of which there are 40 of the armorial bearings of France, 61 of the
prophets holding scrolls, 112 half-length figures of animals on gold
ground, and 4 large representations of the judgments of Solomon....
VIˣˣᵐ (620 louis).
“For twelve crystals for the said fauteuil, of which five are hollow to
hold the bâtons, six flat, and one round,” &c.
[Illustration: Fig. 5.--Seats from Miniatures of the Fourteenth and
Fifteenth Centuries.]
It was only towards the commencement of the fifteenth century that
chairs stuffed with straw or rushes first appeared; they folded in the
form of the letter X (Fig. 5); the seats and arms being stuffed. In the
sixteenth century chairs with backs (_chaires_ or _chayeres à
dorseret_), in carved oak or chestnut, painted and gilt, fell into
disuse, even in the royal castles, as being too heavy and inconvenient,
and on account of their enormous size (Figs. 6 and 7).
The dresser, which has just been described as used at the grand feast of
Charles V., and which moreover has been retained, altered to a sideboard
with shelves, almost to our time, was an article manufactured much less
for use than for show. It was upon this dresser,--the introduction of
which does not appear to go further back than the twelfth century, and
the name whereof sufficiently describes its purpose,--that there was
displayed, in the vast halls of manorial residences, not only all the
valuable plate required for the table, but many other objects of
goldsmith’s work which played no part in the banquet--vases of all
sorts, statuettes, figures in high relief, jewels,
[Illustration: Fig. 6.--Christine de Pizan, contemporary with Charles V.
and Charles VI., seated on a Chair in carved wood with back and canopy,
and tapestry of worsted or figured silk. The box or chest which formed
the writing-table contained books. (Miniature from a MS. in the Bibl. of
Burgundy-Bruxelles, Fifteenth Century.)]
and even reliquaries. In palaces and mansions, the dressers were of
gold, silver, or copper gilt; as were previously the tables. Persons of
inferior rank had only wooden tables, but they were scrupulous in
covering them with tapestry, embroidered cloth, and fine table-cloths.
At one time the display of wealth on the dressers in ecclesiastical
establishments attained to such a point, that we are reminded, among
other censures levelled against that fashionable exhibition of vanity,
of the expostulations of Martial d’Auvergne, author of the historical
poem, “Les Vigiles de Charles VII.,” addressed to the bishops on the
subject. One item significant enough is mentioned in ancient documents;
it is the tribute of half-a-dozen small bouquets, which the inhabitants
of Chaillot were bound to tender annually to the Abbey of Saint-German
des Prés, to decorate the dressers of Messire the Abbot.
[Illustration: Fig. 7.--Louise de Savoie, Duchess of Angoulême, mother
of Francis I., seated in a high-backed Chair of carved wood. (Miniature
from a MS. in the Imp. Bibl. of Paris.)]
More plain, but also more useful, were the _abace_ and the _crédence_,
other kinds of sideboards which generally stood at a little distance
from the table; on one of these were placed the dishes and plates for
removes, on the other the goblets, glasses, and cups. It may be added
that the _crédence_, before it was introduced in the dining-halls, had
from very remote times been used in churches, where it was placed near
the altar to receive the sacred vessels during the sacrifice of mass.
Posidonius, the Stoic philosopher, who wrote about a hundred years
before the Christian era, tells us that, at the feasts of the Gauls, a
slave used to bring to table an earthenware, or a silver, jug filled
with wine, from which every guest quaffed in turn, and allayed his
thirst. We thus see the practice of using goblets of silver, as well as
of earthenware, established among the Gauls at a period we consider
primitive. In truth, those vessels of silver were probably not the
productions of local industry, but the spoil which those martial tribes
had acquired in their wars against more civilised nations. With regard
to the vases of baked clay, the majority of those frequently exhumed
from burial-grounds prove how coarse they were, though they seem to have
been made with the help of the potter’s wheel, as among the Romans.
