Series editors' preface - Wood Tools

4 Conservation of Furniture
Figure 1.1 Golden throne, tomb of Tutankhamun
(1336–1327 BC). The chair is almost completely covered
with thick gold sheet. The seat, a flat board of wood
covered in gold, is decorated with over 2000 squares of
gold, calcite and faience. The chair back depicts the
seated young pharaoh who is being anointed by his
wife, Ankhesnamun. Their skins are depicted in
chiselled red glass, wigs in light blue faience, whilst
their robes are made from sheet silver embellished with
calcite, faience and coloured glass
Seats were derived from backless stools, initially
having framed seats with carved bull’s
legs to the front, and then developing to armchairs
by the fourth dynasty (c.2600–2500 BC).
The most well-known example of an Egyptian
seat is Tutankhamun’s gold throne, both as a
model of furniture-making and also as the
embodiment of the symbolic authority of the
chair (Figure 1.1). On a more mundane level,
stools remained popular, often designed with
braced struts and a white paint finish. Folding
stools were also used: they often had hide
seats, and cross-frames decorated as carved
duck’s heads inlaid with ivory.
Tables were usually small, hardly more than
stands for food or offerings. Gaming boards
were mounted onto legged frames to create the
earliest example of games tables. Most boxes,
whether of wood, papyrus or reed, were rectangular
with short feet. Some were fitted with
divisions for toiletries, jewellery and the like.
The selection of materials began in the locality
and was extended to other sources. The
only local timbers – acacia, sycamore, fig and
tamarisk – were supplemented by imported
woods, such as cedar, cypress ebony, juniper
and thuya. The shortage of timbers resulted
either in the use of veneer or a build up of
smaller pieces of wood. In other cases, furniture
was occasionally overlaid with gold or silver
or made from solid ivory.
The construction of cabinets was based on
the mortise and tenon, dovetail and mitred
joints. Hinges were used from the eighteenth
dynasty (1575–1300 BC) as a replacement for
wooden pivots in chests, but locks were rare.
Woodworking tools included mallets, saws
with copper or bronze blades, axes and drills.
For levelling timber, adzes were used since the
woodworking plane was not invented until later.
This is perhaps one reason why the Egyptians
ground the timber surface with sand and overlaid
it with gesso, ready for gilding or painting.
In some cases a transparent varnish was used.
The origins of the techniques of wood-turning
and bending have been the subject of some
dispute amongst experts. It is probable that
whilst bending was known in Egypt, the lathe
originated in Syria (c.1000 BC) and was not
known to the Egyptians. However, the establishment
of many type-forms, tools and techniques
originated from this time.
1.2.2 Greece
Very few pieces of Greek furniture survive, so
the main sources are the illustrations on pottery
and a few remaining stone-carved items.
Nevertheless, there is enough evidence to
identify the main furniture types. It is not surprising
that the main categories resembled
Egyptian prototypes but there were other
developments that had a long-lasting influence.
The most important of these was the introduction
of the couch as a development of the
Egyptian bed. It was used not only as a bed
but also as a sofa for reclining upon. This
developed stylistically into the Greek sofa with
its well-known curved head and footboards.
Seating arrangements were based on a range
of stools and chair types. Stools were basic
four-legged versions or box-like constructions.
In addition there was the diphros, a fourlegged
stool with stretchers. The famous