Yale University Library

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GOLLECndNr of AMERICANA)
FRANCIS PATRICK GARVAN, RA.,1897
C^ryaCe Wniversity^-)
SCHOOL OF THE FINE ARTS,

STUDIES IN ANCIENT FURNITURE

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STUDIES IN ANCIENT FURNITURE

COUCHES AND BEDS OF THE GREEKS
ETRUSCANS AND ROMANS

BY -c
Caroline LC Ransom
FELLOW IN THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO

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CHICAGO
THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS
1905

Copyright iqoj, hy
The University of Chicago

January, 1905

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PREFACE
This book was begun as an archaeological study. At the last, however, in the
hope that it might appeal also to certain lay readers, some statements have been
introduced which would otherwise be superfluous. The task has been a very differ
ent one from that undertaken by a person writing on furniture of the last few
hundred years, because the facts have had to be gleaned and pieced together from
comparatively meager sources. The nature of the ancient evidence is set forth in
the Introduction. In chap, i is given a rapid chronological survey of the forms of
Greek, Etruscan, and Roman couches; in this chapter some forms rare on the
monuments are noticed which have had to be ignored later because of lack of
further evidence in regard to them. All statements as to provenience, dimen
sions, etc., of the material published in the plates, and longer discussions which
would have interrupted the main trend of the general chapters, have been relegated
to a section of the Supplementary Matter, "Discussion of Plates."
It would be useless to try to enumerate in all particulars the extent and nature
of my indebtedness to previous writers. Some acknowledgments will be found
in the footnotes, as well as references to some of the earlier results which it has
not seemed necessary to summarize here. I have been most aided by the following
treatises: Blumner, Technologie und Terminologie der Gewerbe und Kiinste bei
Griechen und Romern; Mau, in Pauly-Wissowa, Real-Encyclopadie der classischen
Altertumswissenschaft, article Betten; Girard, in Daremberg and Saglio, Diction-
naire des antiquiUs grecques et romaines, article Lectus; Graeven, Antike Schnit-
zereien aus Elfenbein und Knochen. Many references to passages in ancient
authors have been obtained from the first three of the works just mentioned. For
still other references I have to thank Professor F. B. Tarbell. Extensive independ
ent foraging in ancient literature and inscriptions, and the discussion of purely
philological questions apropos of beds, I must leave to specialists in the fields
referred to.
This study would never have been attempted but for the material gradually
accumulated in visits to various European museums. In the midst, however, of
many other interests during student life abroad, my observations along this line
were not always as detailed and accurate as I could now wish that they had been.
It is also a matter of regret that the collections of bronzes in the Naples museum
and in the Palazzo dei Conservatori in Rome were inaccessible during my stay in
Italy, and that I was unable to visit the museums in smaller Italian cities. I was
greatly interested in provincial museums in England, France, and Germany, and
7

» PREFACE
was impressed by the amount of material for the study of the industrial art of the
Romans which is thus widely scattered. The beautiful damascened rail repro
duced in Plate XIX, which was found not far from Lyons, France, is an illustration
of this. I also hope by the publication of objects found in Egypt (Plates Vila and
XXIXa) to emphasize another fruitful source of material for the history of late
Greek and Roman industries. Excavations on classic sites and the consideration
of the monuments gathered in the great national collections of Europe have chiefly
absorbed the energies of classical archaeologists up to this time. These more impor
tant activities have now reached a stage where greater attention may profitably be
given to outlying fields. There is a vast work to do — on which beginnings here and
there have been made — in examining the finds of sites removed from the centers of
ancient civilization. It should be determined, as far as possible, how many of
these objects were importations from older artistic centers, and their evidence
should be added to better-known material for the study of the various minor arts
of Greece and Rome. In the case of local products, local artistic forms should
be distinguished from those showing more or less classic influence.
I cannot speak too warmly of the liberal treatment accorded the American
student abroad both in museums and in universities in the departments in which I
have had experience — Egyptian and Classical Archaeology. Specific acknowledg
ment of hitherto unpublished material which I have been allowed to use will be
made on the pages where it is discussed. My indebtedness to Professor Tarbell, of
the University of Chicago, is very great. He was the one who, several years ago,
awakened my interest in the furniture of the Greeks. Besides the service mentioned
on the preceding page, I owe to his generous help many stimulating suggestions and
the elimination of numerous errors, for all of which I wish to express here my sin
cere gratitude. I am also glad to add a word of grateful acknowledgment to the
various other persons who by their kind advice and encouragement have helped me
through the perplexities attendant upon the production of this book.
C. L. R.
Chicago, August, 1904.

CONTENTS PAGE
List of Abbreviations .  n
Introduction. Ancient Sources  13
a) Literary
b) Monumental
Chapter I. Chronological Survey of Forms . . . . . 19
Chapter II. Materials, Technic, and Centers of Manufacture ... 39
Chapter III. Interlaced Filling of Couch Frames . . 62
Chapter IV. Furnishings — Mattresses, Pillows, Valances, and Draperies . 66
Chapter V. Style  .... 72
Supplementary Matter —
Section i. Discussion of Plates ... . . 90
Section 2. Table of Greek and Latin Terms . . . . .109
Section 3. Bibliography . . . . . . . . 113
Subjects and Sources of the Text Illustrations . .116
General Index ........ 121
Index of Passages in Ancient Authors Referred to in Text . . 125
Index of Places  127

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

Amelung, Fiihrer
Am. Joum. Arch.
Ann. d. I.
Ant. Denkm.
Anz.Arch. Zeit.
Athen. Mitt.
Baumeister
Beschr. der Glypt.
Bliimner, Technologie
B. M. Bronzes
B. M. Terracottas
B. M. Vases
BrizioBuchholzCat. des bronzes ant.
de la Bibl. nat.
Compte-rendu Elite cer.
Furtwangler-Reichhold Girard
Gjolbaschi- Trysa
Graeven
Hartwig, Meisterschalen

= Walther Amelung, Fiihrer durch die Antiken in Florenz.
= The American Journal of Archeology.
--Annali dell' Instituto di corrispondenza archeologica.
= Antike Denkmaler. A publication of the German Archaeological
Institute.
= Archdologischer Anzeiger. Supplement to the Jahrbuch des
kaiserlich deutschen archaologischen Instituts.
- Archdologische Zeitung.
= Mitteilungen des kaiserlich deutschen archaologischen Instituts.
Athenische Abteilung.
= A. Baumeister, Denkmaler des klassischen Altertums.
= Adolf Furtwangler, Beschreibung der Glyptothek Konig Ludwig's
I. zu Miinchen.
= Hugo Bliimner, Technologie und Terminologie der Gewerbe und
Kiinste bei Griechen und Romern.
= H. B. Walters, Catalogue of the Bronzes, Greek, Roman, and
Etruscan, in the Department of Greek and Roman Antiquities,
British Museum.
= H. B. Walters, Catalogue of the Terracottas in the Department
of Greek and Roman Antiquities, British Museum.
= Catalogue of the Greek and Etruscan Vases in the British Museum.
= Edoardo Brizio, in Notizie degli scavi di antichitd, 1902, pp.
445 ff., "Tombe dell' epoca romana (ad umazione)."
= Buchholz, Die homerischen Realien.
= Ernest Babelon and A. Blanchet, Catalogue des bronzes antiques
de la Bibliotheque nationale.
= Compte-rendu de la commission imperiale archeologique de
Saint-Petersbourg.
= Lenormant and De Witte, Elite des monuments ceramographiques.
= Adolf Furtwangler and K. Reichhold, Die griechische Vasen-
malerei. Auswahl hervorragender Vasenbilder.
= P. Girard, in Daremberg and Saglio, Dictionnaire des antiquites
grecques et romaines, article Lectus.
= Otto Benndorf and George Niemann, Das Heroon von Gjol-
baschi-Trysa.
= Hans Graeven, Antike Schnitzereien aus Elfenbein und Knochen.
= Paul Hartwig, Die griechischen Meisterschalen der Bliithezeit des
strengen rothfigurigen Stiles.

12

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

Helbig, Fiihrer
I. G.

Jahrb.Jahresh.
J. H. S.
Mau
Mon. d. I.
Monuments Piot
Pasqui
Perrot and Chipiez
Pottier, Cat. des vases
ant.
Rayet and Collignon,
Cer. gr.
Rom. Mitt.
Schumacher Vases ant. du Louvre
Verz. der agypt. Alter t.'-
Berlin
Wien. Vorlegebl.

= Wolfgang Helbig, Fiihrer durch die offentlichen Sammlungen
klassischer Altertilmer in Rom.
= Inscriptiones Graecae. The corpora of Greek inscriptions issued
by the Berlin Academy will be cited according to the system
recently introduced by Professor von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff.
= Jahrbuch des kaiserlich deutschen archaologischen Instituts.
= J ahreshefte des osterreichischen archaologischen Instituts.
= The Journal of Hellenic Studies.
= August Mau, in Pauly-Wissowa, Real-Encyclopadie der clas-
sischen Altertumswissenschaft, article Betten.
= Monumenti inediti pubblicati dalV Instituto di corris pondenza
archeologica.
= Fondation Eugene Piot. Monuments et memoir es.
= A. Pasqui, in Monumenti antichi pubblicati per cura dell' Acca-
demia dei Lincei, Vol. I (1889), article "Di un antico letto di
osso scoperto in una tomba di Norcia."
= Georges Perrot and Charles Chipiez, Histoire de I'art dans
Vantiquite.
= Edmond Pottier, Catalogue des vases antiques du Musee du
Louvre.
= Olivier Rayet and Maxime Collignon, L'histoire de la ceramique
grecque.
= Mitteilungen des kaiserlich deutschen archaologischen Instituts.
Rdmische Abteilung.
= Karl Schumacher, Beschreibung der Sammlung antiker Bronzen
zu Karlsruhe.
= Edmond Pottier, Album des vases antiques du Louvre.
= Ausfilhrliches Verzeichniss der dgyptischen Altertilmer und
Gipsabgiisse,2 Berlin.
= Wiener Vorlegeblatter fiir archaologische Ubungen.

INTRODUCTION ANCIENT SOURCES
The only extensive extant attempt on the part of an ancient author to impart literary
information in regard to furniture was made by the Greek lexicographer Pollux,
who lived in the second century A. D. In his subject dictionary, embracing many
phases of public and private life, is a collection of words and quotations from earlier
writers apropos of beds and their furnishings.' These follow one another with
few explanations, and their meanings are in many cases obscure. Explicit and
detailed definitions after the manner of a Century Dictionary did not enter into
Pollux's conception of his task. In the treatise on the Latin language by Varro
(116-27 B. C.),2 parts of which are preserved, are some fantastic ideas about the
derivations of words referring to beds. Only the late lexicographers — Isidorus
(seventh century A. D.), Suidas (tenth century A. D.), and those followed by
Stephanus — give proper definitions. Their opinions are often helpful, especially
when they support them by passages from earlier authors; otherwise there is always
the possibility that usage may have changed since classical times.
Aside from the sections pertaining to beds in the works just named, there are
numerous incidental references in ancient literature, which are mostly, however,
tantalizing from the point of view of any one interested in this class of antiquities.
For instance, the dream recounted by Cicero3 of an egg suspended from the cords of
a bedstead does not leave one any the wiser as to the appearance of beds or the
method of cording them. There is not in all later literature another so detailed
description of a bed as the Homeric one of the bed of Odysseus;]4 yet that is alto
gether indefinite in regard to design and technic. Some passages such as that
just referred to give information about the materials used in constructing beds or
the makes of beds and furnishings which were famous in antiquity. Otherwise,
except for the names applied to beds or their several parts or furnishings, s the liter
ary sources yield little.
Even this is more than literature affords for some other branches of ancient
industrial art, as for instance the potter's; but the want of full literary evidence is
felt more in this case because the monumental evidence also is far from satisfactory, monumental
1 Onomastikon, VI, 9 ff., and X, 32 ff. Philologists have yet something to do in determin-
2 De Lingua Latina; see Book V, 35, 166-68. in§ with Sreater exactitude the usage of these
words. It is to be hoped that such useful articles
' ' as those of Professor Anderson and Professor Mau,
4 See p. 39, n. 1. denning fulcrum, may be followed by others (see
5 On pp. 109 ff. is given a table of terminology, p. in, n. 16).
13

14 ANCIENT SOURCES
A student of Greek vases can never at least be at a loss to know how the subjects of
his researches looked, since they have survived in vast quantities to the present day,
even though he may not know all that he would like to about the standing of pot
ters in Athens and kindred questions. But in the investigation of ancient beds, as
will appear, there are many fundamental problems of form and construction to
which the ancient sources, literary and monumental taken together, do not furnish
adequate answers.
Brief Summary of A bronze Etruscan bed exists from the seventh century B. C.1 Then there is a
Monumental long break untU the middle of the third centUry B. C, from which time we have
parts of a single bed. There is another bed from about 200 B. C, possibly the
Original pieces only one from the second century. Extant beds or parts of beds dating from the
centuries immediately preceding and following Christ's birth are numerous, but at
some time, possibly as late as in the second century A. D., the series breaks off.
Full-sized Repro- Next to the real article, which is abundant only for a limited period, the best evi-
ductions dence in regard to Greek and Roman beds is derived from full-sized reproductions
in marble or terra-cotta, of which there are not a few ranging in date from the sixth
century B. C. to the third or fourth century A. D. There are also other terra-
Smaiier Reproduc- cotta couches of varying size down to numerous small ones under 40 cm. in length,
tions m the which last are chiefly from the Hellenistic period. Otherwise dependence must
be placed upon relief sculpture, wall-paintings, and vase decorations in which beds
appear. The reliefs are the principal source of information in regard to late
Roman beds (second century and later), and they give occasional aid throughout
Reliefs, Paintings the entire time under consideration. Etruscan wall-paintings of the sixth and fifth
on Wails and centuries £. c. show couches of the period of the paintings. Wall decorations of
Roman date cannot be taken as evidence for contemporary forms (see the next
paragraph). Vase-paintings are of the greatest importance for the sixth and fifth
centuries B. C.
The extant original beds and parts of beds are comparable, so far as they go,
to the materia] at the disposal of one studying pottery. Like the vases, they are
often incomplete and difficult of interpretation, but there is a greater chance of
arriving at the facts with the objects of inquiry actually before one. As soon as
recourse is had to ancient reproductions all kinds of allowances must be made.
Difficulties in Us- The few full-sized reproductions in the round are most helpful because they give
ing Monumental ^g (jg^iis anc[ proportions of a design with greater accuracy. Yet even here there
is the possibility of modifications from the every-day beds which were the models,
1 A few fragmentary remains of pieces of furni- from G. and A. Korte, Gordion: Ergebnisse der
ture — one a bed — found in a tomb of the seventh Ausgrabung im Jahre igoo (Jahrb., Erganzungsheft
century B. C. are mentioned in the preliminary V), p. 49, it appears that the remains of the so-
report of the excavations at Gordion in Asia Minor called xXfri? were too slight to be of any value for
(Jahrb., Vol. XVI [1901], Ariz., p. 8). However, this study.

DIFFICULTIES IN USING MONUMENTAL EVIDENCE 15
due to the medium of reproduction; this is particularly likely in a transference of
forms into stone.1 For the same reason one may not be sure always what the
materials were in the structure reproduced. The smaller the reproduction, as a
rule, the less one gets of details. The small terra-cotta given in the frontispiece is a
happy exception to this rule ; if we possessed even one such for each century covered
in this dissertation, there would be fewer doubtful points. Yet all reproductions
in the round, however sketchy, have an advantage over those on flat surfaces in
giving with greater probability the proportions and general lines of a design. In
using later reliefs and wall-paintings, those which are copied directly from earlier
productions or are more or less eclectic must be carefully distinguished from those
(Roman soldiers' gravestones, for instance) which may be trusted to show forms of
the period in which they were made. With regard to vase-paintings, which in the
number of the representations of beds which they furnish are far in excess of all
other classes of reproductions, there are two important questions; viz., how far
allowance must be made for artistic conventions, and how far the relative frequency
with which certain forms appear on the vases is a guide to the relative frequency
of their actual use. Often it is impossible to control the evidence in these par
ticulars.2 It may be of interest to consider how these beds, both the originals and the
various antique, reproductions with which we have to deal, stood in relation to the
every-day life of the periods which they represent. The Greek and Roman bed or
couch had a double importance in that it was used for reclining at meals as well as
for sleeping. There is nothing to indicate that there was any differentiation in form
in accordance with difference of function in the Greek period. Couches for both
purposes are called by the common name k\ivcu, and probably in many instances
the same structure was used both for dining and sleeping. In Italy there is a dis
tinct name for the sleeping-couch as distinguished from the banquet couch,3 but it
is probable that the differences were minor ones.4 We hear in Latin literature also
of couches for reading and writing. s The surviving couches and parts of couches
1 Cf. the question raised on p. 95. is seen from the side, a front-view of the legs being
2 An instance of a recognizable artistic convention thus combined with a side-view of the rest of the
is seen on black -figured vases and red-figured vases chair.
of the severe style in the side-view of thrones having 3 The first, lectus cubicularis; the second, lectus
rectangular, incised legs. This class of throne is fre- triciiniaris.
quent enough in reproductions in the round from
, „ , , , , , , 4 See on p. 33 the statements in regard to nead-
the Branchidse statues down to late forms such as , , , , ,
.... , , .,. rests and foot-rests on sleeping and banquet couches.
that shown in the tailpiece of chap. 4 to prove that r D
the legs presented invariably a broad ornamented s Leclicula lucubratoria, Suet., Aug. 78; M.
front and a narrow unomamented side. Yet on Girard (Girard, p. 1022) calls attention to the
the vases in question the most ornate and advanta- fact that this passage proves the study-couch to be
geous view of the legs is given even when the chair a piece of furniture distinct from the bed. Professor

i6

ANCIENT SOURCES

of late Greek and Roman date served probably in the main for banqueting;1 there
may be among them a few which were used for sleeping. Those found in tombs
may or may not have seen actual non-funerary use,2 but, like the marble reproduc
tions in tombs and the terra-cotta cinerary urns in couch form, they represent either
dining-couches or sleeping-couches, according to the ideas of the particular tomb
cult.3 The marble couch discussed on pp. 93 ff. was not found in a tomb, but in
the ruins of the Library at Pergamon. Perhaps it was placed out of doors or in
some open colonnade and was used by priests or visitors; or, whatever its position,
it may have been sacred to some divinity.4 Most of the small terra-cotta couches
of the Hellenistic period and later, and the Roman couches known in reliefs, are
structures which seem much more like modern couches and sofas than like modern
beds (cf. p. 38). They are narrow, piled up with cushions, and usually have
people seated on them conversing, or lying loosely covered upon them. So far as
one can judge, they were used to sleep on at night and lounge on in the daytime;5
at least, we have no representations, among these terra-cottas and reliefs, of other

Mau (Mau, col. 371) thinks that diminutives (Ov.,
Trist., I, 11, 37, and Plin., Ep., V, 5, 5) point to
smaller size and remarks that such smaller couches
are frequent on the monuments. His further state
ment, "natiirlich musste dieser lectus eine Lehne
(pluteus, Pers., 1, 106) haben, die auchdienen konnte,
um darauf zn schreiben," does not seem to me to be
supported by the monuments. I cannot name any
ancient reproduction showing a reclining person
actually in the act of reading or writing. While no
couches for reading or writing have been identified
with certainty, it seems to me not improbable, as
Professor Mau suggests, that some of the smaller
Roman couches (cf. on point of length, n. 5 and
pp. 37, 38) known through monumental evidence
may have been used for these purposes. It should
be noted, however, that study couches were not
invariably designated by the diminutive form; cf.
Pers., I, 52, and Sen., Ep., 72, 2.
1 This opinion is based principally on the circum
stances of finding, in a few cases, and the Dionysiac
character, more appropriate to a dining-couch than
to a sleeping-couch (see pp. 85, 86), of much of the
ornament. 2 The bone couch discussed on pp. 102 ff. is far
too weak a piece of construction actually to have
been used. Such beds were no doubt made expressly
to serve as funerary couches. Cf. Pasqui, col. 241.
3 See Plate I, where a recumbent figure in his

last sleep is represented, and Fig. 14, where the
person is sitting up holding a drinking-vessel. The
representation of the deceased banqueting is far
more common. Cf. Altman, Architectur und
Ornamentik der antiken Sarkophage, pp. 34, 35.
4 Cf. the fourth-century marble reproduction of a
couch dedicated to Dione on the Acropolis at Athens
(the inscription, AeXrlov ApxauikoyiKbv, 1890, p. 145,
3; mentioned, Furtwangler, Masterpieces of Greek
Sculpture, p. 429, n. 12), and the representation in
stone of a couch dedicated to Asclepius at Epidaurus
(Ecpwepis Apxau>\oyiic?i, 1883, col. 27, 3, and FURT
WANGLER, loc. cit.). Professor Furtwangler (loc. cit.,
pp. 429, 430) advances some interesting opinions
in regard to the ritual use of real couches which
were dedicated in sanctuaries, and cites the dedica
tions at Platasa and in the Parthenon (mentioned
here with references to ancient sources on pp. 41
and 54, n. 3), and others noted by Pausanias (II,
17. 3; VIII, 47, 2; X, 32, 12). In the case, however,
of the couches dedicated to Hera at Plataea the text
does not, to my mind, make certain that these couches
were placed within the sanctuary rather than in the
adjacent inn.
5 But a few couches must have been intended
only for waking use, as they are too short to sleep on
in comfort; that is, if the reproductions are accurate
in the relative sizes of couches and occupants. See
further on this point, pp. 37, 38.