However that may be, we think it best to omit the consideration of the
question in this place, and to resume it in the chapter on the Ceramic
Art. But we must not forget to notice the custom which prevailed among
the earliest inhabitants of our country, of offering to those most
renowned for their valour beverages in a horn of the _urus_, which was
either gilt or ornamented with bands of gold or silver. The _urus_ was a
species of ox, now extinct, that existed in a wild state in the forests
with which Gaul was then partly covered. This horn goblet long continued
to be the emblem of the highest warlike dignity among the nations who
succeeded the Gauls. William of Poitiers relates, in his “Histoire de
Guillaume le Conquérant,” that towards the end of the eleventh century,
this Duke of Normandy still drank out of the horn of a bull, when he
held his full court at Fécamp.
Our ancient kings, whose tables were made of the most precious metals,
failed not also to display rare magnificence in the plate that stood on
those superb tables. Chroniclers relate, for example, that Chilperic,
“on the pretext of doing honour to the people whom he governed, had a
dish made of solid gold, ornamented all over with precious stones, and
weighing fifty pounds;” and again, that Lothaire one day distributed
among his soldiers the fragments of an enormous silver basin, on which
was designed “the world, with the courses of the stars and the planets.”
In the absence of any authentic documents, it must be presumed that, in
contrast to this regal style, or rather far removed therefrom, the rest
of the nation scarcely used any other utensils but those of earthenware,
or wood; or else of iron or copper.
Advancing in the course of centuries, and till the period when the
progress of the ceramic art enabled its productions at length to rank
among articles of luxury, we find gold and silver always preferred for
dinner services; but marble, rock crystal, and glass appeared in turn,
artistically worked in a thousand elegant or singular forms, as cups,
ewers, large tumblers, goblets, &c. (Fig 8).
[Illustration: Fig. 8.--A State Banquet in the Fifteenth Century, with
the service of dishes brought in and handed round to the sound of
musical instruments. (Miniature from a MS. in the Imp. Lib. in Paris.)]
To the goblet, especially, seem to belong all honorary privileges in the
etiquette of the table; for the goblet, a sort of large chalice on a
thin stem, was more particularly regarded as an object of distinction by
the guests, on account of the supposed antiquity of its origin. Thus we
see represented among the presents given to the Abbey of St. Denis by
the Emperor Charles the Bald, a goblet which is alleged to have belonged
to Solomon, “which goblet was so marvellously wrought, that never
(_oncques_) was there in all the kingdoms of the world a work so
delicate (_subtile_).”
The goldsmiths, sculptors, and workers in copper had recourse to all
the devices of art and imagination to embellish goblets, ewers, and
salt-cellars. We find allusions, in the recitals of chroniclers, the
romances of chivalry, and especially in old invoices and inventories, to
ewers representing men, roses, and dolphins; to goblets covered with
flowers and animals; to salt-cellars in the form of dragons, &c.
Several large pieces of gold plate, discontinued at a later period,
glittered then at grand banquets. Especially may be noted the portable
fountains raised in the middle of the table, and from which, during the
repast, flowed several sorts of beverages. Philip the Good, Duke of
Burgundy, had one in the form of a fortress with towers, from the summit
of which the figure of a woman poured out hippocras (spiced wine) from
her bosom, and that of a child, which sprinkled perfumed water.
There were also plate-holders, well described by Du Cange as large
dishes made to contain vessels, cups, knives; comfit-boxes, which have
been replaced by our modern _bonbonnières_, and which formerly were
valuable caskets chased and damaskeened; and lastly, almsboxes, a
description of metal-urns, richly chased; these were placed before the
guests in order that, according to an ancient custom, each might place
therein some portions of meat, to be subsequently distributed to the
poor.
If we glance at the other minor objects which completed the
table-service--knives, spoons, forks, bottle-stands, plate-mats, &c.--we
shall see that they no less indicate refinement and luxury. Forks, that
now seem to us so indispensable, are mentioned for the first time in
1379, in an inventory of Charles V. They had only two prongs, or rather
two long sharp points. As for knives, which, with spoons, had to supply
the place of forks for the guests to eat with, their antiquity is
undoubted. Posidonius, whom we have already quoted, says, when speaking
of the Celts:--“They eat in a very slovenly manner, and seize with their
hands, like lions with their claws, whole quarters of meat, which they
tear in pieces with their teeth. If they find a tough morsel, they cut
it with a small knife which they always carry in a sheath at their
side.” Of what were these knives made? Our author does not tell us; but
we may assume that they were of flint or of polished stone, like the
hatchets and arrow-heads so frequently found where these ancient people
dwelt, and which bear testimony to their industry.
