Furniture Design

Brief Introduction to
History of Roman
Furniture Design
Design Process
Materials

RAJALAKSHMI
 About Rome
Romans are people known for their military, political, and social institutions, the ancient Romans conquered vast
amounts of land in Europe and northern Africa, built roads and aqueducts, and spread Latin, their language, far and
wide. Major European languages have their origin in the ancient Roman language, Latin. Along the same lines, the
Roman civilization and the orderly systems of Roman government have offered the world with greatest artists,
designers, and craftsmen. Ancient Roman furniture is a topic that has catered the archeologists with a bulk of
knowledge regarding the designs, trends, techniques, and variety of furniture in the early Roman Empire.
 Ancient Rome
The origin of the modern Roman civilization lies in the Republic of Rome which was later known as the Roman Empire.
Most of the legal infrastructures today are very much influenced by Roman law. The eye-catching art pieces that are
blooming in the world markets today are based on Roman art. The sculpture and literature of Ancient Rome are still
enjoyed by the people today.

Ancient Roman Furniture

History
Ancient Roman furniture was often made of bronze, stone (usually marble), and wood. Wood furniture has not survived
the ages but there are surviving examples of metal hardware and preserved artifacts recovered beneath the volcanic
ash of Pompeii and Herculaneum. Much of the ancient Roman furniture we know about was preserved in cities buried
by a volcanic explosion. The high temperatures did not burn the wood but caused the elements within it to carbonize.
This left very well preserved, carbonized wooden objects. These cities were buried as near time capsules when Mount
Vesuvius erupted in 79 CE.
Roman furniture was often sparse in villas and homes, as the people preferred more space. Furniture would have
specific uses and purposes. Stone tables and benches were common, as well as wood with heavy ornamentation of
gold, silver, bronze, and ivory. Ancient Roman furniture styles were mostly influenced by the Greeks and the Etruscans.
Etruscans were an ancient society that held territory in what is now considered Tuscany.
 Early Roman Houses
The earliest Roman houses were round or Oval Shaped huts with thatched roofs, Later Roman huts were Oval in
shape. In more advanced times came rectangular houses.
Early Roman houses revolved around the primitive farm life of early times when all members of the family lived in
one large room together.
In primitive Roman houses, there were no windows and so all the natural light came via the hole in the ceiling,
through which the smoke from cooking would escape too.
There was only one door and the spaces opposite the door were probably set aside as much as possible for the
master of the house.
The heart of the house, the hearth, where the mother would prepare the meals and near it stood the implements
employed for spinning and weaving; Here the safe or strong box (the arca) was placed, in which, the master of the
house kept his valuables, and a bed would be spread.
As greater space and privacy were needed, ancient houses were added on with small rooms opening out of the
atrium at the sides.
The arrangements and plans of the various rooms around the Peristylium look to have varied with ideas and designs
of the builder of the owner.
According to the means of the owner, there were Roman Bedrooms, the triclinium(dining room), libraries, Drawing
rooms, kitchen, scullery(Small kitchen/utility), Closets, and private baths, together with the simple rooms needed for
housing slaves.
But, whether there were a lot of rooms or few, they all faced the court, receiving light and air, so did the rooms
along the sides of the atrium.
There was often a garden behind the peristylium.