EVIDENCE OF VASES 17
styles of beds used for sleeping. The pictures of couches on vases are restricted to
certain stock scenes, chiefly of banqueting and of the laying out of the dead. The
banqueting scenes in the red-figured period are, as a rule, pure genre; earlier the
participants are usually mythological characters. The later red-figured pottery
shows mythological personages seated or lounging on couches. On vases, as else
where, the sleeping-couch is of rare or doubtful occurrence.1
1 Cf., however, Fig. 37, from the death scene of British Museum (mentioned with reference p. 33,
Adonis and the surer instance on a bronze mirror, n. 4), too rude, however, to give a fair idea of a
cited in n. 1 on p. 38; also a terra-cotta in the good bed.

it

Ik

Jt\

l| « -. II A

TTTTTi

CHAPTER I

chronological survey of forms
For the prehistoric period direct monumental evidence fails us. We can infer prehistoric
that a people which produced such works of art as have been found in the palace
at Cnossus, and particularly chairs of such a developed form as the one of stone in
the throne-room, must also have had highly ornate bedsteads. Among Mycenaean
remains there is evidence for a furniture industry (which presumably would include
also beds) in various terra-cotta models of armchairs.1 The Homeric writings,
while making clear that people sat in chairs to eat, and frequently slept on the
ground, yet establish beyond doubt that beds were a common household article.
Except the facts, however, that some had turned legs, and that, while some were
portable, others occupied a fixed position in the house, and therefore are likely to
have been of heavier construction,2 we get no hints as to their forms. There is
absolutely no evidence to identify any of the forms familiar to us on later monu
ments as survivals from the prehistoric age.3
Throughout the Greek period the better-made couches fall into two general General
classes, those with legs built on a rectangular plan and those with turned supports.

' In the Berlin Antiquarium is such a model,
inventory No. 7812, from the Lecuyer Collection.
See also Schliemann, Tiryns, Plate XXIIIc.
These are referred to in Furtwangler, Master
pieces of Greek Sculpture, p. 429, n. 9.
2 This statement is based on Buchholz, Vol. II,
Part II, pp. 147 ff.
3 Professor Helbig in Das homerische Epos
aus den Denkmalern erlauteri2, p. 124, dismisses fur
niture with the remark: "Die Andeutungen, welche
das Epos iiber die niedrigeren lehnenlosen Sessel
(8l<ppos), die Schemel (6prjvvs, etptXas), die Tische

(Tpdirefa) und die Betten (X^x«0 macht, sind zu
diirftig, als dass sie sich zu erhaltenen oder auf
Bildwerken dargestellten Exemplaren in Beziehung
setzen liessen." Buchholz (pp. 155-57) is in the
realm of hypothesis when he attempts a concrete,
though sketchy, picture of the Stpvia in the words :
"Sie bestanden wohl aus einem Complex von
holzernen Brettern, welche der Lange nach iiber
zwei oder mehrere Untersatze oder Tragbocke
gelegt wurden, und mit diesen gleichsam einen
kleinen Aufbau (dtpta) bildeten, welche fur die
Aufnahme des Bettwerkes sowohl, wie auch des
Schlafers, die erfordliche Tragfahigkeit besass."

19

20

CHRONOLOGICAL SURVEY OF FORMS

In the Roman period turned legs are the rule. At first the couches were a mere
framework of legs bearing a flat surface upon which bedding was piled. Then the
upper part gradually assumed importance; low headboards and often also foot
boards appeared; these became higher in Roman times, and a back was added.
It is possible that some late couches were upholstered.
greek The scanty evidence for the geometric period
Eighth Century shows two simple patterns of legs (Fig. i, and
headpiece, chap. 3),1 and no headboard or foot
board. One at least of the styles of bed-legs
Attica from this early period may be of turned work,
the prototype of a form which appears on fifth-
century vases.2
Seventh Century The seventh century is nearly a blank to us.3
Attica No doubt the types just noted continued in use in
Attica, if they were not more widely diffused. The
low bronze bed with five heavy round legs, slightly
higher than the frame and — what is especially notable — a low head-rest, which was
Etruria found in a tomb in ancient Tarquinii, and is now in the Etruscan museum of the
Vatican,4 is attributed to the seventh century.
sixth Century, Arriving at the beginning of the sixth century, we have a fair amount of mate-
first half rjai as £0 Corinthian beds on the large craters which are the culmination of the
potter's industry in that city at the close of its long early era of prosperity.5 Both
Corinth turned and rectangular legs abound. The turned legs are not of the simple Attic
design seen on the Dipylon vases, but are heavier and more elaborate, and are all
of the one pattern given in Fig. 2.6 All the beds are draped so that the union of
legs and supported portion is invisible; as there is no additional height at the head,
it is improbable that they had head-rests. The rectangular legs vary in pattern and
are of great importance as showing the earliest examples, still in an undeveloped
stage, of what became later the most popular and widespread design for elegant

Fig. 1. — Body lying in state. Seated
and standing mourners. Part of a Dipylon
vase-painting. — Louvre.

1 Cf. also Rayet and Collignon, Cer. gr.,
p. 27, Fig. 10.
2 Cf. Fig. 1 with Fig. 28, and the statement on
p. 23 with that on p. 27. The resemblance may
perhaps seem to the passing reader very slight. It
must be granted that the Dipylon drawings are
extremely rude material upon which to base an
identification, yet the convex curve of the upper
extremity of the legs is clear in them and is the
distinctive feature — one which does not recur in
other turned patterns — of the sixth-century and
fifth-century furniture leg in question.

3 See also p. 14, n. 1.
4 Baumeister, Vol. I, Fig. 3266 = Girard,
Figs. 4394, 4395 =Museo etrusco gregoriano, Vol.
I, Plate XV. "
5 Pottier, Cat. des vases ant., Part II, pp. 478 ff.
6 Rayet and Collignon, Cer. gr., Plate 6 =
De Longperier, Musee NapoUon III, Plates XXII
and XXXIV = Vases ant. du Louvre, Series I, Plate
48, E 635. Cf. E 634 and Plate 46, E 630 and
Plate 45, E 623.

SIXTH CENTURY, FIRST HALF

21

chairs and couches. They are at this time clumsy and heavy, if the vase decora
tor's drawing is to be trusted. Two characteristic examples are given in Figs. 35 '
and 3/ In Fig. 35 the contours of the legs are unbroken, but there is an orna
mental pattern of palmettes occupying the full field afforded by each leg; again,
the top of the bed is covered by drapery, but its even surface is an indication that
there is no headboard. In Fig. 3 the
full bed shows and is without head
rest; two large rosettes adorn the top
of the legs, and, what is especially sig
nificant, their contours are interrupted
toward the bottom by incisions; slighter
pieces widening in the middle connect
the upper part with the equally heavy
foot; what seem to be intended for
palmettes occupy the space between the
incisions and the rosettes. Fig. 43 shows
a further stage of Figs. 35 and 3. Pal
mettes appear as in Fig. 35 ; the full bed-
frame is exposed as in Fig. 3, with the
addition of a low headboard and still
lower footboard, the sides of which are
a continuance of the legs above the frame; on these appear for the first time volutes.
This bed is on a hydria of more advanced form and decoration than the various
vases on which occur the two forms just described. It
seems likely, therefore, that it is of later date, though M.
Pottier thinks that the group to which it belongs may
equally well be contemporaneous with the less advanced-
looking vases.4
These early turned and rectangular types seem to Attica
have been known also in Attica in the first half of the sixth
century. A black-figured vase from Vourva given in the
Athen. Mitt., Vol. XV (1890), Plate XII, shows a form
similar to that of the Corinthian bed of Fig. 2, and on
an unpublished vase of the Berlin Antiquarium, No. 1755, are beds with incised
legs, as yet without headboards or footboards and their accompanying volutes. Cf. Vases

Fig. 2. — Heracles reclining upon a dining-couch in the house
of Eurytus. Detail from a Corinthian vase-painting. — Louvre.

— Banquet-couch.
Corinthian vase-

1 Cf. Vases ant. du Louvre, Series I, Plate 46,
E 629, and Rom. Mitt., Vol. II (1887), Plate XI-
XII, 4, and p. 259.
2 Cf. Wien. Vorlegebl., 1889, Plate XI, 4=Mon. d.
L, Vol. VI, Plate XIV.

3 E 643 of the Louvre Collection.
ant. du Louvre, Series I, Plate 51.
"¦ Pottier, Cat. des vases ant., Part II, p. 484.

22

CHRONOLOGICAL SURVEY OF FORMS

Sixth Century,
second half

Fig. 4. — The body of Achilles lying in state.
inthian vase-painting. — Louvre.

Detail from a Cor-

Chaids (?) Toward the middle of the century, for the center of the manufacture of Chal-
cidian vases — Chalcis probably — there is evidence, so far as I have found published
vases of that class, only for turned legs. The Copenhagen vase (Baumeister,
Vol. I, Fig. i()=Arch. Zeit., 1866, Plate 206) also shows a bed similar to the Corin
thian one of Fig. 2, although, as might be expected, the legs are not of identical
pattern with the Corinthian example.
The bed on the ''Phineus'' vase, how
ever, has new elements and is repro
duced here in Fig. 5 . For the first time
in the case of a bed with heavy turned
legs the frame is visible, and there is
a headboard, but no footboard. The
legs at the head are higher than the
frame, and are elaborately turned
above where they form the supports
of the head-rest.
The bed with no head-rest and
with incised legs appears on two Etrus-
Etruna can monuments, which on grounds of
style may be placed early in the second
half of the sixth century. The first, in the Archaeological Museum at Florence (No.
213, Amelung, Fiihrer, p. 190), is a relief which has under the bed between the,
legs a representation of mourning women
a curious parallel in relief sculpture to
the imperfect perspective of the prothesis
scene as depicted on Dipylon vases. The
second is the well-known large terra
cotta sarcophagus of the British Museum1
on which, in a relief of banqueters at the
back, beds appear (tailpiece, chap. 1).
During the main part of the period
now under consideration, however, and
on into the beginning of the fifth century,
beds of either turned or rectangular legs,
so far as we know them, had low head-
Attica boards. The normal Attic type with rectangular legs having incisions (Fig. 27) is
familiar to us from hundreds of black-figured vase-paintings. It always had volutes
at the head and never at the foot of the bed, rosettes or stars ornamenting the legs
1 For references see p. 76, n. 2.

Fig. 5. — Phineus reclining on a dining-couch. Detail from
a Chalcidian vase-painting. — Wurzburg.

SIXTH CENTURY, SECOND HALF

23

near the top, and the characteristic incisions (real or depicted) r two-thirds of the
way to the ground, with palmette ornaments above and below them. The long
sides of the bed were formed by connecting-pieces, which were not very wide and
were often ornamented by rosettes set at intervals or by a maeander. The legs at
the lower end of the bed often, but not invariably, rose higher than the frame; in
those cases there was — to judge from the position
of the mattress — a footboard, which was lower,
however, than the headboard. The beds were
almost without exception very high.2 This is the
invariable type on vases of the developed black-
figured style. But it is impossible to believe that
it was the only kind of bed common in Attica at
this time. It is far too ornate for ordinary use,
and this very characteristic would account for its
popularity with the masters of the black -figured
style, who were fond of ornamental details. {Cf.
P- 25-) A type of turned leg, probably recognizable
on Dipylon vases (p. 20), is seen on stools in reliefs3
of this period. And, as it reappears on the monu
ments as a bed-support in the next century, it
seems reasonable to assume that it had never
since its introduction gone out of use (see further on this point on p. 27). Another
turned pattern is positively vouched for in some terra-cotta plaques in the Acropolis
museum (Fig. 6), where a woman is seated spinning, not "on a long bench," as
the publisher of the plaques describes her, but on a couch — and probably at the
head.4 {Cf. Figs. 5, 7, and 8.)
In Etruria, the bed with rectangular, incised legs appears in the form of Etruria
large terra-cotta sarcophagi. An example in the Museo di Papa Giulio, Rome, is
shown in Fig. 43. s These are lower for their length than Attic beds of this class.
Another Etruscan representation in terra-cotta of such a bed, a small cinerary urn,
which is published by M. Heuzey in Recherches sur les lits antiques, p. 192, has
the high proportions usual in beds as pictured on Attic vases.

Fig 6. — Woman spinning, seated upon a
couch. Fragment of a terra-cotta plaque. —
Athens.

1 The question as to the actual cutting out of
the legs in cases such as the bed shown in Fig. 4
will be discussed later, p. 45, n. 1.
2 Among the few exceptions are very low beds of
this type on a black-figured cylix in the British
Museum, No. B 679.
3 E. g., "Harpy Monument."

4 The upper part of the headpost is restored in
Fig. 6, but the form is guaranteed by a preserved
fragment of another plaque from the same mold.
s Cf. the Louvre example, Baumeister, Vol. I,
Fig. 549 =De Longperier, Musee Napoleon III,
Plate XXXV=ikf<w. d. I., Vol. VI, Plate LI.

24 CHRONOLOGICAL SURVEY OF FORMS
Reliefs on cinerary urns show very commonly beds with turned legs such as
that given in Fig. 7' on an urn from Chiusi in the British Museum. The same
type appears also in wall-paintings (Fig. 8)2 and even on bucchero vases.3 These
resemble the Chalcidian bed (Fig. 5), with this difference that the legs at the lower
end of the bed rise above the level of the frame, although not to the height of the
legs at the head, and may have supported a
low footboard.
Fifth Century The styles of beds just mentioned pre
vailed on into the fifth century; indeed, some
of the examples already cited may possibly
belong to the earlier years of the fifth century. ~ FlG. 7._Etruscan couch. Detail from the reiief-
An Etruscan mirror (Gerhard, Etruskische Nation of a intone cinerary ^.-British
^ Museum.
Spiegel, Plate CXXV) and a wall-painting in
Tarquinii {Mon. d. I., Vol. I, Plate XXXII) show the same type of bed, with many
turnings on the headpost above the frame, which we noted first on the Chalcidian
vase (Fig. 5) and have just followed in later instances (Figs. 7 and 8), and shall
encounter again in Attica.
An Etruscan cinerary urn of the early fifth century, however, (Plate I) presents
a new variety of the class with incised legs. This has the legs at head and foot
alike in height and in being terminated above by volutes; instead of a slight rail, as
in all previous examples, there is one reaching in width almost to the incisions and
marked off by various moldings into two panels, the upper plain, the lower occupied
by a relief, in the middle two lions attacking a bull, at each end a recumbent human
figure. An Etruscan wall-painting {Ant. Denkm., II, Plate 43), belonging, to judge
from its style, to the same period as the Attic severe red-figured vases, has rectangu
lar legs sloping toward the bottom, such as are found in Attica, as we shall see, in the
same period. Both the legs and the slender rail are ornamented with a simple
maeander.
Attica Red-figured vases afford as abundant evidence with regard to fifth-century
beds in Attica as do black-figured vases for the sixth century. It is again a question,
however, how this evidence is to be interpreted. There is a decided predominance
of very plain beds in these vase-paintings. A recent writer4 concludes, therefore,
that there was a radical change of taste early in the fifth century, due perhaps
1 There is a whole series of archaic Etruscan Vol. IX, Plate XIII, from the tomb dei vast dipinti.
limestone urns from Chiusi in the British Museum Cf. Martha, ibid., p. 430, Fig. 285 =Mon. d. I.,
in Cases 27, 34, and 35 of the first Etruscan room, Vol. II, Plate II.
on which are beds of the form shown in Fig. 7. Cf. 3 Vases ant. du Louvre, Series I, Plate 26, C
Martha, L'art etrusque, p. 279, Fig. 187. 639.
2 Martha, ibid., p. 383, Fig. 262=Mo«. d. I., * Girard, p. 1017.

FIFTH CENTURY

25

to Spartan influence, which led to the almost complete banishment of the luxuri
ous couch pictured on black-figured vases in favor of very plain styles. But may
there not be another explanation? The painters of the early red-figured vases
were occupied with problems of drawing and technic, and cared less than their
story-telling predecessors for mere elaborate details, requiring patience, but no
new skill. Further, they were interested in scenes from contemporary life, and
every-day personages could be represented on every-day beds, whereas for the
gods and heroes of the black-figured period the best in the way of beds which fact

Fig. 8. — Banqueting-scene. Detail from a wall-painting in an Etruscan tomb. — Corneto-Tarquinia.

and fancy could suggest would have been none too good. It seems to me, there
fore, probable that in the great variety of beds represented on red-figured vases
we have that which is lacking for the black-figured period — something approaching
a complete catalogue of the forms actually in use, of common as well as of elegant
beds. The occasional occurrence on red-figured vases1 of the older elaborate type
of bed with rectangular, incised legs testifies to its existence unmodified until at
least the middle of the century. Within this time the related design already
1 See Baumeister, Vol. I, Fig. 791 =Mon. d. I., Monuments Piot, Vol. I (1894), Plate VII, and Vol.
Vol. VIII, Plate 27; Overbeck, Atlas der Kunstmy- IX (1902), Plate II, and Hartwig, Meisterschalen,
thologie, Plate VI, 2 and 3 = Girard, Fig. 4388; Plate LXX, 2.

26

CHRONOLOGICAL SURVEY OF FORMS

Fig. 9. — Banqueting-scene.
Corneto- Tarquinia .

Detail from a red-figured vase-painting. —

noted in one Etruscan example (Plate I), which has the legs at the head and foot
of equal height and all terminating above in volutes, makes an appearance in
Attica (headpiece, chap. 1).
Other styles of beds show the influence of the chief type known through black-
figured vases in having a head-rest and volutes at the head of the bed and shorter
legs at the foot. They do
not have incisions or pal
mettes, rosettes, or other
ornaments; the legs differ
further from incised legs
in that they taper more or
less toward the bottom
and sometimes have,
almost at the ground-line,
ring-like or ball-like inter
ruptions of their otherwise straight outlines (Figs. 26 and 9).1 A few vase-paintings
show similar beds with a vase-like termination of the legs at the head instead of
volutes (Fig. 22).2
But even plainer beds than these were frequent — frameworks of rectangular,
straight legs and connecting rails, without head-rests or adornment (Fig. 25).
Other beds are completely hidden by drapery; the presumption is that they were
of very rough construction.3
Among rude common beds were two styles known each in only a few represen
tations (Figs. 23 and 24). 4 This seems a recognizable instance when the relative
frequency of forms on vases is not a safe criterion of their relative frequency in
actual use. {Cf. p. 15.) One might indeed be inclined to think these the chance
creations of the vase-painters, were it not that the forms of the legs are known on
stools; they were, therefore, in all probability copies of existent beds.
The same argument applies to certain beds with turned legs of a simple and

1 Wien. Vorlegebl., Series D, Plate XII, 36 =
Gjolbaschi-Trysa, p. 103, Fig. iog=Mon. d. I.,
Vol. X, Plate LIII, 1; Compte-rendu, 1869, Plate
VI; Millingen, Peintures antiques de vases grecs
de la collection de Sir John Coghill, Plate VIII;
Jahrb., Vol. V (1890), Anz., p. 89; De Ridder, Cata
logue des vases peints de la Bibliotheque nationale,
Part II, Plate XXVIII, No. 940. The unpublished
vases E 453 and E 454 of the British Museum also
show the same type of bed as Figs. 26 and 9 above.
2 Cf. Collection Camille Lecuyer. Terrecuites
antiques, Vol. II, E 5.

3 E. g., Millin-Reinach, Peintures de vases
antiques, I, 59, and Le Bas-Reinach, Voyage
archiologique en Grece et en A sie Mineure, Plate
54 = Friedrichs-Wolters, Gipsabgiisse antiker
Bildwerke, No. 1059.
*¦ There is a similar bed pictured on the British
Museum cylix E 38, which was painted by Epictetus,
and another on a psycter in the museum at Corneto
(Moscioni, photograph No. 8254).

FIFTH CENTURY

27

Fig
a red-figured vase

Part of a dining-couch.
Found at Menidi.

Fragment of

graceful pattern illustrated in Fig. 28. This is probably the earliest type of bed-leg
found on Attic monuments, and it appears afterward only on a few red-figured
vases of the severe style. But, considering the frequency of this particular pattern
of turned work on stools, evidenced by numerous reliefs1 and vase-paintings, it
seems probable that the beds of which we have these slight glimpses at two widely
distant periods were common in Attica from the
Dipylon age at least through the fifth century.
The fifth-century examples differ from the very
early ones in the addition of a head-rest; just
how long this style continued in vogue is impos
sible to say.
As in Etruria so in Attica heavy turned legs,
higher at the head than the frame of the bed, are
also found in the fifth century. One example is
given from a severe red-figured vase fragment (Fig. 1 o) , and there are numerous othe s. 2
In the latter half of the century there is an innovation in the introduction
upon headboards and footboards
of uprights which are curved in out
line and no longer have the appear
ance of being of one piece with the
legs (Figs, n and 44). These occur
in combination with both turned
and rectangular legs. Modifica
tions, which are common later, from
the old design of rectangular, incised
legs probably began to appear after
the middle of the century.
The most important fifth- Lycia
century monuments neither Attic
nor Etruscan showing beds are the
Gjolbaschi reliefs. On these the couches are all draped, but the legs are suffi
ciently exposed to show that they are about equally divided belween turned and
' Cf. my remarks, Jahrb., Vol. XVII (1902),
p. 133 and Fig. 9 and Studniczka, recently in the
same publication, Vol. XIX (1904), p. 4.
2 See Pottier, Etudes sur les lecythes blancs
attiques, Plate I; Ann. d. I., 1868, Plate C; the two
instances just cited have many turnings on the

Fig. 11. — Theseus slaying Procrustes. Detail from a vase signed
by Aison. — Madrid.

upper part of the legs at the head, as in Fig. 10
above. The following probably belongs to the
same class, /. H. S. Vol. VII (1887), p. 440, as the

legs at the foot have the same form as above in Fig.
7; the upper part of the leg at the head of the bed is
destroyed. The turned legs shown in Murray,
Designs from Greek Vases in the British Museum,
Plate XV, No. 6o=Mon. d. J, Vol. V, Plate XLIX,
and in Gerhard, Coupes et vases du Musee de
Berlin, Plate H, are somewhat different in
design, more like the form which appears above
in Fig. 6.