In the thirteenth century mention is made of knives, under the name of
_mensaculæ_ and _artavi_, which a little later were known by the word
_kenivet_, from which evidently is derived _canif_. To complete this
connection, we may remark that it is to be gathered, from a passage by
the same author, that the blades of some knives of that period were made
to slide into the handle by means of a spring, like our pocket-knives.
Spoons, which necessarily were used by all nations as soon as dishes
more or less liquid were introduced, are described from the date of
almost our earliest history. Accordingly, we see, in the “Life of St.
Radegonde,” that that princess, who was constantly engaged in charitable
acts, used a spoon for feeding the blind and the helpless whom she took
under her care.
At a very remote period we find in use _turquoises_, or nut-crackers.
Cruet-stands were, excepting in form, very similar to stands for two
bottles; for they are thus described:--“A kind of double-necked bottle
in divisions, in which to place two sorts of liquors without mixing
them.” The plate-mats were our _dessous de plat_, made of wicker, wood,
tin, or other metal.
The manufacture of the greater number of these articles, if intended for
persons of rank, did not fail to engage the industry of artisans and the
talent of artists. Spoons, forks, nut-crackers, cruet-stands,
sauce-boats, &c., furnished inexhaustible subjects for embellishment and
chasing; knife-handles, made of ivory, cedar-wood, gold, or silver, were
also fashioned in the most varied forms. Until ceramic art introduced
plates more or less costly, they naturally enough followed the shape of
dishes, which in fact they are, on a small scale. But if the dishes were
of enormous size, the plates were always very small.
If from the dining-room we pass to the kitchen, so as to form some idea
of culinary utensils, we must admit that, anterior to the thirteenth
century, the most circumstantial documents are all but silent on the
subject. Nevertheless, some of the ancient poets and early romancers
allude to those huge mechanical spits on which, at one and the same
time, large joints of different kinds, entire sheep, or long rows of
poultry and game, could be roasted. Moreover, we know that in palaces,
and in the mansions of the nobility, copper cooking-utensils possessed
real importance, because the care and maintenance of the copper-ware was
entrusted to a person who bore the title of _maignen_, a name still
given to the itinerant tinker. We also find that from the twelfth
century there existed the corporation of braziers (_dinans_), who
executed historical designs, in relievo, by the use of the hammer in
beating out and embossing copper,--designs that would bear comparison
with the most elaborate works produced by the goldsmith’s art. Some of
these artisans obtained such reputation that their names have descended
to us. Jean d’Outremeuse, Jean Delamare, Gautier de Coux, Lambert
Patras, were among those who conferred honour on the art of brazier’s
work (_dinanderie_).
From the kitchen to the cellar the distance is usually but short. Our
forefathers, who were large consumers, and in their way had a delicate
appreciation, of the juice of the vine, understood how to store the
barrels which contained their wines in deep and spacious vaults. The
cooper’s art, when almost unknown in Italy and Spain, had existed for a
long time in France, as is attested by a passage taken from the
“Mémoires de l’Académie des Inscriptions:”--“We see by the text of the
Salic law that, when an estate changed hands, the new proprietor gave,
in the first place, a feast, and the guests were bound to eat, in the
presence of witnesses, a plate of boiled minced meat. It is remarked in
the ‘Glossaire de Du Cange’ that, among the Saxons and Flemings, the
word _boden_ means a round table; because the peasantry used the bottom
of a barrel as a table. Tacitus says that for the first meal of the day
the Germans had each their own table; that is to say, apparently a full
or empty barrel placed on end.”
A statute of Charlemagne alludes to _bons barils_ (_bonos barridos_).