Various rooms

Peristylum

Central Atrium Fountain

Peristylum

Various rooms

Greco Roman House Plan

 Interior of Roman House
Knowledge of Roman furniture is derived mainly from depictions in frescoes and representations in
sculpture, along with actual pieces of furniture, fragments, and fittings, several of which were preserved
by the eruption of Vesuvius in AD 79. The most well-known archaeological sites with preserved images and
fragments from the eruption are Pompeii and Herculaneum in Italy. There are fine examples of
reconstructed Roman furniture at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City as well as the
Capitoline Museum in Rome
Typical Roman Doors
 Ancient Roman Furniture
Roman furniture was often sparse in villas and homes, as the people preferred more space. Furniture would have
specific uses and purposes. Stone tables and benches were common, as well as wood with heavy ornamentation of
gold, silver, bronze, and ivory. Ancient Roman furniture styles were mostly influenced by the Greeks and the Etruscans.
Etruscans were an ancient society that held territory in what is now considered Tuscany.
Ancient Greek Furniture & Interior
 Ancient Roman Furniture
Ancient Romans took pride in their homes and used them often for entertaining purposes. Roman
furniture would have been useful, and at times versatile. The social status of the Roman would dictate
if they used their benches for eating, lounging, and sleeping, or if they had individual pieces for each
specific usage.
Examples of Roman furniture types are; beds, couches, chairs (called sellas), tables (called mensas),
shelves, cabinets and buffets.
Though the rich and royal civilians of Rome were much into politics and the military, they were great
lovers of art. The artistic nature of the Romans was reflected in the furniture of their houses too. The
furniture in the Roman houses was much sparse. The houses were not overpopulated with furniture
since the Romans liked to keep enough space in the house.
The furniture was usually designed to maintain the simplicity of the house. The frescos and mosaics
added beauty to the furniture. The water features were intelligently used to make Roman interiors. The
elaborate ancient Roman furniture was much inclined towards simplicity and elegance.
 Typical furniture in ancient Roman homes
Roman Bed
Ancient Roman bedrooms were typically basic and utilitarian. They were rarely stocked with anything
beyond the bed. Roman beds, referred to as the lectus, could be single for one person or double for a
couple. They were sometimes made of bronze and often made of wood and decorated with moldings of
mother of pearl or bronze and animal-like legs. Some of the more simple ones were terracotta. The beds
were not what modern-day people would consider comfortable. A mattress of stuffed wool, feathers, or
leaves would rest on the top of crossed straps. The beds were often three-sided and would double as
couches or even dining couches.
 Ancient Roman Chair
A stool, also called a sella, was commonly found in Roman households.
This ancient Roman chair would be used for resting or for working at a table, but would not have been
used by the wealthy during meals, as they would recline while eating.
Children and slaves would have used them while eating.
These were typically chairs without a back or arms and often a cushion would be added to the top.
Ancient Romans had chairs with backs and arms, however, these were less common than the stool-
style chairs.
The design may have originated from the thrones of the Greeks and Etruscans.
 Ancient Roman Chair
The sella, or stool or chair, was the most common type of seating in the Roman period, probably
because of its easy portability.
The sella in its simplest form was inexpensive to make.
Both slaves and emperors used it, although those of the poor were plain, while the wealthy had access
to precious woods, ornamented with inlay, metal fittings, ivory, and silver and gold leaf.
Bronze sellae from Herculaneum were squares and had straight legs, decorative stretchers, and a
dished seat.
The sella curulis, or folding stool, was an important indicator of power in the Roman period.
There were sellae resembling both stools and chairs that folded in a scissor fashion to facilitate
transport.
Reconstructed triclinium or dining room, with three klinai or couches.
The Roman cathedra was a chair with a back, although there is disagreement as to the exact meaning
of the Latin term.
The cathedra is defined as a later version of the Greek klismos, which was never as popular as its
Greek predecessor.
The cathedra is a high-backed wickerwork chair that was typically associated with women.
 Ancient Roman Chair
The cathedra is a high-backed wickerwork chair that was typically associated with women.
They have also been seen being used as early school teachers, pupils would sit around him in this chair
while he taught.
It showed who held the seat of power in the classroom.
As with Greek furniture, the names of various Roman types as found in texts cannot always be
associated with known furniture forms with certainty.
The Latin solium is considered to be equivalent to the Greek term thronos and thus is often translated
as “throne.”
These were like modern chairs, with backs and armrests.
Three types of solia based on Greek prototypes are distinguished by: thrones with “turned” and
“rectangular” legs and grandiose thrones with solid sides, of which several examples remain in stone.
Also, a type with a high back and arms, resting upon a cylindrical or conical base, is said to derive
from Etruscan prototypes.
 Ancient Roman Couch
Few actual Roman couches survive, although sometimes the bronze fittings do, which help with the
reconstruction of the original forms.
While in wealthy households beds were used for sleeping in the bedrooms (lectus cubicularis), and
couches for banqueting while reclining were used in the dining rooms (lectus tricliniaris), the less well
off might use the same piece of furniture for both functions.
The two types might be used interchangeably even in richer households, and it is not always easy to
differentiate between sleeping and dining furniture.
The most common type of Roman bed took the form of a three-sided, open rectangular box, with the
fourth (long) side of the bed open for access. While some beds were framed with boards, others had
slanted structures at the ends, called fulcra, to better accommodate pillows.
The fulcra of elaborate dining couches often had sumptuous decorative attachments featuring ivory,
bronze, copper, gold, or silver ornamentation.
The bench, or subsellium, was an elongated stool for two or more users. Benches were considered to
be “seats of the humble,” and were used in peasant houses, farms, and bathhouses. However, they
were also found in lecture halls, in the vestibules of temples, and served as the seats of senators and
judges. Roman benches, like their Greek precedents, were practical for the seating of large groups of
people and were common in theaters, amphitheaters, odeons and auctions. The scamnum, related to
the subsellium but smaller, was used as both a bench and a footstool
Roman Couch

Subsellium
 Tables

Types of Roman tables include the abacus and the mensa, which are
distinguished from one another in Latin texts.
The term abacus might be used for utilitarian tables, such as those
for making shoes or kneading dough, as well as high-status tables,
such as sideboards for the display of silverware.
A low, three-legged table, thought to represent the mensa delphica,
was often depicted next to reclining banqueters in Roman paintings.
This table has a round table top supported by three legs configured
like those of a tripod.
Several wooden tables of this type were recovered from
Herculaneum.
 Surviving examples
The most important source of wooden furniture of the Roman period is the collection of carbonized
furniture from the Herculaneum.
While the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 C.E. was tremendously destructive to the region, the pyroclastic
surges that engulfed the town of Herculaneum ultimately preserved the wooden furniture, shelves,
doors, and shutters in carbonized form.
Their preservation, however, is imperiled, as some of the pieces remain in situ in their houses and
shops, encased in unprotected glass or entirely open and accessible.
Upon excavation, much of the furniture was conserved with paraffin wax mixed with carbon powder,
which coats the wood and obscures important details such as decorations and joinery.
It is now impossible to remove the wax coating without further damaging the furniture.
Several wooden pieces were found with bone and metal fittings.
Wooden shelving and racks are found in shops and kitchens in the Vesuvian sites, and one house has
elaborate wooden room dividers.