayed over mats. For example, one Sumerian text explains that a person should spread cooked mash over reed mats. Other Sumerian texts talk about covering chariots in reed mats. Mats could have also been used to cover skeletons. Household furniture It was uncommon for most houses to have a lot of furniture as most furniture was reserved for the wealthy. The majority of furniture in Sumeria was made of wicker wood. Storage chests were common. Chests could be made from reed or wood. Some were elaborately carved. Stools, tables, and reed mats were also common. Tables were used to hold meals or belongings. Wealthy Mesopotamians would decorate their tables with metals. Aside from chests and tables people would use baskets made of reed, wicker wood, or straw; and bins made of sun-dried clay, palmwood, or reeds for storage. Sumerians would have household vessels made of clay, stone copper, and bronze. Braziers burning animal dung were used to heat homes. People would light their houses by placing a wick made of reed or wool in sesame seed oil then lighting it. Statues would usually be hidden inside houses in order to ward off evil spirits. In Mesopotamian art, gods would often be depicted sitting on mountains or heaps of produce. Some gods could be depicted as sitting on stools. These stools might represent temples or the god's seat on Earth. In Ancient Sumeria doors would be made out of wood or red ox-hide. A variety of furniture dedicated to relaxing existed in Ancient Mesopotamia. Some ancient art depicts people lounging on sofas. The legs of the sofas had iron panels that depicted women and lions. In Mesopotamia bathrooms would have had bathtubs, stools, jars, mirrors, and large water pitchers occasionally with a pottery dipper. Rich Sumerians would have toilets and proper drainage systems. Archaeology Because of the perishable.... Discover the Amy J L Baker Benjamin Charvat popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Amy J L Baker Benjamin Charvat books.