28 CHRONOLOGICAL SURVEY OF FORMS
incised types.1 A little Boeotian terra-cotta couch {Athen. Mitt'., Vol. X [1885],
Plate IV), dating from the early part of the century, is unfortunately too rude to
be entirely trustworthy and clear as to form, but it seems to have plain, rectangu
lar legs and, what is particularly interesting thus early, at the two ends very high
rests slightly curved outward.
Fourth Century The material for the next few hundred years until the Roman period is not
nearly so abundant as for the fifth century and is geographically from widely scat
tered sources. Fourth-century beds, so far as we know them, belong to the two
general classes, those with rectangular and those with turned legs, and are adapta
tions of older styles.
Eubcea A marble funerary couch in a tomb at Eretria {Athen. Mitt., Vol. XXVI [1901],
Plate XIII) shows the differentiation of head and foot familiar in beds on the
black-figured vases, but the rectangular legs have lost their characteristic incisions
and rosettes. The amphicephalous variant of the older type, however, has become
the prevailing one, and the legs never present the exact scheme of ornament famil
iar from an earlier period. Now the rosettes are lacking, and the palmettes and
incisions occupy the legs entirely to the rails,2 or the rosettes are replaced by medal
lions in which are faces,3 or the incisions disappear and the leg is covered with
ornamental details which nevertheless are reminiscences in part of the older style
(frontispiece). Wide rails are now common, or there are two, a wide upper one
and a narrow lower one. This last arrangement is characteristic of the Macedonian
funerary couches of marble (see Fig. 12), dating, according to their discoverer,
from the close of the century. The constructional lines of the terra-cotta model
given in the colored plate are like those of the Macedonian couches; the space
between the rails is here filled in with reliefs, which look inconveniently high;
further, the place of the volutes is taken in this especially rich couch by panels in
low relief, representing figures in rapid motion.
South Italian vases show curved rests on beds with rectangular legs — beds similar
to the fifth-century example given, only more elaborate, with ornamented rail and
the foot decorated with various moldings, and in one instance with figures.4
One of the earliest representatives of its class, perhaps belonging to the close
of the fourth century, is a marble funerary couch in a tomb at Vathia on the island
of Eubcea {Athen. Mitt., Vol. XXVI [1901], Plate XVI, here Fig. 38). This has
1 Gjblbaschi-Trysa, cf. Plates VII, VIII with rather than to the opening of the fourth, where I
Plates XX, XXI. would place them.
2 Jahrb., Vol. XV (1900), p. 78, Fig. 13= Arch. 4 Baumeister, Vol. I, Fig. ^2=Mon. d. I.,
Zeit., 1867, Plate 220. Vol. V, Plate XI and Elite cer. Vol. II, Plate 23A
3 Mon. d. I., 1854, Plate 16. There is a possi- =B. M. Vases, Vol. IV, F. 399. Like the vases
bility that this and the preceding example may cited in the two preceding notes these may however
belong to the closing years of the fifth century date from the close of the fifth century.

FOURTH CENTURY

29

a curved rest at the "head, but none at the foot. Its turned legs are of a pattern
differing distinctly from earlier ones. There are more members; the three rings
above and the introduction toward the bottom of a nonturned member — in this
case claws — are features common on many subsequent examples. It is noticeable
in the end-view that the supports at the back of the couch are of a different pat
tern from those at the front.

Fig. 12. — Marble funerary couch. Found in a tomb in Macedonia. — Louvre.

There are also some couches whose forms are not evident because of envelop
ing drapery (see Fig. 37).
Small terra-cottas, representing one or more persons seated or lying on a Hellenistic
couch, furnish considerable evidence for the Hellenistic period. The Myrina Asia Minor
groups all have turned legs of a pattern (Fig. 30) similar to that already noted on
the Vathia couch; instead of claws there are sphinxes introduced between the
turned members and often foliage forms as well. These couches have sometimes
one and sometimes two curved rests.
Another style of turned leg is shown on terra-cottas of Italian origin in the Italy
form of couches having a single reclining figure (Plate VIK). In these the legs

3°

CHRONOLOGICAL SURVEY OF FORMS

Fig. 13. — Fragment of Egyptian Faience. — Berlin.

are heavy and monotonous, consisting of numerous exactly similar, cushion-like
Egypt members. Fig. 13 shows another turned pattern on a bit of Egyptian faience,1
dating probably from this period. Some Etruscan terra-cotta cinerary urns of
small size are partially in the form of couches, the legs being in relief on the front
Etruria of the urns, and the mattress and recumbent figures forming the cover. These
have no rests, the rail is strikingly slender,
and the legs are turned, being varied more
than those mentioned at the beginning of
this paragraph, but bearing no resemblance
to the Myrina type. 2
Italy Other late cinerary urns very closely
resemble the Myrina couches; the sphinxes
are higher up on the legs in the specimens
shown in Figs. 14 and 50, 3 and toward the
bottom is one member consisting of foliage,
instead of two as in Fig. 30. Fig. 14 shows a
feature common in couches and chairs from
this time on; i. e., the rails rest upon the sup
ports instead of extending between them.4
Southern Russia An actual couch from southern Russia,
the earliest specimen (with the exception of the unique early bronze couch of the
Vatican, see p. 20) which is at all completely preserved, probably dates from the
middle of the third century.5 It has a curved head -rest, but no foot-rest; per
haps the latter has been lost. The turned legs are only in part preserved, but are
nevertheless clearly of slender proportions and of a pattern wholly unlike that of the
Asia Minor Myrina couches. Closely similar in the pattern of the legs is another slightly later
extant couch, the one from Priene in the Berlin museum,6 a couch that certainly
dates from the second century B. C. As restored it has a curved rest only at the
head and braces in both directions between the supports. That turned legs of
slender proportions and comparatively few members existed simultaneously with
1 This is to be published elsewhere in colors,
together with another fragment from the same vase.
See p. 97, n. 2.
2 There are a large number of these in the
Archaeological Museum in Florence which, so far
as I know, are not published.
3 Published: Amelung, Rom. Mitt., Vol. XVII
(1902), p. 271, Fig. 1.
t Cf. Jahrb., Vol. XVII (1902), p. 133.
s Dr. Amelung, loc. cit., p. 274, speaks of this

couch as from a south-Russian grave of the fourth
century. It was found, however, not in the grave
but in the earth piled up over it, and the date given
by Stephani for the contents of the grave (Compte-
rendu, 1880, pp. 25, 26), not earlier than 284 B. C., is
substantiated by a coin found in it of the king
Paerisades II., who ascended the throne in 284 B. C.
Now, the couch, if not contemporary with the
grave, is more likely to be later than earlier.
6 Jahrb., Vol. XVII (1902), p. 134, Fig. 11.

HELLENISTIC PERIOD

31

such heavier, more complicated designs as those of the Myrina terra-cottas is shown
in the so-called Icarius reliefs where both styles appear. l
The combination of the curved rests with rectangular legs, which has been
noted on vases, apparently did not survive into the Hellenistic period. The Tele-

Fig. 14. — Terra-cotta cinerary urn. — Museo Kircheriano, Rome.

phus frieze from Pergamon shows both turned and incised bed-legs;* unfortunately
there is only a fragment of each bed remaining. The turned leg seems to be of the
pattern made familiar in the Myrina terra-cottas. The incised leg is the latest
1 Arch. Zeit., 1881, Plate 14. 2 Jahrb., Vol. XV (1900), Plate I, 21 and 51.

signs

32 CHRONOLOGICAL SURVEY OF FORMS
example known to me of its kind on a bed; it would seem as if beds with rectangular,
incised legs went out of style during the Hellenistic age. x
The degeneration (the beginnings of which we have already noted) of the
Etruria incised pattern is very marked at this period. Even mongrel specimens appear,
as on a second-century Etruscan urn (Martha, L'art drusque, p. 353, Fig. 242).
In this the legs show on the upper part features of the rectangular, incised pattern,
and below a bell-like termination, which is evidently turned work. Further,
curved rests, not volutes, crown the legs.
Asia Minor Plates IV, V, and VI show two fragments of a marble couch from Pergamon
of the early second century. The restoration is discussed on pp. 93 ff., and the
view is advanced that, in the absence of corroborating representations, it cannot
be assumed that supports in the form of a griffin instead of regular legs were ever
features of real couches.
roman The one style of elegant couch common in the early years of the Roman empire
Early Perwd js fa&t known to us first in the second half of the fifth century; this, undergoing
Continuance of some changes, apparently gained its fullest popularity in the early Roman age. I
' ' " ' k De~ speak of the bed with turned legs and one or two curved rests, already so frequently
referred to in this sketch. This is the period from which the greatest number of
preserved parts of couches has come, and they are all of the type just mentioned.
The Boscoreale bed in Berlin,2 the three couches3 from a Pompeian triclinium in
the Naples museum, and the Ancona beds,4 all are examples which have been
set together as couches, in at least approximately correct form. The Orvieto
(Plates XX-XXVI) and Norcia5 beds are wrongly restored. There are very many
so-called bisellia (Plates VIII and XVIII)6 which are no doubt made up of parts
of couches and would admit of correct restoration. In addition to these more or
less complete fittings of individual beds, there exists a vast quantity of the curved
rests (Plates XI, XII, and XVI), seldom with their full adornment; also of separate
1 The incised leg appears later on chairs in and Mau-Kelsey, Pompeii: Its Life and Art2,
Pompeian wall-paintings and in the sculptures of p. 367, Fig. 188.
the Ara Pads. But the instances in paintings are , „ „, „. „
r & *¦ Brizio, pp. 445 ff., Figs. 8-27.
probably taken over with the designs as a whole
from earlier originals. Professor Petersen has 5 Pasqui, cols. 234 ff .
pointed out (Ara Pads Augustae, p. 68) that the 6 Bes;des thoge pubHshed her6; the «Capitoline
Temple of the Great Mother on the Ara Pacis Bisellium» [Bullettino delta commissions archeo-
must be a copy of the edifice erected 204-191 B. C. hgica communaU di Roma> Vol. II, Plates II-IV,
This takes the chair form in the pediment of this pp 22_32 = Amelung, Rom. Mitt., Vol. XVII
temple as represented on the Ara Pacis back to the [igo2^ p 2?lj Fig_ z =HelbiG) puhrer2, Vol. I, p.
time of the Telephus frieze. 383j No s69)j one in the Louvre (Giraudon,
2 Jahrb., Vol. XV (1900), Anz., p. 178. photograph No. 188 of series of bronzes in the
3 One of these has been reproduced numerous Louvre), and two in Naples (Real museo borbonico,
times; for example, Baumeister, Vol. I, Fig. 329, Vol. II, Plate XXXI) may be cited.

EARLIER ROMAN PERIOD 33
pieces (Plates XIII, XIV, XVa, b, d, and XVII) belonging to such rests, and of
parts of turned legs, although the latter when detached are less commonly thought
worthy of exhibition. This type of bed has been the subject of considerable dis
cussion. It seems generally conceded that couches not used for dining had at this
period two rests; that, of the three in a triclinium, the upper couch had a head-rest,
the lower a foot-rest, and the middle none at all. * The correct sloping position of
these rests, extending in a graceful curve beyond the lines of the bed, has been made
clear by Professor Pernice;2 it was the form inherited from the Greek period. Dr.
Amelung, in the Rom. Mitt., Vol. XVII (1902), pp. 271 ff., however, cites a few
instances where the monuments show rests of quicker curve occupying a perpen
dicular position directly above the legs. These are probably early manifestations
of the Roman tendency (very marked in forms of Roman development, as we shall
see) to make the rests straighter as well as higher. One of the examples published
by Dr. Amelung {loc. cit., p. 273, Fig. 2) shows further the construction of the
rests at the ends. In this case three rails curving slightly outward, with spaces
between them and between the lowest rail and the frame of the couch at the seat-
level, connect the curved ornamental pieces at the front and back of the couch.
This is valuable evidence, as in restorations these front and back uprights have
always been connected by a solid surface having the same curve as the uprights,
which arrangement we now know was certainly not always, if ever, in vogue. A
connecting-piece which is not solid has the support of analogies on earlier rests,3
one of them of the same type (with curved uprights) as that under discussion.
Also some early parallels to the outward curve may be cited.4
The Romans did not long continue to use the form of couch taken over from
the Hellenistic world. Just when it went out of style is difficult to say; I believe
about the close of the first century A. D.s
We must now turn to distinctly Roman beds, of which representations abound Later Period
on late monuments. These all, with a few possible exceptions, have turned legs Characteristicaiiy Roman Designs
1 This statement is sometimes made to apply in * It looks as if the head-rest of the second bed
general to the type with curved rests. It holds referred to in the previous note might be an instance.
good, so far as I know, for the Roman period. But A terra-cotta in the British Museum from Eretria,
there exist earlier couches with only one rest which No. C 208, is curved out at the frame-level (B. M.
were not for banquets, as in certain terra-cottas Terracottas, Plate XXXIV, but not very clear in
of the Myrina type. The "Aldobrandini Wed- the side-view given). Analogous to this is the place
ding" is a case in point, for, though executed in for the head in the marble funerary couch given in
the Augustan period, it is a copy of an earlier the Revue archeologique, 1876, Plate XIII.
^ s It is not common even on early imperial monu-
2 Jahrb., Vol. XV (1900), Anz., pp. 178 ff. ments and never appears on distinctly late Roman
3 Baumeister, Vol. I, Fig. 792 = Girard, Fig. reliefs. The style of the details on the preserved
4387, and Baumeister, Fig. 328 = Girard, Fig. specimens seems to me for the most part to point
4389, to the first century A. D.

34

CHRONOLOGICAL SURVEY OF FORMS

Fig. 15. — Specimens of turned legs from Roman couches.

of ugly patterns (see Fig. 15) and are comparatively low, some extremely low; the
legs never extend above the level of the frame. So far as the monuments give
details, the frame when not plain shows one of the schemes of Fig. 16 {cf. Figs.
14, 31, Plates XXVIII, and Plate XXIXa) rather than rosettes, animals, or any of
the motives common in the Greek period. There are couches without
backs and with curved rests at the
two extremities, very different,
however, in appearance from the
earlier Roman couches. The rests
are of various designs, are higher
and in an upright position in a line with the bed-legs, and the curve is slighter,
sometimes amounting merely to an outward turning of the upper edge. A sar
cophagus cover in couch form of the first half of the third century is shown in Fig.
17; the rests end above in horses' heads, below in lions' heads. A very favorite
motive, one which permeates Roman decoration generally and occurs also on other
late types of couches (see p. 36), is the dolphin.1 This appears on couches with
the dolphin head resting on the frame, and the bodv and tail swinging in lively
curve aloft (Plate XXVIII).  ,
Beds with headboards of a height equal to
that of the legs, and very low foot-boards or
none at all, seem also to have existed.2
But the greatest innovation of the Romans
was the introduction of a back; it would be
interesting to know just how early it came in. The word pluteus, perhaps "back,"
is used of couches, so far as I know, first in Propertius (see p. in, n. 17). Plate
XXIX& shows what is probably one of the earliest examples of a back in couch
representations. The structure is unusual in the following particulars: the back
is open rather than solid and has a middle rail, a bracing-bar appears above the

Fig. 16. — Patterns from the rails of Roman couches.

1 See Baumeister, Vol. Ill, Fig. 1610 = Combe,
Ancient Marbles in the British Museum, Vol. V,
Plate IX, 3; Graeven, Phot. 1. Very common,
according to Graeven, p. 1, n. i,.on early Christian
ivories. Another late example, reproduced by
Girard, Fig. 4396, is from the Vatican manuscript
of Virgil. There are numerous extant dolphins of
metal in the British Museum, the Cabinet des
Metafiles, and elsewhere. Some of these have
been thought to be parts of articles of furniture.
The "Campana relief" in the British Museum,
No. D 603 (Mansell, photograph No. 1400;

Combe, Ancient Terracottas in the British Museum,
Plate 10 and B. M. Terracottas, Plate XLIII) shows
two dolphins diagonally placed between the seat
and round of Athena's stool, and one of the extant
metal dolphins in the same museum has a slant
suitable to such a position. Others of the extant
pieces are intended to occupy an upright position,
and may perhaps come from couches.
2 Graeven, Phot. 1 ; Baumeister, Vol. I, Fig.
5; relief in the Lateran Museum, Room XIII, No.
849.

LATER ROMAN PERIOD

35

floor-level between the legs, and the arms are lower than the back. In fact, it seems
better adapted for use as a settee than as a couch for reclining, and it agrees in most
particulars with the piece of furniture on which the emperor Augustus and the
goddess Roma are seated, as depicted on a famous cameo in Vienna.1 None
of the representations of couches with solid backs of the common forms now to be
enumerated, with which I am familiar, would antedate the latter half of the first
century A. D.

Fig. 17. — Cover in couch form of a Roman sarcophagus. — Museo Torlonia, Rome.

One of the stock subjects on Roman gravestones, whether found in England,
along the Rhine, on the Greek islands, or in some other part of the old Roman
dominions, was an adaptation of the time-honored "funerary banquet" motive.
The study of a large number of these reliefs and their accompanying inscriptions
would no doubt yield information as to the chronology of beds with backs, as well
as matter of much greater interest. Figs. 40 and 18 give two couches from grave
stones of this class, found on the island of Paros. Fig. 40 shows the more usual
form with curved end-pieces, but of extra large size. It will be seen that the upper
part of the couches is very prominent. The legs look weak and insignificant, and
their height does not equal that of the supported portion. Three sides are inclosed ;
the back and end-pieces are of the same height and apparently solid; the back often

1 Furtwangler, Die antiken Gemmen, Plate
LVI. The terra-cotta, of course, necessarily shows
the spaces between the rails solid, but unless we
are to suppose these spaces in the structure repro
duced to have been paneled up at the back, the

form must have been that suggested above. The
analogy of the Vienna cameo, which is not ambiguous
on this point, strengthens the view which I have
taken. Cf., however, B. M. Terracottas, p. 365,
No. D 359.

36

CHRONOLOGICAL SURVEY OF FORMS

has the same profile with the sides, as sarcophagi in couch form show.1 Such
sarcophagi or the representations of these couches on sarcophagi are less rude, as
a rule, than the gravestones. No doubt the models, too, were often better couches.
In Fig. 31, reproducmg the front of a sarcophagus from Syria, the pattern of the
turned legs and of the crossboard and the conventionalized dolphin form of the
front extremities of the rests are all
evident. A certain number of Roman
beds have the headboards, foot
boards, and back (usually present)
all consisting of two members, the
upper one, either curved or straight,
issuing from the lower member,
which is always curved2 (Plate
XXVIII and Figs. 19 and 20).
It is a question whether any of
these late 'couches ever had any
thing in the nature of upholstery.
In Plate XXIXa is reproduced a
small terra-cotta found in Egypt. It will be seen that there is a pattern of con
centric squares twice on the back and also once on the end of the pillow. The
same design appears on the end-pieces both on the inner and outer faces, and
also on the outer surface of the back. It does not seem probable that on such a
realistic piece of work as this very modern-looking couch, with the dogs
curled up upon it, the ornaments could have been a mere fanciful addition
of the coroplast. It looks as if the frame of the couch were covered with
a heavy patterned material which was padded. Otherwise the ornamental
squares must be supposed to be carved or in some way executed in a hard
material composing the couch; and this has the objection that such orna
ment usually adorns and emphasizes the constructional parts of couches,
the legs, rails, and uprights of the headboards and footboards, but is not ordinarily
dropped promiscuously all over the structure as here. Attention is called in the Rom.
Mitt., Vol. VII (1892), p. 45, to a number of couch representations (see Figs. 20 and
21) with lines upon them which look as if they represented masonry. These are
No. 2is=Rom. Mitt., Vol. I (1886), pp. 161 ff.,

Fig. 18. — Relief on a Roman gravestone. — Island oj Paros.

Fig. 19

T I have photographs, kindly given me by Dr.
Vassits, of Belgrade, of a specimen found at Vimi-
nacium, Mcesia Superior; and now in the gymnasium
at Pojarevatz in Servia.
2 In the Archaeological Museum in Florence,
part of a marble couch, Amelung, Fiihrer, p. 192,

Plate VIII, and ibid.,Vol. VII (1892), p. 45, above,
Fig. 19; also ibid., p. 45, Fig. VIII, 2 and 6. Also
an unpublished ( ?) sarcophagus standing in the
south corridor of the Museo delle Terme, Rome.

LENGTHS OF BEDS

37

Fig. 20.

explained as reproductions of marble beds, built up of blocks, and are supposed
to have been used by the living in summer, or perhaps to have been placed in
tombs. This theory is not very satisfying,1 whereas the reliefs become perfectly
intelligible if we may assume that a padded back is represented fastened down
along the vertical and horizontal lines. If an a priori argument is worth anything,
it seems not unlikely that the practical Romans, having once developed
such high supports on their couches, would have given them the added
comfort of a permanent padding of some sort, as distinguished from pillows
and other removable furnishings.
One other question may be touched upon in closing this chronological
survey of forms. It must have been evident to the reader before this
that Greek, Etruscan, and Roman couches, as represented, are in many
instances very short — too short to permit their occupants to stretch out at
full length. Were the paintings, reliefs, and terra-cottas faithful in this par
ticular to facts, or have we to do here with an artistic convention ? Couches long
enough for the extended human body are shown in prothesis scenes (Figs. 4
and 29) and a few cinerary urns (Plate I) ; in fact, whenever a recumbent person
is represented his couch is of suitable length.
The normal lengths given to extant couches in
the process of restoration are vouched for, in a
few cases, by traces observed on the floor at the
time of finding,2 even though their wooden rails
have invariably perished. Evidence is not lack
ing, then, for couches of comfortable length for
lying flat upon.
Greek art never hesitated to take liberties
with the relative sizes of people, animals, and
inanimate objects when the general decorative
filling of spaces could be better attained thereby.
Hence it should not surprise us in vase-paintings and relief sculptures — and the
statement holds good for the Roman period also — to find a person too large for
the bed he is resting on. I believe, therefore, that the shortness of many beds seen

Fig. 21. — Relief on a Roman cippus.

1 In the first place, it does not seem to me prob
able that the Romans would have built such couches
of masonry; they would rather have carved them
out of whole blocks of marble, as they did sarcoph
agi. But even if couches of masonry existed, they
were then in design only copies or modifications
of usual household couches, and would not have

been reproduced upon marble reliefs, but their
models rather would have served as the models
also for relief sculpture.
2 See Pernice, Jahrb., Vol. XV (1900), Anz.,
p. 178.

