Ancient Egyptian Furniture

Ancient Egyptian furniture is well documented and it was clearly well regarded in its day. Indeed, excavations at sites in Mesopotamia and farther afield have shown that furniture of Egyptian origin was also exported and given in tribute to foreign dignitaries.

The ancient Egyptian world-view included a complex set of beliefs regarding the afterlife. The Egyptians believed that one aspect of the eternal soul, ka, was the double of the physical body, freed at the moment of death but able to return to the corpse at will. This aspect of the sour required sustenance in order to continue to exist, and this is why the burial chambers of Egyptian dignitaries were filled not only food, but also with ceremonial and household furniture that represented the highest achievements of Egyptian craftsmen. Being perishable wooden frames did not always survive interment. However, gold casings and ivory inlays, found on tomb floors, have enabled Egyptologists to recreate the furniture.

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Reconstructions of artifacts found in the tomb of Queen Hetepheres have revealed an elaborate canopy bed, a carrying chair, and other items including numerous boxes. The tomb of Tutankhamen contained artifacts designed specifically for the burial site: his funerary couch, for example, is carved in the form of Ammit, the eater of the dead, a god with the head of a crocodile, the body of a leopard, and the hindquarters of a hippopotamus.

Depictions of items in everyday use by the more affluent members of society have been preserved in paintings and carvings. The most common item of furniture documented was the stool with varying degrees of decoration.

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Beds were usually made of wood, although metal and ivory were also used. Woven cord was suspended between the two sides of the frame to support a mattress of folded linen. There was no uniform height: many beds were low, although some were high enough to require a low step or mounting board.

Surface decoration was an important consideration, and the finest furniture was sheathed in silver or gold leaf. Carved and applied decoration could be just as elaborate. The legs of a folding stool often terminated in ducks’ heads or lion’s paws. Among the finest examples known to have existed are stools with goose-head terminals, inlaid with ivory eyes and neck feathers. Upholstery was usually limited to rolls of linen or other fabrics.

The frontalist style, in which figures are depicted with the head in profile and the torso facing outward, was a defining characteristic of ancient Egyptian culture.

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