These barrels were made by skilled coopers (Fig. 9), who gave all their
care to form of staves, hooped either with wood or iron, the casks
destined to hold the produce of the vintage. According to an old custom,
still in vogue in the south of France, the inside of the wine-skin used
to be painted with tar, in order to give a flavour to the wine; to us
this would perhaps be nauseous, but at that time it was held in high
favour. In alluding to wine-skins, or sewn skins coated with pitch, we
may remark that they date from the earliest historic times. They are
still employed in countries where wine is carried on pack-animals, and
they were much used for journeys. If a traveller was going into a
country where he expected to find nothing to drink, he would fasten a
wine-skin on the crupper of his horse’s saddle, or, at least, would
sling a small leather wine-skin across his shoulder. Etymologists even
maintain that from the name of these light wine-skins, _outres légères_,
was derived the old French word _bouteille_; that, first having been
designated _bouchiaux_, and _boutiaux_, they finally were named
_bouties_ and _boutilles_. When, in the thirteenth century, the Bishop
of Amiens was setting out for the wars, the tanners of his episcopal
town were bound to supply him with two leathern _bouchiaux_--one holding
a hogshead, the other twenty-four _setiers_.
[Illustration: Fig. 9.--A Cooper’s Workshop, drawn and engraved, in the
Sixteenth Century, by J. Amman.]
Some archæologists maintain that, when there had been a very abundant
vintage, the wine was stored in brick-built cisterns, such as are still
made in Normandy for cider; or that they were cut out of the solid rock,
as we see them sometimes in the south of France; but it is more probable
that these ancient cisterns, which are perhaps of an earlier date than
the Middle Ages, were more especially intended for the process of
fermentation--that is to say, for making wine, and not for storing it;
which, indeed, under such unfavourable circumstances, would have been
next to impossible.
What light did our ancestors use? History tells us that at first they
used lamps with stands, and hanging lamps, in imitation of the Romans;
which, however, must not lead us to the conclusion that, even in the
remotest times of our annals, the use of fat and wax for such purposes
was absolutely unknown. This fact is the less doubtful because, from the
time when trade corporations were formed, we find the makers of candles
and wax-chandlers
[Illustration: Figs. 10 and 11.--Hanging Lamps of the Ninth Century,
from Miniatures in the Bible of Charles the Bald (Bibl. Imp. de Paris).]
of Paris governed by certain statutes. As for the lamps, which, as in
ancient times, were on stands placed for this purpose in the houses, or
were suspended by light chains (Figs. 10 and 11), they were made in
accordance with the means of those for whom they were intended, and were
of baked earth, iron, brass, and gold or silver, all more or less
ornamented. Lamps and candlesticks are not unfrequently mentioned in the
inventories of the Middle Ages. In the fifteenth and sixteenth
centuries, German artisans made torch-holders, flambeaux, and
chandeliers in copper, wrought and embellished with representations of
all kinds of natural or fantastic objects; and in those days these works
of art were much in request. The use of lamps was all but general in the
early days of the monarchy; but as the somewhat dim and smoky flame
which they furnished did not give sufficient brilliancy to the
entertainments and solemn assemblies held in the evening, it became an
established custom to add to these lamps the light of resinous torches,
which serfs held in their hands. The tragic episode of the Ballet des
Ardents, as told by Froissart--which we shall hereafter relate in the
chapter on Playing Cards--shows that this custom, which we already see
alluded to in Grégoire de Tours, our earliest historian, was in fashion
until the reign of Charles VI.
In subjugating the East, the Romans assumed and brought back with them
extreme notions of luxury and indolence. Previously their bedsteads were
of planks, covered with straw, moss, or dried leaves. They borrowed from
Asia those large carved bedsteads, gilt and plated with ivory, whereon
were piled cushions of wool and feathers, with counterpanes of the most
beautiful furs and of the richest materials.
These customs, like many others, were handed down from the Romans to the
Gauls, and from the Gauls to the Franks. With the exception of
bed-linen, which came into use much later, we find, from the time of our
earliest kings, the various sleeping appliances nearly as they are
now--the pillow (_auriculare_), the foot-coverlet (_lorale_), the
counterpane (_culcita_), &c. No mention, however, is made of curtains
(or _courtines_).
At a later period, while still retaining their primitive furniture,
bedsteads vary in their shapes and dimensions: those of the poor and of
the monks are narrow and homely; among kings and nobles they, in process
of time, became veritable examples of the joiner’s work, and only to be
reached by the aid of stools, or even steps (Fig. 12). The guest at a
château could not receive any greater honour than to occupy the same bed
as the lord of the manor; and the dogs by whom the seigneurs--all great
sportsmen--were constantly surrounded had the privilege of reposing
where their masters slept. Hence we recognise the object of these
gigantic bedsteads, which were sometimes twelve feet in width. If we are
to believe the chronicles, the pillows were perfumed with essences and
odoriferous waters; this we can understand to have been by no means a
useless precaution. We see, in the sixteenth century, Francis I.
testifying his great regard for Admiral Bonnivet by occasionally
admitting him to share his bed.
