History and Functional Importance of Furniture Ornamentation

For example, the legs, arms, and backs of chairs; the ends and covers of beds; the legs and bases of tables; and all the vertical surfaces of cupboards and chests of drawers. The excess and aesthetic character of furniture decoration is particularly noticeable in forms that express authority and prestige. Royal and bishop's thrones, the seats of the heads of craft guilds, state beds, the writing desks of chief executives, etc. all allowed for depiction and ornamentation; and as the functional aspect of the piece decreased, the amount of ornamentation seemed to increase. On the other hand, fully functional milk chairs and writing desks are devoid of any ornamentation. This distinction is observed with varying clarity at different periods in the history of furniture.

Sometimes the ornamentation itself was functional in a sense. For example, the decoration of the earliest examples of Mesopotamian and Egyptian furniture had a symbolic or magical function. The legs of Sumerian chairs were made in the shape of a bull, which symbolized the guardian animal of the city of Ur. In Egyptian furniture, however, a more extensive development of furniture legs based on animal models is observed. In the history of Egyptian furniture, over the millennia, three-legged chairs had legs shaped like dog paws, folding chairs had legs shaped like duck heads, and bed legs had legs shaped like lion feet. Tables are depicted with lion feet in Assyrian reliefs. Similar animal symbols are also known in depictions of Greek furniture. Sometimes Greek chairs had both arms and legs shaped like animals—for example, ending in a lion or ram's head. It is thought that ceremonial seats and thrones were decorated with animal motifs, which were seen as an expression of the magical transfer of authority.

This ancient tradition also survived in European furniture; for example, griffins, lions, and eagles formed an important part of the decoration on thrones.