3§

CHRONOLOGICAL SURVEY OF FORMS

on Greek vases is due to arbitrary variation from facts. T The question becomes more
difficult in the case of couch reproductions in the round such as those in Fig. 14 and
Plate XXIX&. Did the artist depart from literal truth in order to avoid an unoccu
pied stretch of bed beyond the feet of the half-reclining person, and thus to gain
compactness of design? I am inclined to think not. The production of short
couches is better vouched for in terra-cottas such as the one reproduced in Plate
XXIXa. Here there are no occupants that affect the general lines of the compo
sition, and one cannot see why the terra-cotta couch should be so short unless its pro
portions had a real existence in structures familiar to the designer of the terra-cotta.
Finally, in endeavoring to make vivid to ourselves these ancient couches, a
comparison with modern styles may be useful. There is no one of all the forms
we have been reviewing which bears any resemblance to modern single bedsteads2
with their high footboards and still higher headboards; much less are there any
double beds recognizable on the classic monuments. Some of the draped Greek
couches, with their numerous pillows, look not very unlike the modern college
divan; the earlier ones are higher, to be sure, than is thought desirable now, but
some of those represented on late red-figured ware are as low as modern couches,
and probably would not look out of place in a present-day room. But it is among
Roman couches that we find the greatest number of recent-looking structures.
There are the short couches referred to in the preceding paragraph, which find
numerous parallels in modern furniture. The form shown in Fig. 18 is very like
a high-backed settle, and others in their main lines are not dissimilar to some
large davenports of the present day. The dolphins occasionally seen on the arms
of modern couches3 are surely a revival of the Roman motive.

1 This seems to me far more probable than that
Greek banquet couches were commonly short.
This view is strengthened by a parallel case; a
design on a bronze mirror (Gerhard, Etruskische
Spiegel, Vol. II, Plate CXXV = Ca/. des bronzes ant.
de la Bibl. nat., p. 499, Fig. 1284) represents
Alcmene and the newly born Heracles in bed
propped up among the pillows; the bed would not
be long enough for Alcmene, were she to lie out
stretched upon it. We are not prepared to accept
this evidence literally as denoting the existence of
short beds. Since the explanation as an artistic
convention seems almost inevitable here, the same

may be the more readily accepted for dining-couches
which appear short.
2 Cf., however, the toy bedstead of palm sticks
found in the Faioum, and now in the collection of
Professor W. Flinders Petrie, at University College,
London (Petrie, Hawara, Biahmu and Arsinoe,
p. 12 and Plate XIX, 5). This is said to date from
the latter half of the third century A. D.
3 For instance, see the Empire sofa owned by
Mrs. William Young of Baltimore, Md., which is
pictured in Singleton, The Furniture of Our Fore
fathers, p. 573, and is thus described in the text:
"a fine example of the period with the metal dolphins
gracefully curved along the scroll ends."

CHAPTER II
MATERIALS, TECHNIC, AND CENTERS OF MANUFACTURE
The one detailed description in Homer of a bed is of that of Odysseus.1 It prehistoric
was of olive wood, carefully and accurately cut with the help of a plumb-line, and
polished; gold, silver, and ivory contributed to its adornment. The statement is
explicit as to the materials employed, but not as to the method of putting them
together. The adjective Sivwtos, applied in one instance to a bed,2 in another to
a chair,3 in all probability refers to legs of turned work. There is no passage that
suggests the use of metal otherwise than for adornment.
The principal material used in the construction of Greek couches of historical Hellenic
times was wood. Common beds were no doubt made entirely of it. Better couches PERIOD
in the early period had their constructional parts of wood and their ornament of
richer materials. In the Hellenistic period couches made largely of metal were General statement
frequent, but even in these wood was retained for some of the constructional parts. m . e,gar J° a~
y ' x tenal and Tech-
How extensively and by what technical processes metal was employed in making „ic
couches before the Hellenistic period cannot with certainty be determined.
Besides the obvious fact that wood must have been cheaper and more easily Evidence for Wood
worked than metal, there are positive indications of the large use made of it in the
construction of Greek beds. The forms of beds as we know them on Greek monu
ments look as if made of wood, especially in the patterns of the legs and the frequent
representations of tenons in mortises which served to unite the head-rails and the
foot-rails with the legs. An instance of the reproduction of the grain of wood
on a vase-painting is given in Fig. 22. Added to the evidence of the monuments
is that of literature. In an account of property left by Demosthenes's father,4
which included a plant for making knives and another for the manufacture of beds,
timbers for beds are mentioned. In Munich there is a fourth-century inscription5
giving part of a temple inventory, which enumerates under objects of wood kAiVtj
cr/u/cpd 1. Theophrastus refers to various kinds6 of wood as used for making
couches, and Theocritus mentions a couch of cedar (XXIV, 43).
1 Kal rtrr1 eirevr' aT^KOipa k6u.7jv ravvcptiWov i\alr]s, 3 Od., XIX, 56.
Koppiv 5' tK plfrs irpoTO.iJ.iiv 6.u<pi&<ra xaXmjj 4 jyem ^ XXVII, 10 ff.
eS Kal iiricrTauivus, Kal 4irl OT&Bpfnv fflvva, „ .. t>t ,
,„,.,, .. , , s I. G., IV, 39= Furtwangler, Beschr. der
ipu.1v1 acKrioas, Ttrp-qva oe iravra Teperpv. „, -T ,
, ., - , . w .o- «. « Glypt., p. 152, No. 196.
€K oe tov apxou.evos \exos €Keov, otppo. Te\eo~o~a,
SaiSdWiav xP^Qre Kal apyipip i}«' DJfarri- 6 These are: beech, two kinds of maple, ash,
¦lv 6*' irdwoo'' lp.dvra <ro6s <potvi.Ki <paei.v6v. persea, and a reddish-tinged variety of turpentine
— Od., XXIII, 195-201. or terebinth wood. See Blumner, Technologie,
2 //., Ill, 391. II, pp. 327 and 246 ff.
39

40

MATERIALS, TECHNIC, AND CENTERS OF MANUFACTURE

Other Materials
Applied to
Wood

Some wooden couches were enriched with other materials. Chief among these
was ivory. Ivory was used in the construction of beds in one of the workshops
belonging to Demosthenes's father (see preceding paragraph).1 An inventory,
dating from the last half of the fourth century, of the Herfeum on the island of
Samos records that a k\ivtt)pl(tko<; i\4<f>avTi [V]o[i]/aXo5 had been among the
temple treasures. 2 The presence of other
furniture — three Qpovoi fjueydkoL ov^
vpyiei?], dva/cAicreis e^ovres r/\e(f>ai>-
TQ)[xeva<;, and a Tpdire^a -r)\e<f>avT<ijp,4vT)
— in the Parthenon is significant. 3 Many
black-figured vases show designs in white
on beds with rectangular legs and incis
ions, and one is tempted to think that the
color represents ivory.4 The fact that
ivory was much used in ancient times for
various purposes, comparatively more
than today, 5 increases the likelihood that
it would have been employed extensively
in decorating beds. Tortoise shell, gold,
silver,6 and also bronze,7 may have been among the accessory materials sometimes
used on beds of wood.

Fig. 22. — Detail from a banquet-scene on a red-
figured vase. — British Museum.

1 Dem., XXVII, 31. See also two important
passages quoted and briefly discussed under
"technic," p. 53. In one the reference is to Sicilian
beds; in the other there is nothing to indicate whether
Greek or foreign beds are intended.
* Michel, Recueil d' inscriptions grecques, No.
832, 1. 49.
3 /. G., II, 2, p. a> N°- 67°, H- 14-16; p- 61,
No. 701, col. II (III), 11. 43, 44; p. 70, No. 713
and I, pp. 73-76, item No. 31, and II, 2, p. 33, No.
676, 1. 29=Michaelis, Der Parthenon, p. 298,
XIII, 36, and p. 296, I ff.
4 White seems to be used on black -figured vases
with some degree of appropriateness, as for the
hair of old people, for the flesh of women, and for
garments which may be supposed to be white.
s See Blumner, Technologie, II, p. 363. Cf. the
mention of ivory beds, thrones, and palaces in
Amos 3:15; 6:4; Ps. 45:8; 1 Kings 10:18, 22;
Ezek. 27:6. Cf. finally the extant ivory carvings

from a wooden sarcophagus, referred to p. 46,
close of n. 3.
6 It seems on the face of it probable that gold
and silver, which were applied to wooden furniture
in Egypt (e. g., the so-called chair of Hatshepsut
in the British Museum) and in Greece in the Homeric
period (see p. 39, n. 1), should have had occasional
use in Greece in historical times on especially fine
pieces. Pollux in Book X, 35, says, <rv di k&v iKecpav-
rlvriv eftrois, sal x^"1)5 ; but since he is not expressly
quoting a Greek writer, there is no assurance that
he is referring to Greek couches. Tortoise shell,
if not used in the Greek period in sufficient quantity
to warrant a couch being described as xeXui/Tjs,
may yet have been employed for inlays. This is
one of the numerous things which the lack of evi
dence makes it impossible either to affirm or to
deny. ? The probabilities as to metal applique's are
discussed on p. 44, n. 5.

GREEK PERIOD. MATERIALS

41

Wooden couches were probably sometimes beautified by veneers of finer Veneers of w
woods, such as box.1
At least as early as the fifth century, there were couches in the construction Metal as the
of which metal was extensively used. The most satisfactory evidence for this,
especially since it is of contemporary date, is in Thucydides.2 We are told that
after the siege of Platasa (427 B. C.) beds were made of bronze and iron3 and
dedicated to Hera. Thirteen kKivuv 7rdSes irrdpyvpoi are cited, for the first time
in the year 434-33 B. C.,4 in the lists of the treasures kept in the Parthenon. The
earliest Greek bed made principally out of metal, parts of which have come down
to us, is the one found in the Crimea,5 dating from about the middle of the third
century B. C. Very important constructional parts of this, viz., the legs and the
curved uprights of the head-rest, are of bronze.6 The original horizontal frame
and the portion of the head-rest between the uprights which have perished were
of wood. Of the same general type is the bronze bed from Priene.7 A youth of
the town of Paphus is described by Clearchus of Soli8 (time of Alexander) as reclin
ing in excessive luxury upon a couch with silver legs. At one of the accession
festivities of Ptolemy Philadelphus one hundred "golden couches" were in use.9
The two passages last referred to, the existence of two specimens made largely of
1 The evidence in regard to veneers is given in Nothing analogous to the modern metal bedstead,
Blumner, Technologie, II, p. 328. Cf., however, having its component parts entirely of metal and,

Svoronos-Barth, Das Athener National Museum,
Part II, p. 52, where ap.(pUo\\oi. irapairii-ivoi. \Iiapd-
xu|oi? But the two words do not form a single
expression in ancient writers.] is associated with a
metal clothing of wooden furniture.
* III, 68, 3. Pliny (N. H., XXXIV, 2, 9)
makes a statement which would be very important
if we knew that he had based it on good authority,
but unfortunately we do not know that. He says
that the bronze of Delos became famous very early,
and that it was first used for the legs and rests of
couches before figures of gods, men, and animals
were ever made of it. The interest of Pliny's
information is that it implies a continuous and
considerable output of bronze parts of couches
beginning at a much earlier date than that of the
isolated instance of couch-making out of metal
reported by Thucydides. In the account of the
property left by Demosthenes's father, it is not
clear whether the bronze and iron enumerated
were for exclusive use in the knife factory, or whether
some of it was employed in the production of beds.
3 Silence in regard to wood in this passage
cannot be taken as implying its entire absence.

in consequence, of slighter proportions and of
distinctly metallic patterns, existed in antiquity.
Some pieces of Assyrian furniture, in part preserved
and now in the British Museum (e. g., Fig. 39),
presented a surface of metal, but their strength
was chiefly in the wood beneath. In the extant
specimens of Greek and Roman date metal is used
for some of the constructional parts as well as for
all the ornament, but it was found convenient to
retain a certain amount of wood, in particular the
timbers forming the rails.
4 /. G., I, p. 73, a), 13. Michaelis, Der Parthe
non, p. 296, I, hh, gives the number incorrectly as
twelve. 5 See p. 30.
6 One upright and parts of all four of the legs
have been preserved.
7 See p. 30.
8 Quoted in Athen., VI, 2556.
9 Athen., V, 1970, b. In view of this passage,
it is not improbable that Bion's fancy in describing
the couch of Adonis as "all of gold" (I, 67) was
influenced by something he had seen.

42

MATERIALS, TECHNIC, AND CENTERS OF MANUFACTURE

Technic

Rough Construc
tions

Fig. 23. — Detail from the scene " Theseus Slaying Procrustes.'
Red-figured vase.

metal, and especially the well-known general increase of luxury in Hellenistic
times, all are favorable to the view that metal was used much more lavishly on
couches after than before the time of Alexander.
The technic, more than any other division of this investigation, is beset with
difficulties. It is particularly with reference to construction that the representa
tions of couches on the monuments are
more or less ambiguous, incomplete,
and in some details inaccurate. It has
been pointed out that the stock of
extant Greek specimens is confined to
two couches of late date. The pas
sages referred to in the preceding para
graphs and others, as many as are
known to me, in which beds are men
tioned, do not yield anything decisive
about technic. Perhaps the problems
may be best approached by consider
ing the representations of a few beds
which seem to be typical of various grades of work. *
Beds entirely of wood and of the rudest workmanship are illustrated in Figs.
23 and 24. In Fig. 23 each leg is of one
block of wood (possibly from a tree branch
already of approximately the right size and
requiring only a little shaping with ax and
knife), and is oval or round in horizontal
section. The rails are single boards held
in place by tenons of rectangular shape;
these tenons pass entirely through the legs
and lie in a perpendicular direction in
accordance with the position of the rails,
which have their greatest thickness up and
down. In Fig. 24 the legs are again roughly
hewn out, but are probably four-sided.
The tenons are round. The uprights of
the headboard are in one piece with the legs, as modern chair backs and legs are
usually made; only here it seems probable, to judge by the generally rude appear
ance of the bed, that the natural bend of a branch has been utilized rather than
1 The illustrations are taken, unless otherwise implied, from the sixth and fifth centuries, for which
the evidence is most complete.

Fig. 24. — Detail from a red-figured vase-painting.-
ological Museum, Florence.

-Archa-

GREEK PERIOD. TECHNIC

43

A>

/

7

Fig. 25. — Couch from a red-figured vase. — British
Museum.

that the curve was bent or tooled out of a straight piece of wood. One or two
rails probably connect the uprights above the. seat-level. There is nothing to
indicate whether the side-rails and end-rails are cylindrical or rectangular. The
legs of these and of some other Greek couches are more than ordinarily thick
at the top as contrasted with the bottom — a feature which exists probably to give
sufficient strength just at the part which must
be twice cut through to accommodate the
tenons of the side-rails and end-rails. These
tenons must, of course, lie at different levels,
and this is often evident on the monuments
{cf. Fig. 8 and Plate I) ; careless drawing must
be held accountable for instances in vase-
paintings where this does not seem to be
possible. The bed in Fig. 25 appears to be built up piank Constmc-
of eight planks, four for the supports and as tions
many for the rails. It gives the impression
of a rough structure; however, if made of good material, a considerable amount of
technical skill in the way of accurate cutting and fine finish might be expended
even on such a plain bed. It presents a constructional puzzle very frequent in
the representations of Greek couches; that is, there is no apparent provision for
holding the piece of furniture
steady; the height is great, the
rails are not very wide, and there
are no braces extending from head
to foot above the floor. In this
instance, as often, the legs are let
or mortised into blocks at the
ground level. If these blocks rep
resent the ends of timbers between
the legs at the short sides of the
bed, the latter is, indeed, strength
ened in the crosswise direction,
but not in its length. Possibly,
therefore, the blocks or braces in
question are to be thought of as
fastened, either permanently or in some removable way, to the floor. The couches
would then be braced in all directions and have a firmer stand.
Fig. 26 is illustrative of a much better wooden construction. The legs are

Fig. 26. — The slaying, upon the return of Odysseus, of the suitors of
Penelope. Detail from a vase-painting. — Berlin,

44 MATERIALS, TECHNIC, AND CENTERS OF MANUFACTURE
rectangular in plan, or possibly have the corners rounded off, and taper with a
slightly concave profile downward. Those at the foot are in one piece. The
legs at the head give the effect of one member, but in the process of making probably
the ornamented top has been mortised down upon the legs proper, which below this
point are just like those at the foot. The couch is well designed for strength; it
is not too high, and the rails are wide enough to give a firm hold at the line of junc
ture with the legs. A second end-rail higher up between the capitals probably
forms the support of mattress and pillow. z The parts of the couch are put together
by invisible mortises and tenons. The wood we may suppose to be one of the
better varieties, thoroughly rubbed with shark skin2 to produce a smooth surface,
and perhaps stained.3 The ornament may be carved as in Fig. 43, inlaid or applied
in ivory,4 or executed in bronze repousse.5
Among the most elaborate wooden couches is the style shown in Fig. 27. It
has the same constructional weakness remarked in the bed of Fig. 25; viz., the
absence of braces in the long direction, despite the great height and the narrowness
of the side-rail. Further the deep incisions into the legs reduce their strength.6
The first weakness makes the last more dangerous, for the narrow part of the legs
could sustain a large amount of dead weight when they would break under cross
strains such as unsteadiness in the couch would produce. The similar couch
1 No end-view of a bed of this precise design mented in this way. Yet no pieces from beds have
exists, but cf. Fig. 9. been recognized among extant bronzes. In Schu-
2 Used by the Greeks and Romans for the macher, p. 48, No. 270, and Plate VI, 3, are bits of
purposes now served by sandpaper and pumice repousse" which show designs akin to these capitals,
stone.— Blumner, Technologie, II, p. 330. although too small to have been used on beds. It is
, rm. ¦ iv, , ^ , ,, j r perhaps questionable whether only such a part of a
3 There is little known as to Greek methods of \ , . , , , , ,
r ... , . _ r _... ,, , structure as these capitals would have been covered
finishing woodwork. Professor Blumner states that . , . ™
t, . . , , ,, .... , , .i, with metal. Chests, etc., were apparently covered

there is no evidence for the polishing of woods with
a regular varnish, although it would seem that
something of the kind must have been done; oil and
wax were used to some extent on small objects.
See Technologie, II, p. 330. Stains were sometimes

over in their entirety to give the effect of a metal
object. Cf. what is said on p. 51 of the possible
existence of beds entirely encased in metal. One
other possibility may be mentioned in this connec
tion, i. e., that wooden couches may sometimes have
employed, for in the passage from Demosthenes, , x , .,, , , ,. , . . . , ,
, , . r , , • • r , been ornamented with metal appliques in which the
already twice referred to, there is mention of kt/kIs. , . ^ . . . , ,
, , .' , , , design was cut out, leaving open spaces instead of
Since the word occurs in the singular, it probably ,• • ,. ,. , , _ ,
, , , being impressed in a solid sheet. Such extant
denotes a prepared stain, rather than the raw . v t - • • ,
. , ,, , , , , , bronze appliques a -jour are comparatively rare,
material, nut-galls. It no doubt produced a black ,. „ , , . „, .. xr , '
. , . . , . but see early examples in Olympia, Vol. IV,
color, as in the case of stains used m modern cabinet- TrrTT,™„v„T„T,„, n- u ™ ^ vt j
' Furtwangler, Die Bronzen, Plate XL and p.
work which have nut-galls among their ingredients. T„Q „„ j„ XT „ , rt.,
° ° 6 108 under No. 733, and a fifth-century piece given
4 See P- 46, n. 3. in the tailpiece of chap. 2.
s Applique's of strips or surfaces of bronze from 6 Professor Bliimner's view that the enlargements
chests, chariots, small caskets, and various other in the middle strengthen this narrow connecting-
objects have been preserved. It seems therefore pos- piece is incomprehensible (see p. 73, n. 1). The
sible that wooden beds were also sometimes orna- legs are no stronger than their weakest point.

GREEK PERIOD. TECHNIC

45

shown in Plate I is therefore not only less likely, in consequence of its wide rails, to
pull apart, but is less liable to break at the narrow parts of the legs, because the
latter have mainly downward pressures to endure. In Fig. 43 also the same type
of bed is represented. Here the bed is lower and the side-rail wider, so that the one
serious weakness, the cutting out of the legs, does not seem to make it a dangerous
construction. The terra-cottas showing this feature in the round are valuable
proof that the vase-paintings on which these beds occur so frequently are to be
trusted in this particular, and that the legs when so represented1 are to be thought of

Fig. 27.— Heracles reclining upon a dining-couch, attended by Hermes, Athena, and a serving-lad. Vase-painting in the
style of Andocides. — Munich.
as actually cut out. The Tobey Furniture Company of Chicago was so kind as to
undertake at my request to test the constructional feasibility of these beds as pic
tured in the black-figured vase-paintings. Under the direction of the head of their
Decorating Department, the late Mr. Twyman, a large working drawing, such as
would be sent to their factory for execution, was prepared from the vase-painting
given in Fig. 27. This drawing is reproduced here in Plate II. The reader has
1 Some vase-paintings, on the other hand, with legs on which the design had a surface indica-

have the vertical lines of the legs unbroken (here
headpiece of chap. 1, Girard, Fig. 4388 = Over-
beck, Atlas der Kunst-Mythologie, Plate VI, 2 and
3; Wien. Vorlegebl., 1889, Plate XI, 4=Mon. d. I.,
Vol. VI, Plate XIV), and the palmettes and curves
more or less carelessly indicated on these rectangular
legs. This may be a mere cursory rendering of the
normal type, or there may also have been couches

tion without being actually carved out. Certainly
this last was the case at an early and at a late period
in the history of this type, for the early bed repre
sented in Fig. 4 is far too carefully painted to be
interpreted otherwise than literally, and such
related late designs as the terra-cotta given in the
frontispiece clearly do not have the straight down
ward lines of the legs interrupted.

