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Furniture is the collective term for the movable
objects which may support the human body
(seating furniture and beds), provide storage,
or hold objects on horizontal surfaces above the
ground. Storage furniture (which often makes use
of doors, drawers, and shelves) is used to hold
or contain smaller objects such as clothes,
tools, books, and household goods. (See List of
furniture types.)
Furniture can be a product of artistic design
and is considered a form of decorative art. In
addition to furniture's functional role, it can
serve a symbolic or religious purpose. Domestic
furniture works to create, in conjunction with
furnishings such as clocks and lighting,
comfortable and convenient interior spaces.
Furniture can be made from many materials,
including metal, plastic, and wood.
Cabinetry and cabinet making are terms for the
skillset used in the building of furniture.
History
Furniture has been a part of the human
experience since the development of non-nomadic
cultures. Evidence of furniture from antiquity
survives in the form of paintings, such as the
wall Murals discovered at Pompeii; sculpture,
and examples have been excavated in Egypt and
found in tombs in Ghiordes, in modern day
Turkey.
Early furniture has been excavated from the
8th-century B.C. Phrygian tumulus, the Midas
Mound, in Gordion, Turkey. Pieces found here
include tables and inlaid serving stands. There
are also surviving works from the
9th-8th-century B.C. Assyrian palace of Nimrud.
The earliest surviving carpet, the Pazyryk
Carpet has been dated between the 6th and 3rd
century B.C. and was discovered in a frozen tomb
in Siberia. Recovered Ancient Egyptian furniture
includes a 3rd millennium B.C. bed discovered in
the Tarkhan Tomb, a c.2550 B.C. gilded set from
the tomb of Queen Hetepheres, and a c. 1550 B.C.
stool from Thebes. Ancient Greek furniture
design beginning in the 2nd millennium B.C.,
including beds and the klismos chair, is
preserved not only by extant works, but by
images on Greek vases. The 1738 and 1748
excavations of Herculaneum and Pompeii
introduced Roman furniture, preserved in the
ashes of the 79 A.D. eruption of Vesuvius, to
the eighteenth century.
The furniture of the Middle Ages was usually
heavy, oak, and ornamented with carved designs.
Along with the other arts, the Italian
Renaissance of the fourteenth and fifteenth
century marked a rebirth in design, often
inspired by the Greco-Roman tradition. A similar
explosion of design, and renaissance of culture
in general, occurred in Northern Europe,
starting in the fifteenth century. The
seventeenth century, in both Southern and
Northern Europe, was characterized by opulent,
and often gilded Baroque designs that frequently
incorporated a profusion of vegetal and
scrolling ornament. Starting in the eighteenth
century, furniture designs began to develop more
rapidly. Although there were some styles that
belonged primarily to one nation, such as
Palladianism in Great Britain, others, such as
the Rococo and Neoclassicism were perpetuated
throughout Western Europe.
The nineteenth is usually defined by concurrent
revival styles, including Gothic, Neoclassicism,
Rococo and the Eastlake Movement. The design
reform of the late century, introduced the
Aesthetic movement and the Arts and Crafts
movement. Art Nouveau was influenced by both of
these movements.
The first three-quarters of the twentieth
century are often seen as the march towards
Modernism. Art Deco, De Stijl, Bauhaus, Wiener
Werkstätte, and Vienna Secession designers all
worked to some degree within the Modernist
idiom. Postmodern design, intersecting the Pop
art movement, gained steam in the 1960s and 70s,
promoted by designers such as the Italy-based
Memphis movement. Transitional furniture is
intended to fill a place between Traditional and
Modern tastes.
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