The Golden State: Where & How to Live, Secure, Visit, Enjoy and Thrive in California

Furniture Finishing

In the thirteenth century fireplaces were introduced in place of roof vents, staircases were added and a "parloir" or talking room, where the women could retire. Bathing took place in wooden tubs filled from cisterns or in the castle moat. The great hall, which served also as dining and living room, was furnished with benches, stools, chests and tables; the only heat and most of the light came from an enormous hearth fire. In the early days the table or "trestle borde" wa.s nothing but a narrow plank mounted on shaped standards similar to a carpenter's horse and removed after each meal. Later it was permanently attached. The lord, his family and guests sat on one side only and received service from the other. This arrangement combined with a raised platform Avas adopted to guard against treachery or sudden attack.

At a convenient distance was placed a table upon which servants set foods ready to be served and tasted by the cook in the presence of the lord—a customary precaution against poisoning. Later this ancestor of our sideboard was provided with shelves and doors, a repository for valuable plate and eating utensils called "credence." It has been extensively reproduced of late years as a cabinet for phonographs and radios.

The feudal sleeping quarters were merely portions of the great hall partitioned off by curtains. They contained a massive fourpost bed with a draped canopy reaching to the ceiling, a bench, a "prie dieu," or devotional altar, one or more carved chests and an "armoire," or cupboard.

W ith the fifteenth century, furniture became somewhat more extensive and colorful—a period of transition from Gothic to Renaissance. It is from royal account books that we get most of our information concerning the importance of color in Gothic decoration—very few actual pieces of furniture have been preserved. Thus we note in England during the time of Henry III (1216-1272) that wood panelling was first used in place of tapestries and that it was painted a green color to match a curtain. The armchair of a French princess late in the fourteenth century was painted vermillion, the seat and arms covered in vermillion morocco and cordovan, stamped with designs representing the sun, birds and other devices, bordered with fringes of silk and studded with gilt nails.