46 MATERIALS, TECHNIC, AND CENTERS OF MANUFACTURE
thus the opportunity of seeing what the ancient picture suggested to a person
technically trained with regard to the strains which wood will endure and all the
details of modern furniture construction. Important features of the drawing,
such as the depth of the side-rails and end-rails and the design of the legs, are
guaranteed by the vase-painting. Others — the specifications for the interlacing
and for the execution of the ornament in ivory, likewise the extension as braces of
the blocks seen under the legs in the vase-painting, and the exact form of the rail
serving as headboard — are not to be proved directly by the ancient picture of Fig.
27, but were supplied by Mr. Twyman with great discretion and a high degree of
probability in accordance with what can be learned otherwise about Greek beds.
The width of the narrow part of the legs was increased sufficiently in the working
drawing to insure against breakage at that point. The design of Fig. 27 has thus
been pronounced by a competent authority not a constructional impossibility, and
the variance of the vase decorator from facts is therefore not necessarily great, con
sisting, it may be, ' chiefly in an exaggeration of the narrowness of the legs at their
weakest point. This is not to assert, however, that the bed is a strong and com
mendable construction. To attempt further to make this design vivid to us we
may imagine it executed in one of the fine dark woods mentioned by Theophrastus,
terebinth or persea,2 and inlaid with ivory,3 as is suggested in the working drawing.
The two rich materials, one dark the other white, would produce a handsome and
striking piece of furniture.
A later wooden construction is reproduced in the terra-cotta of the frontispiece.
1 Mr. Twyman accepted the apparent shortness older method for such open designs as the palmettes
of the couch as depicted in the vase-painting. Cf. and stars on furniture.
PP- 37> 3^. Certainly, however, applied ornament continued
2 See p. 39, n. 6. long in use in the kindred technic of wood. Cf.
3 1 prefer to think of the pattern in this case as the doweling to a ground of low-relief carvings a jour
inlaid rather than applied to the supports. Inlays of wood, illustrated in extant sarcophagi, dating as
are more durable, especially where designs are late as the fourth century B. C, which have been
composed of so many small separate elements as found in southern Russia. Solid carvings of wood
these. Professor Blumner expresses the opinion of the same time and provenience are known, which
(Technologie, II, p. 365) that the riveting of patterns also were applied to a ground. See p. 47, n. 1.
cut out of ivory to a surface preceded the technic Probably the veneering of greater or lesser
of inlaying; but the development of the art of inlaying surfaces with ivory was always practiced. With
must have followed in very early times. Inlaying the employment of glue for inlaying perhaps came
wood with ivory was practiced in Egypt in the New in its use also for applied ornament. Ivory veneers
Empire, as numerous extant specimens show, and consisting of thin bits which were fastened by glue
metal was very skilfully inlaid in the Mycenaean to a wooden ground came to supplement, although
period. It does not seem possible that the art of not entirely to banish, the more primitive method
inlaying could have been so completely lost as to have of attaching heavier pieces by doweling. See in
been unfamiliar to the Greeks of the early sixth regard to couches almost completely veneered with
century. A priori one would suppose that inlaying, ivory pp. 52 and 55.
when once understood, would have supplanted the I am able at the last to add a reference to extant

GREEK PERIOD. TECHNIC

47

There are two rails the long way of the bed which are paneled up at the back. The
tapestry represented as thrown over the couch and hanging down at the ends hides
the construction there, and the back of the terra-cotta is not finished. The other
long side of the couch, however, must be thought of as having rails corresponding
to those of the front, although very likely not ornamented. The ends of the couch
may be without braces. The decoration consists of three kinds of carving. The
pillars have the pattern sunk into their surface, the ornament above the frame of
the bed is in low relief, and the panel in the front rail has high-relief decoration, in
which each figure is to be understood as carved out of a separate piece of wood and
fastened with wooden dowels to the background. The couch is painted lavishly
with red, blue, and white, and has some gilding.1
In the wooden constructions which have been thus far under consideration, with
the exception of the first two rude beds, the material used for the legs is in the form
of planks.2 These then determine the character of the legs, which exhibit in all
cases a rectangular form, wide and not very deep. They are varied, indeed, by
incisions as in Fig. 27 and Plate I, surface carving as in the frontispiece, or a slight
curving of their outlines as in Fig. 26; but are all nevertheless elaborations of an
original plain structure of planks, as shown in Fig. 25.

stars of ivory from Gordion in Asia Minor, which
are identical in form with those seen in ancient
pictures of furniture. They were attached to a
wooden sarcophagus of the sixth century — this the
most flourishing period of the beds with incised legs
on which such stars appear — and from the cut of
the bits of ivory composing them are thought to
have been inlaid rather than applied. See G. and
A. Korte, Gordion: Ergebnisse der Ausgrabung im
Jahre iqoo (Jahrb., fiinftes Erganzungsheft), pp.
114, 116, Figs. 93 and 94.
1 Analogies to the technic of this couch may be
found in extant woodwork from southern Russia,
for example the painted and gilded sarcophagus
with applied wood-carvings described and figured in
the Compte-rendu, Text 1882, pp. XXIII-XXV,
supplemental volume, 1882-88, pp. 48-75; vol
ume of plates, 1882-83, Plates III; IV; V, 2,
4-9, 14-18. A great deal of light would be thrown
on the subject of Greek cabinet-work of the fourth
century and later, and incidentally therefore on
the technic of Greek wooden couches, by a study
of the various wooden sarcophagi from southern
Russia and Egypt. Some idea of the technical
processes represented in their ornament may be
gained from my list of extant pieces in the Jahrb.,

Vol. XVII (1902), pp. 137 ff. The entire absence
of any traces of metal applique's is striking. Inlay
ing, wood-carving in low and in high relief, out of
one piece of wood or of separate pieces attached to
a ground, and finally painting and gilding, are
represented. The publication, which is promised
for the near future, of the sarcophagi found by the
German Orientgesellschaft at Abusir, will no doubt
be a very valuable contribution to our knowledge
of Greek work in wood.
' If the reader has any doubts on this point, let
him look further at very early and very late repre
sentations of incised legs and at other related late
designs. The legs of the chair of one of the statues
from Branchidas in the British Museum, (A. H.
Smith, Catalogue of Sculpture in the Department of
Greek and Roman Antiquities, Vol. I, p. 20, No. 13)
show a depth of not more than half their width.
In late red-figured vase-paintings (cf. here Fig. 52)
and Pompeian wall-decorations (Real museo bor-
bonico, Vol. V, Plate XVII, and Vol. XI, Plate
XL VII) are seen chairs with the legs drawn at such
an angle that their comparative thinness is evident.
The same characteristic is made clear by many
small bronzes (see tailpiece, chap. 4, and Cat. des
bronzes ant. de la Bibl. nat., p. 9, No. 17).

48

MATERIALS, TECHNIC, AND CENTERS OF MANUFACTURE

Turned Work Other Greek couches, however, have legs made of blocks of wood rather than
of planks; these are the turned forms. Side by side with plank constructions from
the earliest period are beds which show the use of the lathe.
The design given in Fig. 28 is portrayed in vase-paintings, fortunately in both
end- and side-views. The legs are turned each from a single piece of wood. The
head-rest seems to be composed of the following parts: (1) turned posts which are
mortised down upon the legs; (2) three framing pieces, a cross-rail which surmounts

Fig. 28. — Banquet-scene. On a vase signed by Duris. — British Museum.
the posts, and two side-pieces of concave curve which are mortised above into the
cross-rail of the head-rest and below into the side-rails of the bed; (3) within this
frame a curved filling which consists perhaps of a number of slats of wood close
together, mortised into the uprights at each side, for so large a curved surface, if
carved out of one block, would be heavier than the appearance of the couch other
wise warrants us to assume.1 The entire structure gives the impression of being
very light and portable, and, as a matter of fact, in one vase-painting a man is rep
resented carrying on his back2 such a bed and also a table.

1 We have no reason to attribute to the Greeks
acquaintance with the "gluing on" and bending
processes by means of which such a curved rest
would be produced today. There seems no room to
doubt, on comparing the few other representations of
couches of this style, that the head-rest is filled in
solid, although couches of other types often have
bars across leaving open spaces (see p. 33).

2 P. Gardner, Greek Vases in the Ashmolean
Museum, No. 282, Plate 10. This may indicate
that in beds of the style in question the tenons are
glued into the mortises and the beds are incapable
of being taken apart. It would seem as if heavier
beds must be constructed so as to come apart for
moving, and, indeed, one interesting proof of this,
on a red-figured hydria in the Boston Museum of

GREEK PERIOD. TECHNIC

49

Detail from a

We may understand the heavier, more elaborate, turned patterns shown in
Figs. 2, 5, 6, 7, and 8, either as made of one block of wood or, for economy in the
use of wood, as of separately turned pieces mortised or doweled together. Fig. 8
shows a normal and practical turned design, running a little slender toward the
bottom perhaps, but not impossibly weak. In Figs. 2 and 5, however, there is the
same puzzling contrast of very thin
and very thick parts which has been
encountered in the incised, rectangular
legs. Perhaps clumsy and inaccurate
drawing on the part of the vase-
painter is in some degree responsible
for the apparent weakness of these
constructions, or, in the case in Fig.
2, the lower heavy members may be
separate pieces, into which the legs
proper are let, as has been suggested
for other couches (Figs. 25 and 27).
So far as these vase-paintings are literal renderings of contemporary beds, that
same feeling or artistic standard, whatever it may be, which leads to the cutting
out of the rectangular legs, must be held accountable in the case of the turned
legs, for their slenderness of form, giving them a weak appearance.
The later turned pattern which appears in Fig. 29 shows only slight variations
of its horizontal dimensions, and is eminently practical. The couches with turned
legs have occasional ornament, which may be thought of as inlaid, carved, or simply
painted. In the earlier couches the ornament is very slight, being confined to the
legs. With the coming in of wide side-rails it is increased. Such couches as the
one in Fig. 29 have many analogies in chairs having wide rails.1 I believe that
these pictures commonly represent painted furniture. There are tendril designs,
similar to that seen in Fig. 29 (unfortunately not very clear here) and elsewhere
on furniture, on some of the extant wooden sarcophagi from Abusir;2 these are
merely painted, and because of its comparative cheapness the use of paint would
probably be very common.

Fig. 29. — The body of Archemorus lying in state.
red-figured vase-painting. — Naples.

Fine Arts (Twenty -Eighth Annual Report for the
Year 1903, p. 71, No. 57), may be mentioned. A
scene from a satyric drama is pictured, and mem
bers of the chorus are seen bringing the legs and a
part of the frame of a chair or couch which had
rectangular, incised legs. I have not seen the vase
and cannot attempt to say what the piece of furni
ture is, but if a chair rather than couch, it is no less
probable that also couches of this style would be

commonly taken down and set up at will. My atten
tion was kindly called to this vase by Mr. B. H. Hill,
assistant curator of the Classical Department of the
Boston Museum.
1 Wien. Vorlegebl., Serie E, Plates IV, V, and
VI, 2 and in other late red-figured vase-paintings.
2 See p. 47, n. 1.

50 MATERIALS, TECHNIC, AND CENTERS OF MANUFACTURE
Metal Technic The starting-point for the consideration of metal technic must be the two
s« also p. 44, extant beds. It has been stated above what parts have had to be supplied of wood
and what are of metal (p. 41). The legs are made up of hollow castings, imitating
turned work, which, at least in the case of the couch from Priene, have been retouched
on the lathe. These were soldered into one another, and may have been further
strengthened by invisible iron or wooden rods passing through the castings from
the frame to the floor. ± The wooden frames are ornamented and protected at the
corners by casings of metal. In the St. Petersburg bed the metal uprights of the
rests (except for the framing, which has been lost) are cast in one piece, in which
respect they are unusual. In the bed from Priene, as in many later examples
{cf. Plates IX, X, XIII, and XIV, and p. 100), the uprights consist each of four
parts, cast separately; these are in this instance a horse's head which forms the
upper termination of the upright, a medallion now lost which was the lower termi
nation, a frame of moldings to which both were attached, and decoration now lost
that filled in the frame between the two extremities. The restoration of the wooden
part of the rests following the curve of the metal uprights seems the natural one,
but, in view of the ancient testimony for open rails on couches of this type (see p.
33), may not be correct. There is no evidence known to me to justify the rails
supplied between the legs of the couch from Priene at about half their height. The
earliest of these extant couches, as has been said, dates from about the middle of
the third century B. C. It seems impossible to know when beds of this sort were
first made. The design is traceable on the monuments in occasional representa
tions back into the fifth century, and other still earlier turned forms might con
ceivably have been executed in metal castings.2
1 Cf. the examples of such strengthening rods than of wood, as has been assumed above, they
from beds of bone found at Ancona (p. 55 and n. 9). would necessarily have been hollow-cast, for solid
Professor Pernice is of the opinion that legs made up castings would have been too heavy and hammered
of separate castings would perhaps be strong enough work too weak. It is not perhaps impossible that
without a metal or wooden core (Jahrb., Vol. XV the Greeks should have hollow-cast the legs of couches
[1900], Anz., p. 179). at the beginning of the sixth century. An Egyptian
2 The legs of the extant beds are translations of bronze statuette which is hollow-cast exists from
wooden forms into metal, yet show metallic influence the New Empire (Erman, Life in Ancient Egypt,
in that the narrow parts are narrower and the p. 461) and a few small parts from furniture, found at
spreading parts more spreading than would be nat- Nineveh are also cast hollow (Perrot and Chipiez,
ural in wood. If one attempts to apply this criterion Vol- H, Chaldee et Assyrie, p. 726), and the passage
to vase-paintings, one finds that the early representa- in Pliny is m favor of the view (see P- 4i, n. 2). On
tions of these couches are to all appearances those the other hand, the greater part of the Assyrian
of wooden structures. In Fig. 44 it will be seen metal applied to furniture was hammered work,
that there is less difference between the wider and attached by rivets. It does not seem probable that
the narrower parts than one would expect to see if hollow-casting was practiced in Greece so early.
the intention had been to represent a metal couch. Among extant Greek bronzes of early date, repousse'
On the other hand, the early turned work discussed work prevails, and the indications are that the
in the previous paragraph suggests metal in the hollow-casting of statues was only beginning to be
thinness of the legs at certain points. If the couches practiced in the archaic period of Greek sculpture.
represented in Figs. 2 and 5 had been of metal rather

GREEK PERIOD. TECHNIC S1
In the Hellenistic period, however, we are upon somewhat surer ground. It
seems probable that the technic represented in the two preserved beds was the
chief, perhaps the only, method of using metal extensively in making couches at
this time. I base this statement mainly on the prevalence after the reign of Alex
ander of representations of beds having curved rests and supports made up largely
or entirely of turned members. These far outnumber any other designs, and
there are indications that they were very frequently made in large part of metal,1
like the extant beds. There is nothing to show the structure of the couch with
silver legs upon which the young man of Paphus reclined. But the one hundred
"golden" couches of Ptolemy Philadelphus which are described as o-(£iyy6VoSes
probably were of the design shown in Fig. 30. 2 And if so, we may think of them
perhaps as having legs made in small parts fitted into one another and of a baser
metal gilded or plated with gold, unless it is possible that these parts consisted of
gold only, sufficiently alloyed to be durable.
It cannot be proved whether or not the Greeks produced beds converted by
applications to an appearance of metal, like the Assyrian furniture -known to us
through preserved specimens. If such work was done at all, since it is an older
technic than casting, it would probably have been more frequent before than
during the Hellenistic period. The metal might have been of fairly heavy plates
hammered into shape (forge work), or of thinner sheets worked in a cold state with
designs in repousse. The Greeks may well have been familiar with such work on
beds. It seems probable that the gold and silver couches of the Persian general
Mardonius3 and the thirteen k\lv£>v 7ro8e? iirdpyvpoi of the Parthenon treasure
were of wood covered with plating of the precious metals. Whether the Plataean
beds were of such work, or like the couches from southern Russia and Priene in
their construction, is entirely beyond our ken. Besides the couches with curved
rests, it would be idle to speculate as to what other designs, if any, were thus executed
in large part of metal.
1 A large class of these couches has crouching date exists of the design executed in bronze, i. e.,
sphinxes and other non-turned members introduced the "Capitoline Bisellium" (see p. 32, n. 6).
into the design of the legs. Such couches (Fig. 30) 2 Cf. p. 112, n. 27.
do not look like purely wooden structures even in 3 Herod., IX, 80-82. It seems safe to assume
origin. It would be unnatural partly to carve and that when mention is made of a gold, silver, or
partly to turn one piece of wood, and, in cases where ivory couch or part of a couch, the object really had
the representations are sufficiently good to permit the appearance of being of the material in question,
any opinion on this point, the turned parts, too, and was not merely inlaid with it or adorned with
seem to show metallic feeling. Therefore, I con- scattered ornaments of it. Herodotus calls the same
sider these designs eclectic creations, the separate couches in one paragraph (82) xpvo-iat Kal dpyvpias ;
elements of which go back to wooden technic, but in the other (80), iirixpio-ovs Kal iirapyipovs, which last
the present combination of which was invented for words are thought to refer to plating (Bockh, Die
work in metal. At least one example of Roman Staatshaushaltung der Aihener 3, Vol. II, p. 148).

52

MATERIALS, TECHNIC, AND CENTERS OF MANUFACTURE

Technic of ivory It remains only to mention another method of producing the designs with
curved rests and turned legs, which was probably practiced in the Hellenistic
period, if not earlier. I refer to the almost complete veneering of a wooden frame

Fig. 30. — Small terra-cotta. — National Museum, Athens.

with thin bits of ivory, so that the result was a couch presenting a semblance of
having at least many of its parts of solid ivory. This was certainly done later, as
we shall see, and it would seem very probable that, like the metal technic exempli-

GREEK PERIOD. CENTERS OF MANUFACTURE S3
fied in the two Hellenistic couches, which was very popular in Roman times, it
too had a non-Roman origin. It seems to me possible that the following lines by
Plato, the comic poet (quoted Athen., II, 48a, b), refer to couches of this sort:
kcW ev Kklvais iXefjjavToirocnv1 Kal crTpcofiaat. Tropcj>vpo/3dTrToi<;
kclv (froiviicicn 1,ap8ia/caio-Lv Koafir]crdp,evoL KardiceLVTai.
Again, .^Elian {Var. Hist., XII, 29), quoting Tima?us (about 352-256 B. C), says
of the Agrigentines : Kal eXe^avTivas kXCvcls el^ov okas. This is clearly an
exaggeration. It would be impossible to make rails of ivory only, and it is doubt
ful if the legs of couches would be stfong enough unless there were a combination
of other material with the ivory in their construction. 2 The most natural conclusion
is that the beds were of wood extensively veneered and decorated with carvings
of ivory.3 It is not improbable, therefore, that the beds of the Agrigentines referred
to in the quotation above were of the curved-rest type with legs of turned patterns.
Only twenty couch-makers were at work in the shop belonging to Demos- Centers of Mar,
thenes's father. There must have been countless similar small establishments ladure
throughout the Greek world to produce the necessary supply of such every
day articles as beds. This is, indeed, suggested by a passage in Plato, where the
philosopher wishing in an illustration to use some typical craftsman selects the
maker of couches.4 By chance we hear something of the furniture industry in
Sparta. The articles produced, chairs and tables as well as beds, were practical,
plain, and very well made.5 However, while common Greek couches were doubt
less locally made,6 there was probably a certain amount of traffic in beds. Xeno-
1 See following note. beds were associated in the process of manufacture.
2 In the Egyptian department of the Royal Apparently the slaves of Demosthenes's father did
Museums at Berlin are two furniture legs (Verz. not also make chairs, or the fact would have been
der dgypt. Altert.,2 p. 33, No. 14, no.) which, when mentioned. The passage in Plato is favorable to
entire, consisted each of four pieces of ivory dove- the view that couch-making was a distinct trade
tailed together and further secured by thongs of &om chair-making. On the other hand, beds
leather. Their height is 22.5 cm.; it is not prob- very frequently had the same sort of legs as chairs.
able, however, that the couches of the Agrigentines The earlier Greek couches, in fact, are little
would have been so low as this; the amount of more than enlarged stools ; that is, they consist
splicing necessary to produce out of only ivory a merely of four legs, similar to the four legs of con-
higher support renders it improbable that they temporary stools, connected by sufficiently long rails
would have been sufficiently strong if made after to give dimensions for accomodating a person in a
the manner of the Egyptian examples. reclining position. The addition of a head-rest,
3 This is the view held by M. Girard, who asso- when that came in> did not chanSe the character of
ciates then with the Roman beds of bone to be dis- the couches othe™lse- II seems a plausible theory,
cussed later. See Girard, p. 1020. therefore, that m all these cases of similarity between
j? a h v f.h h t^le ^e^s °^ cnairs and couches the legs would have
V ¦> j 59 597 • been made up in large quantities and in various sizes,
5 Ato Kal rb. irpbXeipa rwv OKevwv Kal dvaymla TaOra, and then have been put together with an addit;on 0f
KXiVTijpes Kal Sl<ppoL Kal rpdire^L, ^Xr^ra ™P' airols railS; interlacing, etc., as chairs, stools, or beds in the
i8Wiovpyefro, Kal /o6<W 6 Aa^^ris eidod^ MdWro same or in another workshop. Turned legs in partial
is ras o-rparelas, & ^01 Kpirtas, Plut. Lycurg. 9= lar might well have been prodUced in one establish-
Critias, fragm. 26 (p. 95, ed. Bach). ment and the cabinet-work proper of setting the
6 It is a question how closely chairs, stools, and pieces of furniture together have been done in another.