Having completed our review of furniture, properly so called, we have
now to treat of that which may be termed highly artistic articles of
furniture--that is, those on which the workers in wood exercised their
highest talents--elevated seats of honour, chairs and arm-chairs,
benches and trestles; all of which were frequently ornamented with
figures in relief, very elaborately sculptured with a knife (_canivet_);
the _bahuts_, a kind of chest with either a flat or convex top, resting
on feet, and opening on the upper side, whereon were placed stuffed
leather cushions (Fig. 13); tubs, buffets,
[Illustration: Fig. 12.--Bed furnished with Canopy and Curtains, from a
Miniature at the end of the Fourteenth Century. (MS. de la Bibl. Imp. de
Paris.)]
presses, coffers both large and small, chess-boards, dice-tables,
comb-boxes, which have been superseded by our dressing-cases, &c. Many
specimens of these various kinds of furniture have descended to our
time; and they prove to what a degree of perfection and of elaborate
finish the art of cabinet-making and of inlaying had attained in the
Middle Ages. Elegance and originality of design in inlaid metals,
jasper, mother-of-pearl, ivory; carving, various kinds of veneering, and
of stained woods, are all found combined in this description of
furniture; some of which was ornamented with extreme delicacy of taste
(Plate I.), and still remains inimitable, if not in all the details of
execution, at least in rich and harmonious effect.
At the time of the Renaissance, cabinets with numerous drawers and in
several compartments were introduced: these were known in Germany by the
name of artistic cabinets (_armoires artistiques_): the sole object of
the maker was to combine in one piece of furniture, under the pretext of
utility, all the fascination and gorgeous caprices of decorative art.
To the Germans must be awarded the merit of having been the first to
distinguish themselves in the manufacture of these magnificent cabinets,
or presses; but they soon found rivals in both the French (Fig. 14) and
Italians (Fig. 15), who proved themselves equally skilful and ingenious
in the execution of this kind of manufacture.
[Illustration:
Fig. 13.--Chest shaped like a Bed, standing in front of a
Fireplace, and a Chair with cushions, in carved wood, from
Miniatures of the Fifteenth Century. (Bibl. Roy. de Bruxelles.)
]
The art of working in iron, which can legitimately rank as one of the
most notable industries of the Middle Ages, soon came to lend its aid to
that of cabinet-making, both in embellishing and giving solidity to its
_chefs-d’œuvre_. The ornamentation of cabinets and coffers was
remarkable for the good taste and the high finish displayed in them.
[Illustration: DISTAFF OF WOOD, Turned and Carved. Sixteenth Century.
Size of the Original.]
In the hands of skilful artisans, of unknown artists dating from the
twelfth to the sixteenth century, iron seemed to assume great
ductility--indeed, we might say unprecedented submission. Observe, in
the gratings of courtyards, in the iron-work of gates, how those lines
are interlaced, how attractive are those designs, how those wrought
stems are delicately lengthened out, at once strong but light, and
finally how they expand with natural grace into leaves, fruits, and
symbolic figures.
[Illustration: Fig. 14.--Small Cabinet for Jewels, in carved wood, after
the style of Jean Goujon, from the Château d’Ecouen, and which formerly
belonged to the Montmorency family. (In the Collection of M. Double.)]
Moreover, the workers in metal did not confine themselves to the
application of iron on articles already prepared and manufactured by
other artisans; they had also to originate and execute, to ornament
caskets and reliquaries: but their special art was to manufacture bolts
(Fig. 16), locks, and keys; examples of this kind of ancient work will
always be admired. “Locks,” says M. Jules Labarte, “were at that time
carried to such a degree of perfection, that they were considered as
veritable objects of art; they were carried from place to place, as
would have been done with any other valuable article of furniture.
Nothing could be more artistic than the figures in high relief, the
armorial bearings, the letterings, the ornaments and the engravings
which embellished that portion of the key which the fingers grasp (Fig.
17), and for which we have substituted a common ring.”