fashionsfromhistory:Suite of Bedroom Furniture, including Kneeling Chair & Fire screenJean-B
fashionsfromhistory:Suite of Bedroom Furniture, including Kneeling Chair & Fire screenJean-Baptiste-Claude Sené1787In eighteenth-century France beds ranged from practical cots to extravagant fantasies. This bed was designed to stand lengthwise against the bedroom wall and was set into an alcove curtained off from the room, for privacy. The metal wheels facilitated the easy removal of the bed from its alcove in order to change the linens. The silk textiles and trimmings ordered for the bed and the alcove represented the greatest expense in the interior decoration of the room. The eighteenth-century upholsterer used a luxurious three-colored silk to cover the bed, line the walls of the alcove, and make the bed curtains; the silk and trims have been exactly reproduced.Chairs with low seats and high backs with padded rails had various functions, depending on their location. This chair, ordered as apart of a set of bedroom furnishings, likely served as a kneeling chair for saying prayer. Voyeuses were also used in gaming rooms; the spectators knelt on the seat and rested their arms on the padded rails of backs while observing games of cards or roulette.MFA Boston -- source link
#furniture#french#european