54

MATERIALS, TECHNIC, AND CENTERS OF MANUFACTURE

phon saw some couches in the region of Salmydessus on the Black Sea which were
part of the wreckage of Greek merchant ships.1 We learn from Critias2 that two
kinds of beds were especially famous in the fifth century — those of Miletus and those
of Chios. A certain number of both styles was included in the Parthenon treas
ure;3 there were also some Milesian beds in the household property of Alcibiades.4
If these were of a single distinct design and the design is known to us, it is prob
ably the one exhibiting deeply incised, rectangular legs.s
roman The earlier couches of Roman date apparently followed very closely Hellen-
Generai statement istic precedents in material and technic as in design. Among them were couches
m Regard to j t^ costliest materials, some imported, others suggested bv foreign models,6
Material and . ' " ' ,,..,,,'¦, f • ,
Technic but excelling, it may be, even anything the Hellenistic world had produced in the
extravagance of rich materials which they exhibited. With the development

1 Anab., VII, 5, 14.
* I, 5. Critias (fragm. i, 1. 5, p. 31, ed. Bach =
Athen., I, 286), mentioning various localities and
the things for which they were famous, says:
eivalov Si \^xom (*£0X°) KdWos %xel
MiXijros re X/os t' evakoi ir6\is OIvottIwvos.
There is yet another mention by Critias of these
beds in a fragment from his "Constitution of Lace-
daemon" (Athen., XI, 4866= Critias, fragm. 28, p.
95, ed. Bach).
kKLvt) MChi)a-u>vpy^s Kal SL<ppos MiX»;<7ioi/p7?Js, KKlvq
Xiovpyqs Kal rpdrefa '7ryywepy-qs.
3 Among the accessions of the year 434-3 to the
treasures kept in the Parthenon are eight KXivai
XiovpyeTs and ten KXTvai Mi\iio-i.ovpyeis, and these items
continue to appear in succeeding lists until after the
archonship of Euclides, when the Chian beds disap
pear and the number of Milesian beds is increased
to sixteen. Again, after the year 385-4 the Milesian
beds are reduced to ten, and are described as being
in need of repair.
4 Dittenberger, Sylloge Inscriptionum Grae-
carum,2 No. 44 and Wilhelm, Jahresh., Vol. VI
(i9°3)» PP- 236 ff-
- Rayet, Monuments antiques, article "Tom-
beau de Xanthos, dit monument des harpyes," p.
4, discussing the Harpy monument, calls the chair
with rectangular legs and incisions Milesian, and
the chair with turned legs Chian. There is no
defense of the view in the passage referred to nor
in any other of Rayet's writings known to me.
Professor Benndorf (Gjolbaschi - Trysa, p. 96),

and Professor Petersen following him (Ara Pacis
Augustae, p. 67, n. 1), also associate the Milesian
furniture with the style having rectangular legs
with incisions, but make no mention of Chian
beds. Unless these authorities have evidence
which has escaped my notice, the identification,
although a plausible hypothesis, cannot be called
obvious and indisputable. There is a fairly large
stock of couch and chair representations of the
fifth century, a greater variety really than for any
other period, and literary evidence shows that
Chian and Milesian furniture were especially
famous in the fifth century. There is then a pre
sumption that these styles would be included
in the couch representations on the monuments.
The elegance and richness of the couch with rec
tangular legs and incisions distinguish it from all
others as that most likely to have been highly
valued and the character of the design suggesting
Asiatic origin (elaborated in the chapter on "Style"
p. 73, n. 3) is favorable to the identification. Unfor
tunately there is no means of knowing whether
Chian and Milesian furniture were alike or not.
If they differed in design, as Rayet thought, the only
reason that I can see for calling the important style
with rectangular legs having incisions Milesian
rather than Chian lies in the greater prominence of
Miletus commercially. At least the fact that
Milesian stools as well as beds are mentioned in
literature, whereas we hear only of Chian beds, it
seems to me, is very likely to be accidental, and not
therefore significant on this point.
6 Plin., N. H., XXXIII, 144.

ROMAN PERIOD. MATERIALS 55
later of a back, the Roman couch became a much more complicated structure,
comparable technically with modern high-backed sofas. The production of
couches of luxury seems to have increased rather than abated in the late Roman
period. Wood not combined with other materials no doubt continued to be used con- Materials
siderably for common couches.1 Costly woods, probably in the form of veneers, Wood
were not unusual in expensive couches, although not employed to such an extreme
extent as for tables.3 Wood was also used for some or all of the constructional
parts of couches whose beauty and richness depended upon other materials.
If we may trust negative evidence, ivory had little use in the Roman period as ivory and Bone
an accessory material,3 that is to say, for inlays or otherwise in small quantities.
But so-called "ivory" couches, those, in all probability, which were veneered com
pletely or nearly so with ivory were very popular.4 The bones of horses and of
other animals were employed as a cheap substitute for ivory.
The use of tortoise shell on couches seems to have begun about ioo B. C.s Tortoise shell
Whether the introducer of the process learned it from the eastern world or some
one in Italy invented it does not appear. In two passages (the second derived,
however, from the first) it is implied that shell for this purpose was obtained from
India.6 A large part of the surface of the structures must have been covered to
warrant their being regularly called "tortoise-shell" couches.7 Silver, gold, and
jewels were at times combined with tortoise shell,8 but always, as far as literary
evidence shows, as secondary materials.
Iron was sometimes used as an invisible support within the legs of couches,9 iron
and possibly was otherwise employed in their manufacture.10
tSen., Ep., 17, 12. Willow and maple (prob- 4 Hor., Sat., II, 6, 103, speaks of couches of
ably one of the commoner sorts) are referred to by ivory among the objects to be seen in a rich man's
Oy., Met., VIII, 656-59, and Ep. ex Ponto, III, house; ivory couches were used at a dinner given to
3, 14. The couches which appear on the gravestones the pontiffs in the time of Julius Caesar (Macrob.,
of Roman soldiers from the second century on look Saturn., Ill, 13, n); Julius Caesar's funeral couch
for the most part to be entirely of wood. was of ivory (Suet., Iul., 84).
2 Mart., XIV, 85, and Pers., I, 52, 53. Besides s Plin., N. H., IX, 39; XXXIII, 144.
the fact that tables are much more frequently 6 Lucian, Asm., 621, and Apul., Met., X, 34.
mentioned in literature, it is evident from Mart., „ „ x, , ,. ^ . r
T„ ., , v •¦, ¦, t See tne lonS ust of references given by Mau,
IX, 59, 9, that it was not considered necessary for , „, J

the dining-couches and tables to match in material.

col. 371 . There are no passages known to me which
imply a sparing use of it as ornament.

3 There are no extant specimens of ivory inlays,
although inlaid work in metal of Roman date is „.lf**^ ^H' IO°' A' LUCIAN' Asin'' 6sl
not rare, and there are few passages which could

Mart., XII, 66, 5.

imply a sparing use of ivory. See, however, Cle- 9 -tiRizio, p. 451, rig. 18.
ment of Alexandria, Paedag., II, 3, p. 188, where IO I know no literary evidence for the use of iron
among things one should not desire couches with in the construction of beds during the Roman period.
silver legs, further adorned with ivory, are mentioned. The Museo delle Terme in Rome and the Musee

56 MATERIALS, TECHNIC, AND CENTERS OF MANUFACTURE
Bronze There are a few references in literature1 to bronze beds, but the many sur
viving parts of beds with bronze attachments are better testimony to the large use
of the product in this way. It was usually enriched with inlays of silver and often
also with inlays of copper.
The Precious "Gold" and "silver" couches came into notice in Italy about the same time
Metals w^j1 those of tortoise shell. 2 Yet they did not perhaps become very general articles
of luxury until about the beginning of the Christian era.3 The terms "gold" and
"silver" thus used are probably to be understood in a way analogous to "ivory"
and "tortoise shell;" that is, as denoting couches whose visible surfaces were
nearly or quite covered with plating or washes of the precious metals.4 After the
beginning of the second century A. D. there were instances of couches of solid
silver.5 Both silver and gold found constant subsidiary use in enriching other
materials.6
jewels Finally couches were even adorned with jewels.7
Technic The technic of two classes of early Roman couches is illustrated in extant
Early Period specimens. I refer to the various bronze and bone parts of couches scattered in
the museums of Europe and the United States. Hitherto unpublished specimens
in bronze are given in Plates VIII-XIX, and details in regard to them in Section I
of the Supplementary Matter. For the general facts as to the construction of these
Bronze Couches beds see under the Greek period, pp. 41 and 50.
Only recently has the construction of couches of bone been better under-
Couches of Bone stood. The first specimen to attract attention, one found at Norcia, was put
together by Pasqui without reference to other monumental evidence.8 The bed
from Orvieto which is published here (Plates XX-XXVI) was apparently restored
de St. Germain possess folding stools of iron, and gold-room of the Louvre is a folding stool from
there is another in private possession in England Ostia, of iron plated with silver. This suggests
(formerly in the Forman Collection; see the Sale that the Roman silver couches like the bone ones
Catalogue, p. 232). Since these other articles of may at least have had an iron core in the legs.
furniture were made of iron, it is not impossible s Digest, XXXIII, 10,9, 1; Hist. Aug. Vit.Elag.,
that iron was sometimes used for the parts of beds. 2o 4.
1 E. g., Juv., XI, 98; Plin., N. H., XXXIV, 6 See the end of the preceding paragraph, also
14; Liv., XXXIX, 6. under "tortoise shell."
2 Plin., N. H., XXXIII, 144. 7 Lucan, X. 310, 126; Mart., XII, 66, 5; Digest,
XXXIII, 10, 3, 3; possibly also Sen., Ep., no, 12.
3 Ibid., 146, and for a public banquet in the xrT ,. ,, iL . ,„ , ,..
' 7 ' . * ^ 8 He himself states this (Pasqui, col. 236):
,,™ , , ,„ /?',. \ "Proposta la ricostruzione di quel letto .... si
silver, couches were used (Suet., Cahe., 1.2). _ . , ., , , ,,, , .
0 ' ° ' penso nsolvere u problema collesame stesso del
+ From the last passage referred to in the pre- frammenti e sopratutto coi rapporti di dimensione,
ceding note it is clear that silver was sometimes in piuttosto che cogli esempi di klinai e di letti funebri,
the form of removable plates. Cf. on this point che pitture parietali e vasculari, sculture e ceramiche
also Mart., IX, 22, 6. Mart., VIII, 33, 6, sug- decorate di rilievi in copia grandissima ci presen-
gests exceedingly thin plating or foil. In the tano."

ROMAN PERIOD. TECHNIC 57
in accordance with the one from Norcia.1 In 1902 in tombs near Ancona remains
of beds of bone were found and were recognized by Signor Brizio, who published
them,2 to be of the design rendered familiar by the Pompeian beds of wood com
bined with bronze. One of these couches has been put together: the restoration
appears to me questionable in only one important point; namely that the legs at
about half their height have been braced by rails on all sides of the bed.3 Signor
Brizio refers to the Norcia bed, without, however, pointing out (if he recognized the
fact) that it ought to be restored like the one from Ancona, after the design of the
Pompeian couch. The Norcia bed is fully discussed by Dr. Graeven,4 who gives
a photographic view of it and publishes with very instructive comments a large
number of other fragments from beds of bone or ivory. He points out that the
medallions, and the moldings of bone framing them in their present situation on the
rails of the bed {cf. Plate XX), are parts of fulcra and that the slant given to the frame
from the bottom outward is unwarranted; he accepts, however, the width of the
rails and the placing of the lions' masks at the corners. This last seems to me open
to grave doubts. The narrow rails of the restored Ancona bed are made to con
form to the Pompeian design. The greater width of those of the Norcia and
Orvieto couches is determined by the dimensions of the lions' masks and the figures
in relief (see Plate XX) which it is assumed must have adorned them. But it is
strange that in general these couches should have conformed to the type which seems
to have been the prevailing one in the late Greek and early Roman periods, and yet
differ from it in this one important particular. The bed published in the frontis
piece has, indeed, a wide rail with high relief ornaments, but it is of an entirely
different type. In all the numerous representations of beds with turned legs and
curved fulcra there is not a single one known to me showing wide rails and orna
ment in relief, nor is one to be found among the bronze survivals from such couches.
Therefore, until monumental evidence in support of such a restoration is found,
it appears to me safer to doubt the attribution of a given bone carving to a given
1 Reference is made in the documents accom- manufactured merely for the tomb, as Pasqui sug-
panying this bed when it came into the possession gested in the case of the Norcia couch (Pasqui,
of the Field Columbian Museum to the bed from col. 241) and may not have been very firm. Further,
Norcia as the one other existent specimen of the this is not an isolated instance; on the contrary,
kind. Further, a comparison of the two shows as has been seen, a height so great as apparently to
many points of agreement. involve unsteadiness is frequent in ancient couches,
' Brizio, pp. 445 ff.; described briefly, Jahrb., and the problem was not solved, so far as monu-
Vol XVIII (1003) Anz. p. 80. mental evidence shows, by the use of rails half way
a These, the restorer thinks, are a constructional between the floor and the frame of the bed ^'
necessity because of the great height (67 cm.) of PP- 43 *)• The braces of the "bisellia" cited by
the couches. (The height is fixed by the length of Si^01 Brizio in suPPort of his restoration are them-
the iron rods which formed the strength of the legs, selves restorations.
Brizio, p. 456.) But the couches may have been 4 Graeven, pp. 82 ff .

58 MATERIALS, TECHNIC, AND CENTERS OF MANUFACTURE
couch when no other place can be found for it than on the rail. Various objects
were buried in tombs, the use of bone was not confined to beds, and medallions and
masks ornamented other structures than beds. It is not essential, therefore, to
assume that every carving in bone found in a tomb in which there was a bed of
bone belonged on that bed. In the case of the couch from Orvieto, however, the
relief carvings may be otherwise disposed of, in a way suggested by Dr. Graeven
for similar carvings of which he gives a photograph. z They probably ornamented
the legs of the couch. For this good analogies may be cited on ancient monu
ments. The writer just named refers to the publication by Dr. Hauser* of a
marble chair-leg of turned members, interrupted by a circlet of figures in relief;
there are also instances on Pompeian wall-paintings.3 This is the more probable
in the case of the Orvieto couch because the legs are otherwise quite plain, whereas
the couch from Norcia has members adorned with foliage patterns. Further,
the carvings on the bed from Orvieto are so curved that they must have surrounded
some circular object, and, if on the bed at all, they then necessarily decorated the
legs. It is inconceivable that they should have been left, even in a provincial,
crude art, so unworkmanlike as they now appear with interstices between the
panels. An examination of the present structure proves, if it is not sufficiently
evident from Plates XXIV and XXV, that it is impossible to adjust these carvings
neatly to a corner position.
Some of the medallions of bone published by Dr. Graeven, like those of the
Orvieto couch, have considerable projection; others are in low relief.4 The same
writer has recognized a low-relief carving in bone belonging to the curve between
the extremities5 of an upright of a fulcrum and upper end-pieces of uprights, which,
unlike the horses' heads of the Ancona couch and their bronze prototypes, are in
low relief.6 That these last also go back to bronze models seems clear, as is pointed
out, from the fact that they represent aquatic birds, with heads turned about in a
position as nearly like that of the bronze heads in the round as it is possible to get
in relief, and, what is more significant, that they exhibit the same double-curved
termination7 where the neck stops as is found in bronzes. This extant work in
bone and bronze has the additional interest of suggesting how more expensive
couches may have been made. I am convinced that all speculations as to the con
struction of the elegant Roman couches of the first century before and the first
century after Christ must reckon with the prevalence of the type of couch known
1 Graeven, pp. 90 ff., Phot. 55. 4 Graeven, Phot. 33, 34, 37.
2 Jahrb., Vol. IV (1889), pp. 255 ff. s ibid., Phot. 59.
3 Dr. Hauser cites Raoul Rochette, Peintures 6 Ibid., Phot. 31 and 61.
de Pompei, Plate X. There is another example in the , An explanation of this form is offered, p. 86.
house of the Vettii : Brogi, photograph No. 11,203.

ROMAN PERIOD. CENTERS OF MANUFACTURE

59

60 MATERIALS, TECHNIC, AND CENTERS OF MANUFACTURE
to us in preserved specimens. There have been no certain couch remains recog
nized which are irreconcilable with the design having turned legs and curved
fulcra and the variety and number of existent bone and bronze parts of couches
fitting into the general design in question are abundant positive evidence of its
prevalence. Accordingly, I should imagine the tortoise-shell couches to have had
a frame of wood, strengthening-rods of iron through the legs, and a veneering of
the shell, the ornaments of the fulcra being treated flatly, like some of the ornaments
in bone mentioned above. It seems particularly reasonable to suppose that bone
was a cheap substitute for ivory, and that the provincial structures of bone repro
duce for us in a crude way the beautiful ivory beds of the wealthier centers of
civilization. Nor do I believe that the silver and gold couches departed very far
in their construction from the models afforded by the commoner couches of wood
with bronze attachments. Varro1 indeed implies variety in the size and shape of
couches of his day, but not greater than is secured in the different renderings of
the design in question.
Late Period The changes in form which gradually took place in the first century A. D. — •
that is, the increase in the height of the fulcra and the upright position given to
them — prepared the way for the introduction of the back. Whatever we may
think of the comparative, aesthetic merits of the Grseco-Roman couch just under
consideration and the high-backed Roman type, there can be no doubt that the
latter is a much more developed construction. On Plate XXVII is given a working
drawing to be executed entirely in wood, which was prepared on the basis of the
couch pictured in Fig. 31.2 There is much more that is conjectural than in the
drawing for the Greek couch (Plate II), but it is an interesting attempt to divine
the Roman workman's methods. It seems to me probable that in the couch rep
resented in Plate XXVIII the legs, the panels at the corners of the rails, and the
uprights in dolphin form of the headboard and footboard were of metal.
Places of Manu- It remains only to say the little that is possible on the subject of the places
factme Qf manufacture. Delian and Punic couches were in use in Italy in the last century
before Christ and gave rise to imitations;3 the Punic couches are described by
Isidorus as small and low.4 Many of the existent parts of couches give evidence
in style of having come from the same factory; for instance, many of the mules'
heads crowned with ivy agree closely enough to imply a common origin. But
nothing definite is known about any of these Italian centers of manufacture. Brunn
recognized the provincial character of the beds of bone. Pasqui thought that Norcia
1 L. L., VIII, 31, 32. 3 See p. 54, n. 6.
2 This I owe likewise to the courtesy of the 4 Isid., Orig. XX, n, 3, says: "Punicani lecti
Tobey Furniture Company and the careful over- parvi, et humiles, primum a Carthagine advecti, et
sight of Mr. Twyman. Cf. p. 45. inde nominati. Cf. also Cic, Pro Mur., 36, 75.

COUCH-MAKERS

61

might have been the center of their production.1 The discovery of similar work at
Ancona and Orvieto suggests that they were made in many places. Libyan couches2
were probably not a class distinct from Punic.
The names of two couch-makers of the first century A. D. are known3 who
were famous for the humbleness of their products ; these are Archias and Soterichus.
Beitenus was a couch-maker of one of the Greek islands in Roman times.4 One
would like to know more about Carvilius Pollio,5 the introducer of rich couches of
gold, silver, and tortoise shell — whether he was concerned commercially in these
innovations, or whether he was merely a wealthy man who set the fashion for
others.

' Pasqui, col. 242; cf. p. 108.
2 Verg., Cir., 440.
3 Hor., Ep., I, 5, 1; Sen., fragm. ri4.
4 1. G., II, 2135 and Bulletin de la SociUe nationale
des Antiquaires de France, 1900, Michon, "Stele
de Beitenos Hermes." Miss Mary B. Peaks has
kindly brought to my notice several other couch-
makers whose names I am able to add in the proof.

These are: Rhesus, slave of Caninius (Corpus In-
scriptionum Latinarum, VI, 2, 7988), the slave
Romanus (op. cit., VI, 2, 9503), the freedman
Lucius Hostilius Amphio (op. cit., VI, 2, 7882), and
probably Gaius Pare . . . (op. cit., XI, 2, 5439).
Two of these artisans seem to have been Greeks.
Cf. p. 89.
5 See p. 55, n. 5.

•

W iP^A

CHAPTER III

INTERLACED FILLING OF COUCH FRAMES
An interwoven filling for couch frames as for chair frames was common in
antiquity. Actual remains of plaiting in various materials have been preserved in
Egypt, dating from at least as early as the New Empire down to the Grseco-Roman
period. r It is highly probable that the strap of red leather mentioned in the Homeric
description of the bed of Odysseus2 was for this purpose. The earliest Greek couch
representations, those on vases of the Dipylon class, occasionally show a plaiting (see
headpiece of this chapter).3 There is literary and monumental evidence sufficient
to prove that such interlaced filling was common in the historical Greek and Roman
periods.4 That it was the only filling used is perhaps too much to assert; yet I
cannot see where Professor Blumner gets the information: "auf die Gurte, der en
Stelle mitunter auch ein festes Brett vertritt, wurden die Matratzen oder Polster
gelegt."5 It would seem on the face of it probable that a flexible interlacing would

1 Almost every large collection of Egyptian
antiquities has one or more pieces of furniture
showing the traces of attachment to the frame if
not bits of the actual plaiting. But few of these
remains of plaiting are published. See, however,
Verz. der dgypl. Altert.2, of the Royal Museums at
Berlin, pp. 194 ff., and Jahrb., Vol. XVII (1902),
P- 132. Fig- 7-
2 See p. 39, n. 1.
3 See also Rayet and Collignon, Cer. gr.,
Plate \=Mon. d. I., Vol. IX, Plates XXXIX and
XL. 4 Herod., IX, 118; Thuc, IV, 48, 3; Cato, De
Agric, 10, 5; Cic, De Div., II, 134; Petron., 97;
Poll., X, 36. The well-known low bronze bed in
the Etruscan museum of the Vatican (Museo
etrusco gregoriano, I, Plate XV = Baumeister, Vol.
I, Fig. 326=Helbig, Fiihrer2, Vol. II, p. 360, No.

1333) presents a full-sized example of a bed-lacing
of early date. One gets occasionally experiments
in perspective whereby the bottoms of chairs appear
(Arch. Zeit., 1869, Plate 17; ibid., 1885, Plate 15;
Furtwangler-Reichhold, Plate 20; a coin of
Macedonia, Head, A Guide to the Principal Gold
and Silver Coins of the Ancients, Plate 65, 8). The
unique bed of Procrustes (Reinach, Peintures de
vases antiques, Millingen, Plate 9 = Baumeister,
Vol. I, Fig. 327) also has slight indications of cross
ing strands and their attachment to the rails. An
unpublished, small leaden bed, found with other
toys in a child's grave in Eretria, and now in the
Louvre, and the small terra-cotta from Egypt
(Plate Vila, but unfortunately not showing the top
in the illustration), both have their interlacing
indicated. See other examples mentioned farther
on in this chapter.
s Article Betten in Baumeister, p. 312.

62

MATERIALS USED 63
have been preferred on all pieces of furniture for reclining, as affording greater
comfort. ' Perhaps flexible fillings of material in large pieces, instead of in narrow
interwoven strips, were sometimes used, but there is no evidence known to me
for this. One passage in Herodotus (IX, 118) points to leather as a material which was Materials which
interwoven in couch frames, since besieged people on the verge of starvation boil Were Interwoven
the thongs, as we may here translate toVoi, of their beds for food. Horse's hide
was used for this purpose, if Dr. Wilhelm's surmise in regard to Ka]Xw lirireUo Svo,
occurring in the lists of the property of the Hermocopidse, is correct.2 The word
lora, somewhat uncommon, however, in application to beds, seems to have been
used only of leather. In the inventory given by Cato3 of furnishings necessary to
run a farm of 240 iugera, the items lectus in cubiculo I, lecti loris subtenti IIII,
lecti III occur. Beds stretched with lora are to be distinguished from other beds,
and in the absence of decisive evidence for anything else than an interlaced filling,
the difference would seem to have been in the material stretched; the other beds
might well have been corded. ^ZirdpTai, from its derivation,4 would probably
have been applied only to vegetable materials. The opinion of Suidas in regard to
other Greek terms is not to be ignored. He defines Kupia as eI8o? £wk>js Ik cr^oi-
vuov, napeoLKos ljj.dvTi fj §eo-jj,ovcn ras /cXiVas, and of its diminutive says, Keipiov
Se to o-^olvlov. Under toVos he gives twos Kal tov Kpafifidrov to. o-yoivia-
Pollux quotes (X, 64), apropos of athletics, a fragment of iEschylus, Xtva Se,
Tr'ia-cra Koyp.o\Lvov p,aKpol rovoi; hence toVos was a comprehensive term which
included cords of flax, or of whatever species of reeds or rushes is denoted by
cryoivia, as well as the leather strips apparently meant in the passage from
Herodotus. With all this literary evidence it is safe to conclude that in Greek
and Roman beds, as in Egyptian, both cordage of various vegetable substances
and interwoven strips of leather were employed. Turning to the monuments, one
finds few representations of the tops of beds realistic or clear enough to be decisive
1 This was certainly the rule in Egypt. Although vegetable fibers which needed to be twisted together
some extant stools have wooden bottoms, none of to produce strands for interweaving, whereas it is
the couches have. inappropriate to leather which was not twisted, but
, c cut in strips of suitable width. Ebeling and the
2 See p. in, n. 20. , . • b
authorities whom he quotes all understand the
3 For reference, see p. 62, n. 4. Homeric term as denoting plant materials. For
4 In Seiler-Capelle, Vollstdndiges Worierbuch its application in later times to ropes made from
uber die Gedichte des Homeros und der Homeriden hemP and other Plants> and its transference finally
and Ebeling, Lexicon Homericum, both following to a Plant introduced from Spain and to cordage
Curtius, Grundzuge der griechischen Etymologies, made from the latter> we have the authority of
p. 288, the word ™dpTov is said to be related to o-Teipa Varro and Pliny. See passages quoted in Blumner,
and to be derived from o-xelpw, "to twist, coil." Technologie, Vol. I, p. 294, n. 4.
The term would naturally have been applied to

and Attachment

64 INTERLACED FILLING OF COUCH FRAMES
on this point. One interesting confirmation, however, of the use of leather plaitmg
on beds is furnished by the marble fragment from Pergamon of a full-sized repro
duction of a bed, shown from the top in Plate V. There can be no doubt, on close
view, that leather bands are intended. Any vegetable material of the nature of
modern cane would have a slightly convex surface; ropes are certainly not repre
sented. Leather is therefore the most probable material, and the strips look like
leather; the varying width, the slight curling of the edges, and the thickness are
extremely well rendered. An analogy to this interlacing may be mentioned in
the chair-back of the high-relief Zeus figure of poros in the Acropolis museum.
It, too, has a framework richly ornamented with rosettes and other motives, and
the leather strips, which are narrower, are in three colors, woven closely without
interstices in a checked pattern.1
Methods of Plaiting On the monuments interlacings almost invariably appear to be diagonal.2
In some cases, no doubt, the strands actually ran diagonally, as in the Pergamon
couch and in the back of the chair of the Zeus relief. In others, however, they
may have been merely so woven as to produce diagonal patterns, while in reality
lying parallel with the rails, as in numerous preserved Egyptian bits of rope or rush
plaiting. The true diagonal interlacing was perhaps due to a practical reason —
the wish to use without visible splicing the varying lengths which would result in
cutting up a hide.3 The primitive method in attaching an interlacing to the
frame of a chair or couch was for the separate strands to be slung about the rails
and variously knotted on their inner faces. Evidence of the use by the Greeks of
this method, which was common in Egypt, is seen in the vertical lines on the rails
of furniture as portrayed in vase-paintings.* The disappearance of these lines
corresponds no doubt to the introduction of the practice of piercing the rails with
holes to accommodate the strands of the interlacing.5
In the absence of actual remains of Greek or Roman date, an Egyptian couch6
1 The chair stands in the museum ordinarily lacing. The corded bedsteads which in modern
with the back to the wall, and would have escaped times preceded the present slats and springs or
my notice but for the kindness of Dr. Schrader, woven wire mattresses were, so far as I can learn,
second secretary of the German Institute, who called corded lengthwise and crosswise, not diagonally.
my attention to it. I am able, just as these pages A „ ,, , , - , . ,.._,.
3 ''. TT 4 See the bed figured in /. H. S., Vol. II (1881),
are going to press, to add the reference Wiegand, , , , , . , . , . ,
. ^r-i. j a 1. t Plate 10, and further remarks on this theme m the

Jahrb., Vol. XVII (1902), p. 132.

Die archaische Poros-Architektur der Akropolis zu
Athen, p. 99, Fig. 99 and Plate VIII.
2 In the vase-painting of a chair, Arch. Zeit., s A few instances of dots on the rails of furniture
1885, Plate 15, the strands perhaps run parallel "> portrayed in vase-paintings may be intended for
with the sides of the frame. such holes- See the bed of Procrustes referred to
_, . , . . ,- • • on p. 62 in n. 4.
3 There is no advantage in resisting strains in r
the diagonal method; on the contrary, strands 6 In the Egyptian Department of the Royal
parallel with the rails distribute the strain at any Museums at Berlin: Verz. der agypt. Altert.2, p.
given place more completely over the entire inter- 196, No. 9592. See p. 97, n. 2.

METHODS OF INTERLACING

65

which has some of its leather interlacing still preserved is of interest. Figs. 32
and 33 give a vertical section and a sketch from the inner face of a rail of this couch.
The strands are fastened somewhat like machine stitching; that is, they are drawn
up and down through the same hole, being caught below by another strap of leather
which passes continuously along the lower edge of the rail, performing the same

Fig. 32. — Section.

Fig. 33. — Sketch of wooden rail of an Egyptian couch. Inner side. — Berlin

office for all the holes of that rail. This makes possible a single, taut interlacing
reaching to the very surface of the rail, since all the strands enter the interlacing
from the same level. Possibly the filling of the Pergamon couch represents the
same principle. The thickness of the rail, as shown in Plate VI, is so great as to
make it improbable that the holes were pierced vertically. A
proposed sectional restoration through one of the holes is given
in Fig. 34. A neat feature of the Pergamon couch is the strip
which hides the adjustment of the leather bands into their holes,
and with its double curve forms a transition from the level of the
frame to the slightly lower level of the interlacing. Petronius's
tale' of the boy Giton in hiding under a bed, clinging with hands
and feet to its institae, suggests either an interlacing with extremely large inter
stices, or one in which on the under surface strands were carried from side to
side without interweaving.2

Fig. 34.

T Petron., 97.
2 This arrangement would give three levels of
strands, the upper interlaced surface and the two
under sets of strands passing in directions at right
angles to one another. In the anthropological
collection housed in the Natural History Museum

at Hamburg is a rude couch from east Africa, No.
C 799, which has such a filling. Lowest of all are
the strands passing from side to side of the couch,
in the middle are those running from end to end,
and in the upper surface are the two sets woven in a
diagonal pattern.

CHAPTER IV

FURNISHINGS — MATTRESSES, PILLOWS, VALANCES, AND DRAPEKIES
Four kinds of furnishings may be noted in antique representations of Greek
and Roman couches.1 These are mattresses, pillows, valances, and loose dra
peries, the last either covering the occupants of the bed or thrown over the bed itself,
often in such a way as to perform the office of a valance. Three factors chiefly
would seem to have determined the nature of the bed-furnishings in a given case:
the styles prevalent at the time, the sort of couch to be furnished, and the purpose
for which it was to be used. All couches had for comfort a mattress or other
covering over the interlacing and one or more pillows; those for sleeping were
provided with various coverlets.2 The thickness of the mattress, however, the
stuffs and patterns of the furnishings, and other details naturally varied at different
periods.3 Draperies covering the couch and valances do not belong to the essential
furnishings, and are accordingly often absent from the representations of couches.
They were used either as luxurious accessories on very fine couches, or apparently
to conceal rude or very plain structures,4 or possibly in some cases to hide the under
surface of the interlacing.
On a few of the Dipylon vases with prothesis scenes a covering which was
over the top of the couch under the corpse is represented (see Fig. i). It is of
checked pattern in the few instances known.5 The large Corinthian craters (see

1 In the Homeric period skins and woolen bed
clothes were in use at night. Buchholz thinks that
Homeric beds had also mattresses and pillows, and
perhaps linen coverlets in addition to those of wool.
See Buchholz, Vol. II, Part II, pp. 157-161.
2 The drapery of the occupants of banquet
couches seems to be their himatia or other outer
garments, to judge by the way the folds are drawn
up over their shoulders, rather than especially
provided coverings. In literature it is usually

not clear just how the various draperies mentioned
were disposed.
3 This is not, of course, to assert that there was
absolute uniformity at any one time.
4 So Professor Winter thinks in the case of a
funerary couch on a white lecythus published by
him under the title: Eine attische Lekythos des
Berliner Museums; see p. 6.
s See also Rayet and Collignon, Cir. gr., p.
27, Fig. 19.

66

MONUMENTAL EVIDENCE. SIXTH CENTURY

67

Figs. 35 and 2)1 of the earlier half of the sixth century show both beds with incised,
rectangular legs, and those with turned legs furnished with a thick mattress; thrown
over this is a covering which hides the bed-frame and in part the legs.2 These
draperies often have running lengthwise broad stripes of solid red or of cross-
hatchings, scale or other patterns, and fringe on their lower edges. Each person
is provided with one pillow under
his elbow, and the lower part of
his figure is enveloped in his hima-
tion.3 Perhaps as old as these
Corinthian vases is a black-figured
Attic cylix in Berlin4 on which
occur thick mattresses with fringed
draperies over them.5 On a Co
rinthian vase of slightly later date
the bed portrayed (Fig. 4) also has
a very thick mattress, and above it a
thinner one. The thicker mattress is
on top in a Chalcidian vase-painting6
(Fig. 5), dating from about the mid
dle of the sixth century. In the Etruscan wall decoration of Fig. 8, from the latter half
of the century, there is again a single thick mattress.7 All these have close-fitting,
often patterned cases on the mattresses, instead of the fringed coverings prevalent
earlier. The Etruscan example cited has also over the mattress a wide-bordered
cloth; this may have served the purpose of holding the thick mattress in place,

Fig. .35. — Achilles attended in illness by Thetis. Detail from a Corin
thian vase-painting. — Louvre.

1 See also Vases ant. du Louvre, Series I, Plate
45, E 623; Plate 46, E 629 and E 630; Plate 48,
E 634 and E 635.
2 There can be no doubt that there is a thick
mattress underneath the drapery, for no other
supposition will account for the great height of the
reclining person from the floor.
3 The bed, also from a Corinthian vase, repre
sented in Fig. 3, is exceptional at this period in having
no visible mattress, and in being furnished with
what to all appearance is a valance fastened to
the rail between the legs.
4 Furtwangler, Beschreibung der Vasensamm-
lung im Antiquarium (Berlin), No. 17.
5 Other early examples of the fringed drapery
thrown over mattress and upper part of couch ap
pear on a black -figured cenochoe from the necrop
olis of Suessula, published in the Rom. Mitt., Vol.

II (1887), Plate XI-XII, 4, and the British Museum
lebes, B 46, given in B M. Vases, Vol. II, p. 62
under imitations of Corinthian ware, and by Dr.
Karo in /. H. S., Vol. XIX (1899), p. 144 as Ionic;
also /. H. S., Vol. VII (1886), p. 197; Bulletin de
correspondance hellenique, Vol. XVII (1893), p. 236,
Fig. 4.
6 Cf. the approximately contemporary Chalcidian
vase, Baumeister, Vol. I, Fig. 19= Arch. Zeit.,
1866, Plate 206, which shows the earlier fashion
of fringed, striped drapery over the mattress.
7 On the Etruscan monuments very thick mat
tresses continued on into the fifth century. See
Baumeister, Vol. I, Fig. 549 =Mon. d. I., Vol. VI,
Plate 54=De Longperier, Musee Napoleon III,
Plate XXXV; Monumenti antichi pubblicati per cura
dell' Accademia dei Lincei, Vol. VIII, Plate XIII;
Ant. Denkm., II, Plate 43.

68 FURNISHINGS— MATTRESSES, PILLOWS, VALANCES, AND DRAPERIES

since it does not hang loosely, but is tucked in above the rail. The couches on vases
of the developed black-figured style have one or more pillows at the head and
mattresses of moderate thickness, often only one, then again a thicker under mat
tress, and above it one or two less thick.1 The same arrangements are seen on
some red-figured vases.2 The tendency, however, is toward thinner mattresses
{cf. Figs. 6 and 26). On
some banquet couches of
the fifth century, as pictured
on vases, the only furnish
ings visible are pillows (see
Figs. 9, 22, and 28), yet it
seems as if these couches
must have had at least cover
lets over the interfacings.3
In Fig. 36 is given a selec
tion of pillows showing the
variety of striped stuffs used
for making the cases. The
pillows were of varying
shapes ; some seem to be long
and round like bolsters,
others approximately square
and more or less flat; the
frontispiece shows oblong,
fairly thick pillows. Pillows
at the feet of the reclining
person (see Fig. 29 and Plate
VII6), to which M. Girard calls attention,4 appear first in the fifth century. The
earliest certain instance of a valance known to me is that of Fig. 44; here surely
the drapery is fastened to the couch frame. In many vase-paintings the couch
does not show at all (Fig. 37); one or more. mattresses and pillows, and a fulled

Fig. 36. — Various styles of pillows and bolsters. From Greek vase-paintings.

1 It is usually difficult to tell whether a single
mattress striped lengthwise is intended or separate
mattresses. Where, however, as on a black -figured
hydria, B 301, in the British Museum (Micali,
Storia, Plate 89), the ends of the mattresses fall over
the bed separately, there can be no doubt in the
matter. 'Baumeister, Vol. I, Fig. ygi^Mon. d. I,
Vol. VIII, Plate XXVII; Jahrb., Vol. XV (1900),

p. 78, Fig. 13= Arch. Zeit., 1867, Plate 220;
Baumeister, Vol. I, Fig. 447 = Overbeck, Atlas
der Kunstmythologie, Plate VI, 2 and 3, etc.
3 Aristoph., Lysistr., 916 ff., suggests that so
slight a padding as a rush mat would suffice. Cf.
Fig. 13 where perhaps a i/lados is represented.
4 Girard, p. 1018.

MONUMENTAL EVIDENCE. FIFTH CENTURY AND LATER

69

drapery fastened to the upper surface of the rail or to the mattress,1 envelop it.2
There are instances in the fifth century of a loose covering over the mattress
hanging down to conceal the entire bed, except the lower part of the legs. A richly
figured example from a Boeotian vase is shown in the headpiece of this chapter.
On the Gjolbaschi frieze the beds with turned legs are so covered.3 A fashion
which I have not noted on monuments
earlier than the fourth century is the
presence of a loose drapery hanging down
over couches from under the mattress.
An early example of this is seen on the
marble funerary couch published by Dr.
Vollmoller, of which a reduced view is
repeated here in Fig. 38. In this the
drapery in part conceals the legs. Pecu
liar to the couches represented in the
Myrina terra-cottas and their analogues
(p. 29) is the drapery falling over the
front of the couch from under the mat
tress to the floor, and just filling in the
space between the legs, but never hiding them (Fig. 30). Also of about this time
probably is the bit of Egyptian faience (Fig. 13, also p. 97, n. 2) which shows a
couch with a rush mat or covering of other loosely woven material thrown over it.
The details of a valance of the beginning of the second century B. C, elaborately
figured in horizontal registers, are admirably reproduced in the Pergamene frag
ments of Plates IV and VI.4 Another richly figured valance is represented in
a rude terra-cotta from Egypt (Plate Vila).5 The present rapid sketch may be
terminated with a mention of the exceptionally thick mattresses of Roman date
which put in an appearance some time after Christ. These are best represented
in the covers of Roman sarcophagi of the second century A. D. and later (see
Fig- 17),6 and are often very richly figured.

Fig. 37. — Eros ministering to the dying Adonis.
red-figured vase-painting. — Naples.

Part of .

1 In Fig. 37 it is difficult to see how the drapery
is adjusted over the headboard, unless it is fastened
to the mattress whose curve it follows. It would
hardly hang so full and even, if it were a large cover
let thrown over the entire couch.
2 See the red-figured lecane published in the
Compte-rendu, 1873, Plate VI; a funerary banquet
relief from the Piraeus (Friedrichs-Wolters,
Die Gipsabgusse antiker Bildwerke, No. 1059 =
Le Bas-Reinach, Voyage archeologique en Grece
et en Asie-Mineure, Plate 54); the British Museum
Apulian crater, F 272 =Mon. d. I., 1854, Plate XVI,

the Apulian pelice also in the British Museum,
F 7,11 =Elite ckr., II, Plate 49, and vases repro
duced in Reinach, Peintures de vases antiques,
Millin, I, Plates 59 and 69.
3 Gjolbaschi-Trysa, Plates XIX, 17, 18; XX and
XXI. 4 Discussed at length pp. 93 ff.
s Discussed at length, p. 97.
6 Also Robert, Antike Sarkophag-Reliefs, Vol.
II, Plates VIII and XIV. Cf. also the thick mat
tress shown here in Plate XXVIII.

70 FURNISHINGS— MATTRESSES, PILLOWS, VALANCES, AND DRAPERIES
From literary evidence' it is known that mattresses and pillows were usually
covered with linen, that wool was also used for both these articles, and leather to
some extent for pillows. Mattresses and pillows as figured in vase-paintings
might well be covered with either of the first two materials mentioned, but any
thing looking like leather is extremely rare; M. Girard has pointed out instances
on Etruscan sarcophagi in couch form of the sixth century.* Silk probably found
some use for pillows. The patterns seen in the ancient representations were prob
ably, as a usual thing, woven in, but were sometimes embroidered.
A great variety of materials was used for the stuffing of pillows and mat
tresses.3 The commonest material used by the Greeks seems to have been refuse

Fig. 38. — Funerary couch of marble in a tomb at Vathia on the island of Euboea.

wool, torn off in carding or in fulling cloth. The transference of the name of this
wool, Kve<f>ak\ov, to mattresses, and perhaps also to pillows, speaks for the frequency
of its use. Both refuse wool and wool especially prepared for the purpose were
used by the Romans for stuffing. The Greeks and Romans employed as a sub
stitute for wool the soft leaves of the gnaphalium or cud- weed (?). The state
ment that straw, rushes, hay, and kindred plant materials were used before the
practice of stuffing with wool came in, and continued to be in use by poor people,
rests entirely on the evidence of Latin authors,4 but is as likely to have been true of
Greece as of Italy. Feather pillows are mentioned as early as the fourth century.
To judge by the frequent references to them in Latin authors, they became much
more common in the Roman period. The down of certain northern birds also
found favor among the Romans for pillows. Cotton seems never to have had for
any purpose a general use. The only mention of it as a filling for mattresses and

1 This is most fully and conveniently stated by
Mau, col. 373.
2 Girard, p. 1020.
3 The ancient sources are fully stated in Blumner

Technologie, I, p. 205; Marquardt-Mau, Das
Privatleben der Romer2, p. 724; Mau, cols. 372-3.
4 Unless the dve-f/Kit of Poll., X, 41, is an
instance.

LITERARY EVIDENCE

71

pillows is in Strabo (XV, 693), who quotes Nearchus as saying that it was thus
employed by the Macedonians ;i.e., probably those accompanying Alexander into Asia.
Linen and wool were the principal materials out of which stuffs were woven
by the Greeks and Romans,1 and accordingly found employment for the coverlets
and draperies of beds. Cotton stuffs were probably not made at all in Greece
or Italy. Silk was in use as early as the time of Aristotle, and probably was
employed for bed-hangings, especially by the luxury-lovers among the Romans.
Skins2 and rush mats3 were also used on beds. Pollux (X, 38 ff.) enumerates a vast
number of bed-draperies, and distinguishes those which had a nap on two sides
or on one only. In the absence of more explicit statements, the epithets which he
applies to the various draperies are suggestive — such, for instance, as "fine," "of
fine thread," "pliable;" other expressions imply that they were brightly colored,
purple, scarlet, and gold being often mentioned. The patterns of these draperies
as of mattress and pillow covers were sometimes woven, sometimes embroidered,
often in elaborate designs.4 Apparently stuffs of all degrees, from thin, washable5
linen to heavy tapestries (see Plates IV and VI), were used on beds.
Some special makes of bed-furnishings are celebrated in literature. In the
pre-Alexandrine period we hear of Milesian coverings.6 Writers quoted by
Athenseus refer to cloth of Amorgus and to Sardian draperies,7 to the latter once
as expensive and smooth-faced, and again as of purple color. In Latin authors
there is mention of Leuconian blankets8 (from Gaul?) and of Assyrian purple.9
One kind of couch draperies imported from the East was known as "Babylonica."10
Pliny, J x quoting Cornelius Nepos, relates that the once highly prized purple cloth
came into disfavor for togas because it had been used so much for couch coverings.
The "Attalic mattresses" of Propertius12 were probably mattresses covered with
tapestries of a sort which originated in Pergamon.

' Blumner, Technologie, Vol. I, Parts II-IV.
2 Plat., Prot., 315^; Cic, Pro Mur., 36, 75.
3 See p. 68, n. 3.
4 E. g., Catull., 64, 48 ff.
s Hor., Sat., II, 4, 84.
6 Aristoph., Ran., 542.
1 Athen., II, 486, and VI, 255a.

8 Mart., XIV, 159.
» Verg., Cir., 440.
10 Plaut., Stick., 378.
11 N. H., IX, 137.
-II, 13, 22; IV, 5, 24. Cf. Plin., JV. H.,
VIII, 196, where Attalicus vestis is said to be woven
with gold and to have been invented by Attalus.

CHAPTER V
STYLE
In considering the stylistic qualities of Greek and Roman beds, attention may
profitably be turned, on the one hand, to the main lines of the structures, and, on
the other hand, to the ornamental details. The interest of the inquiry, however, is
not in couches as isolated products of ancient industrial art, but rather in them
as related to other contemporary greater and minor productions. The pottery and
coins of the Greeks are striking examples of the high level to which humble industrial
products may rise in the midst of a people gifted with artistic feeling. Do Greek
and Roman couches show any similar superiority which would give them a unique
place in a history of furniture of all times ? Do they raise or lower our opinion of
standards of taste among the Greeks and Romans ? These questions have evoked
the opinions offered in the following paragraphs. Here again an exhaustive
study is out of the question, for lack both of space and of proper material, and I
must confine my remarks chiefly to three classes of beds — those most clearly defined
to us in ancient reproductions and preserved specimens, viz., the sixth-century
and fifth-century couches with rectangular legs having incisions, the Graxo-Roman
beds with turned legs and curved head-rests and foot-rests, and the high-backed
Roman couches.
In couches of the sixth and of the earlier half of the fifth century straight lines
predominate; upright supports and horizontal rails are the rule, and head-rests,
when present,1 are usually built up on straight lines. This is a reflection of the
same structural tendencies manifest in works of architecture, which, representing
the post and lintel system, exhibit chiefly vertical and horizontal lines, and have
at this time in the Doric style very massive columns. Heavy proportions in the
human figure also, as seen in works of sculpture, terra-cottas, etc., are character
istic of the period. These couches, then, considered as designs have a severity and
massiveness to be expected at this time. Many of them, however, do not show
the harmony of proportion which we have been taught to look for in Greek prod
ucts. The heavy legs have in reality very little to support; the rails are often
narrow and seem unequal to the prospective weight implied by the supports.
Many couches with rectangular legs have a further serious fault, viz., deep incisions
which interrupt the outlines of the legs, and which, because they look weak,2 are
1 The type of couch shown in Fig. 28 has a 2 Cf. pp. 44-46.
combination of curved and straight lines in its head
rest. 72

STRUCTURAL LINES. COUCHES WITH RECTANGULAR, INCISED LEGS TZ

aesthetically objectionable. Professor Blumner is the only writer on Greek furni
ture who seems to have appreciated this fact, or at least who has commented on it.1
Dr. Vollmoller, on the other hand, thinks that the incisions lighten the heavy
appearance of the legs.2 If, in the use of ornament, there is any one law which
is fundamental, it is that decorative designs must not break constructional lines.
I have searched in vain in ancient art for anything similar in nonconformity to this
principle to these couch legs. Assyrian furniture {e. g., Fig. 39) 3 frequently shows
two double volutes with a connecting-link like those on many of the couches in
question ; these are surface ornaments, however, inclosing, but not encroaching into,
the mass of the members which they decorate. The incised legs of Greek couches

'In "Der altgriechische Mdbelstil," 3d article,
Part. 4, in Kunst und Gewerbe, 1885, Parts 10-12,
writing of chairs with the same type of legs, the
author says: "Man muss gestehen, es uberrascht,
dass bei einem Sitzmobel, dessen schwere Formen
sonst durchweg den Eindruck des Soliden hervor-
rufen, gerade die Beine durch diese Einkerbung so
geschwacht erscheinen; man erhalt den Eindruck,
als wtirde der schmale Steg, welche die beiden
Palmetten verbindet, die Last des auf dem Stuhle
Sitzenden nicht aushalten konnen. . Sicherlich
waren es nicht bios asthetische, sondern auch
technische Griinde, wenn man weiterhin da wo der
Rundstab frei ausgearbeitet ist, denselben in der
Mitte durch knollenartige oder kugelfdrmige Ansatze
verstarkt hat."
2 Athen. Mitt., Vol. XXVI (1901), p. 348: "Die
plumpe Schwere des Tragers wird dadurch er-
leichtert, dass der Handwerker am unteren Teil
des Fusses zu beiden Seiten geschweifte Ausschnitte
anbringt, deren Form dann durch ein Ornament,
zwei aufrecht gestellte und in der Mitte verbundene
Doppelvoluten, motivirt wird."
3 Portion of an Assyrian throne found at Nineveh
and now in the British Museum. This can be
dated only on its resemblance to relief sculpture;
consequently there is a wide latitude, as the double
volute ornaments and other features of this extant
piece were very common on Assyrian furniture.
Upon sculptured slabs in the British Museum I
noted the following pieces of furniture of a style
similar to the preserved specimen: the throne of
Azzurnazipal (884-860 B. C.) on relief 22 in the
Nimroud Gallery; furniture and a chariot with
body in chair form on three slabs of the time of

Sargon II (722-705 B. C), Nos. 21, 22, and 25 in
the Assyrian Transept; the throne of Sennacherib
(705-681 B. C), Slab 28 in the Assyrian Saloon (A
Guide to the Babylonian and Assyrian Antiquities,
Plate III) ; finally the chair of the queen in the well-
known scene of Assurbanipal (668-626 B. C.) and
his queen feasting in the royal garden, Slab 121
of the Assyrian Gallery (Monographien zur Welt-
geschichte, No. XVIII, Bezold, Nineveh und
Babylon, p. i2r, Fig. 91).
The use of the double-volute motive is a striking
point of similarity between this series of typical
Assyrian furniture and the class of Greek furni
ture under discussion; further, the gap of time
between the latest known examples of the one
group and the earliest of the other (see p. 20) is a
short one, probably not more than fifty years. These
facts, in my opinion, point to a probable origin of
the Greek style somewhere in Asia Minor under
Assyrian influence (cf. p. 54, n. 5). The volute
capitals were certainly a Greek addition, for some
chairs of early seated figures from Branchidae (see
p. 47, n. 2) and beds on Corinthian craters (Figs.
3 and 35) do not yet have them. Whether the
pattern of the legs otherwise was a seventh-century
Greek arrangement of Assyrian motives, or was
found in its present form in Assyrian models unknown
to us, is impossible to say. Cf. in Koldewey,
Die antiken Baureste der Insel Lesbos, p. 45, the
suggestion that a volute capital of the same design
as that which is the regular crowning of chair and
bed supports is an ^Eolic invention. But cf. finally
also the discovery of Corinthian letters on the ivory
carvings mentioned, p. 46, end of n. 3, and Pro
fessor G. Kdrte's theory that these carvings may
have been importations to Gordion from Corinth.

74

STYLE

and chairs are as barbarous in their way as the columns of temples would be with
outlines broken at a third of their height by great volutes carved out of their thick
ness. Whether or not the Greeks were originally responsible for this inartistic
application of the volute forms shown in Fig. 39 (see p. 73, n. 3), they at least gave

From a photograph by W. A. Mansell & Co.
Fig. 39. — Parts of an Assyrian seat and footstool. — British Museum.

it the indorsement of use during several centuries. It is of interest, however, to
see that in the later related design represented in the frontispiece the two unpleasing
features have been eliminated. Here' the rail has a substantial width in keeping
with that of the supports, and the ornament of the legs is in surface carvings,

STRUCTURAL LINES. COUCHES WITH CURVED END-RESTS 75
leaving their outlines uninterrupted.1 The entire design is consistent and for
massive effects satisfying.2
About the time that in vase-painting the so-called "Fine Style," making greater
use of curved lines, came into vogue, and in sculpture poses became less rigid and
drapery less formal, the developed artistic spirit of the age was not unfelt in the
craft of couch-making, for the best thing aesthetically which the Greeks did in the
way of a design for a bed makes its first appearance somewhere near the middle
of the fifth century (Fig. 44). The legs of the fifth-century examples are sub
stantial, but not too heavy; the upper part above the frame is pleasingly contrasted
with and emphasized by the curve of the two rests and their projection beyond the
supporting lines of the bed. Early examples are too rare to trace developments,
but it looks as if the legs of beds for a time grew more slender, keeping pace with
the slender proportions in the columns of temples and in the human figure as por
trayed in art; then in the Roman period, apparently, they became shorter and
somewhat squat; but this theme has been developed elsewhere,3 and I will not go
into it here. The couch in the tomb at Vathia (Fig. 38) has fairly heavy propor
tions and legs which are distinguished by the introduction of a claw-foot at about
a third of their height. There seem, indeed, to be two classes of these couches
with curved rests — the first, purer and more restrained in style, with legs consisting
entirely of turnings;4 and the second, in which other motives, floral or animal,
are introduced as working members among the turned parts.5
These couches, with excellent main lines, had a long history and continued
in vogue past the Augustan period of Roman art. Then came the gradual straight
ening of the rests, bringing their lines into the upward direction of those of the legs,
and thus producing a more monotonous structure. With the increase in the height
of the end-boards and the introduction of the back the upper part of the couches
became very prominent. The late Roman couches differ greatly among them
selves, so far as the relative proportions of the different parts are concerned. The
little sofa of Plate XXIXa is one of the happiest efforts. The most frequent defect
is a weakness of the legs, just the reverse of the defect seen on the first type with
rectangular legs, for here the supported portion is too heavy for that below {cf.
Fig. 40). Marked characteristics are the unbroken upper line defining back and
arms, and the invariableness of perpendicular legs. There are no instances among
' Cf. Plate I, where the rail is wide, but the the second style. The extant bronze couches, with
ornament of the legs is in part cut out. one exception, belong to this class.
2 The only disturbing item, in my estimation, s See Figs- I4, 3°, 38, and 50; the "Capitoline
is the height of the relief decoration on the rail. bisellium" is also an example (for references see
, , , , p. 32, n. 6); c/. also Plate XX, where the boy figures
3 Jahrb., Vol. XVII (1902), pp. 177 ff. ,, , ,, , , , , °
x n rr oo now on tne corners 0f the frame probably belong
4 This does not die out with the introduction of on the legs of the couch.

76

STYLE

Roman couches of the end-rests lower than the back,1 or of the back having a
higher middle part, thus breaking the horizontal line. Legs curving out at the
floor level, such as are common on modern sofas, are unknown on Roman
couches. It is surely not a flight of fancy to say that the Roman sofas are just
the sort of thing one would expect the Romans to produce — severe and lacking in
fine and beautiful lines, but practical, technically skilful, and not without some
merits of design; for instance, the straightness of the legs is sounder aesthetically,

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Fig. 40. — Relief from a Roman gravestone. — Island of Paros.

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considering the weight to be borne, than the curve mentioned above as frequent
in modern sofa-legs. It would be as impossible to think of the Romans making
couches like the typical "Empire" sofa as to think of the Roman high-backed
couch as an expression of the age and land in which the Empire style originated.
To turn our attention now to ornament, that of the couches with rectangular
legs having incisions has considerable interest. The constant features are the
double-volute incisions, more or less modified,2 the palmettes placed above and
1 Except the two settee-like couches spoken of example is on the legs of a chair of one of the seated
on pp. 34, 35, one of which is pictured in Plate figures from Branchidas (for references see p. 47,
XXIX6. n. 2) in the British Museum; the details of these

2 These incisions appear variously on works of
art, often in inexact or abbreviated forms. I am
convinced that the normal form is an adaptation of
the motive seen in the Assyrian bronze of Fig. 39;
this seems also to be Dr. Vollmoller's view, to judge
by the description quoted p. 73, n. 2. A clear early

chair-legs are inaccurately given in publications;
for instance, in Overbeck, Geschichte der grie
chischen Plastik4, Vol. I, p. 101, instead of the rounded
projections and the line like the end of a tenon,
there should be a link or band passing around the
volutes; the only feature of the Assyrian motive

ORNAMENT. COUCHES WITH RECTANGULAR, INCISED LEGS

77

below the incisions, rosettes on the upper part of the legs, and volute capitals of
distinctive forms. The rails occasionally have ornament, but this is variable and
without special interest, and need not be considered here.
The rosette is one of the commonest motives in ancient decorative art and is
variously composed. The particular star-like form which is seen here is not espe
cially frequent. It appears most often filling in squares left in maeander patterns,
as on sarcophagi from Clazomenae1 and on the stuccoed sima of the temple S at
Selinunte,2 and similarly on the frieze of a temple at Metapontum.3 It is of con
stant occurrence as a type on coins of Miletus.
The other ornamental motives on these couch legs are closely associated with
one another. Instances occur on black-figured vases where rectangular furniture
legs not represented as incised nevertheless have the full design, palmettes and the
conventionalized upright volutes, painted on them. These show that the design

not plastically rendered on the chair from Branchida;
is the middle line marking the boundary between
the two double volutes; this line may have been
painted. The entire design including developed
palmettes appears plastically rendered on the legs
of the very primitive Etruscan sarcophagus repre
senting a couch which is in the British Museum; see
Murray, Terracotta Sarcophagi, Greek and Etruscan,
in the British Museum, Plate IX, and a detail from
the foot of the sarcophagus given above in Fig. 41.
On red-figured vases, where the drawing is more
to be trusted than on earlier ware, a link binding
the stems of the two double volutes together in the
middle, precisely as in the Assyrian example, is
sometimes seen (e. g., Monuments Piot, Vol. I [1894],
Plate VII). Other red-figured vase-paintings give
the volutes in some detail (e. g., Baumeister, Vol.
Ill, Fig. iyi4=Elite cer., IV, 87). Again, a red-
figured vase shows on a chair (above, Fig. 42) double
volutes as nearly identical with the motive on the
Assyrian bronze as is possible in the case of two
objects of such different sizes. The marble repro
duction of a couch in the "Tomb of the Reliefs"
at Cervetri (Dennis, The Cities and Cemeteries of
Etruria3. Vol. I, p. 252) presents another example
practically identical with the Assyrian prototype.
On the other hand, the majority of the black -
figured and some of the red-figured vases do not
show a link; they have in the middle between the
upper and lower volutes horizontal projections,
drawn either in one continuous line with the stems
or as circles tangent to the stems. The first form,

perhaps the original one, is illustrated in Fig. 43,
where the projections are the fields for tiny palmettes.
The circles (Fig. 27), in my opinion, are conventional
substitutes for the more organic form, projections
accommodating minor ornaments. Since these
circles occur in relief sculpture as well as in vase-
paintings, they were perhaps frequent on furniture,
and were not simply a convention confined to repre
sentations in art of couches and chairs. Occasion
ally the link appears also with the circles, as in the
case of Amphitrite's chair upon a cylix from the
workshop of Euphronius (Furtwangler-Reich
hold, Plate 5).
Finally, the double volutes may be seen on the
legs of many chairs and beds related in design to
the incised types; for instance, repeated frequently
on the legs of three marble thrones in Munich
(Beschr. der Glypt., Nos. 327, 346, and 347 [here
Fig. 470 and c]). There is a similar marble throne
in the Lansdowne Collection, which has its high back
preserved (Michaelis, Ancient Marbles in Great
Britain, p. 441, No. 20). Cf. a tiny bronze chair in
Cologne (tailpiece of chap. 4), and further remarks
in regard to these late designs on p. 91, n. 1.
1 Monuments Piot, Vol. IV (1897), Plates VI
and VII; Murray, Terracotta Sarcophagi, Greek
and Etruscan, in the British Museum, Plates I-V.
" Perrot and Chipiez, Vol. VII, La Grece de
V epopee. La Grece archaique (le temple), p. 587,
Fig. 260.
- Perrot and Chipiez, ibid., Plate IX.

78

STYLE

was present in the artist's mind as a whole;1 for the volutes were represented even
when perhaps not thought of as cut out.2 The upper half of the main design con
tains the same elements as those in the capital above, only that on the lower part
of the legs the palmette is emphasized and the volutes are conventionalized, and
on the capitals the volutes are large and the palmette small. A pattern taken from
a Melian vase-painting, and antedating therefore the
earliest known instances of these couch legs (although
perhaps not earlier than the origin of the type), affords
an interesting analogy (tailpiece, chap. 5). The only
fundamental difference is that the volutes lie in a hori
zontal position and are linked together vertically.
There are other variations in the size and position of
the different parts, .but substantially the same elements
are present as in the design of the couch legs, and the
whole is likewise a complete pattern
of rectangular plan. After the intro
duction of the "orientalizing" style
into Greek industrial art,
vases, bronzes, and other
productions teem with a
great variety of combina
tions of scrolls and pal
mettes, the scrolls often
assuming the form of volutes. These patterns tend
later to become simpler. With the elimination of
stop-gaps, ornamental designs of the sort on the
Melian vases and on these couch legs are rarer.
Instead, a much larger proportion of the patterns in
use are in borders, either continuous, or consisting
of one or more small designs juxtaposed.3
It has already been pointed out4 that the volute capitals on beds and chairs are

Fig. 41. — View of one end of an Etruscan
terra-cotta sarcophagus. — British Museum.

Fig. 42. — Figure of Hera enthroned.
Detail from a red-figured vase-painting. —
Karlsruhe.

1 Cf. the early Etruscan example given in Fig. 41.
2 See on this point p. 45, n. 1.
3 The influence of the border arrangement is
felt in many terminal ornaments, as, for instance,
in the case of some grave stela; (see P. Gardner,
Sculptured Tombs of Hellas, p. 120, Fig. 42), where
the sidewise direction of the unrolling stems of the
volutes (which are cut off without finish by the
-mits of the slab) is to be rationally explained only

on the ground that the pattern is a section from a
continuous design running horizontally. Cf. also
Olympia, Furtwangler, Vol. IV, Die Bronzen,
Plate XLIII, Nos. 762-64, where, as also in the
instance mentioned above, the design seems to be
taken from the border of alternating palmettes and
lotuses. 4 Puchstein, Das ionische Capilell, p. 56.

ORNAMENT. COUCHES WITH RECTANGULAR, INCISED LEGS

79

80 STYLE
not of the type known as Ionic. The two commonest forms on furniture are shown in
Plate I and Fig. 43. r Both are in their prominent lines, exclusive of the abacus, the
halves of two double volutes lying adjacent and connected or not connected by a link,
whereas the main lines of the Ionic capital of architecture are of one double volute.
In Plate I is shown the form which is the more frequent of the two just mentioned ;
here the volutes are to be thought of as continued vertically, being parts of a design
similar to that on the lower part of the legs of the couches. In Fig. 43, on the con
trary, the volutes are to be continued in imagination horizontally and are really
excerpts from border patterns similar in principle to those mentioned in n. 3 on
p. 78; a link in the last case binds the two single volutes together. Both these
forms seen on furniture occur also in a few instances as capitals of columns — the first
in a capital from a building at ancient Neandreia,2 and again in one found on the
island of Lesbos;3 the second in a capital from the Acropolis at Athens,4 one which
surmounted originally the columnar pedestal of a votive offering. There is a third
form of volute capital which is unlike the normal Ionic styles. This is also known in
architecture, all the architectural examples coming, so far as I am aware, from
Cyprus.5 From the field of industrial art some small ivory reliefs6 showing the
same capital, which were found at Nineveh and are supposed to be of Phoenician
workmanship, may be mentioned. The distinctive feature of this third type is
a triangle with side on the base line of the capital and point extending up into the
design. The stems of the volutes disappear behind the point of the triangle, but
usually in such directions that they could not possibly converge in the manner of
the volutes of the capital from Neandreia and its analogues on furniture; I can see,
therefore, no connection between these two types.7 In many of the Phoenician
1 A few other forms- occur sporadically. For * Ant. Denkm., I, Plate XVIII, 3.
example, in Fig. 4 the volutes are inverted; in other 5 pERR0T and Chipiez, Vol. VII, PUnicie,
words, correspond to the lower half of two vertically Cypre, p. 116, Figs. 51-53; one of these, which are
lying double volutes. An instance on a chair all m the Louvre, is repeated in the Am. Journ.
pictured in an Attic vase-painting (Furtwangler- Arch., Vol. II (1886), p. 15, Fig. 7. I have noted
Reichhold, Plate 20) seems to approximate to aiso m Vienna and Berlin examples which are not,
the form of the Ionic capital. Again, the develop- so far as I am aware, published. These Professor
ment of the palmette varies in different capitals; Michaelis (Springer, Handbuch der Kunstge-
it is sometimes even omitted altogether. The schichte, I, "Das Altertum'," p. 69) thinks are
beds from tombs at Eretria, on the island of Eubcea, distinctly Cypriote as distinguished from Phoenician,
and at Pydna in Macedonia (see p. 28 and Fig. 12) t,ut tne ivories found at Nineveh (see main text
have the addition of tendrils curling into the upper above, following sentence) are testimony that the
corners from the lower part of the palmettes, and motives appear in the form of capitals elsewhere
some late vases show similar tendrils. than on the island of Cyprus.
2 Clarke, Am. Journ. Arch., Vol. II (1886), « Clarke, Am. Journ. Arch. ,Yo\. II (1886), p. 10,
pp. 1 ff. Fig. 3.
3 Koldewey, Die antiken Baureste der Insel 1 Mr. Clarke's words (op. cit., pp. 11, 12) are:
Lesbos, p. 45, Plate 16. "They are essentially the same as the early Greek

ORNAMENT. COUCHES WITH RECTANGULAR, INCISED LEGS 81
capitals, further, the volutes seem to be formed really of a curved band, doubling
back of the stem of the volutes- and often reappearing above the triangle, thus
being part of an interlaced pattern, which, if imagined continued below the base
line of the capital as above it, would be continuous and unbroken. On the other
hand, the two types on furniture, as has been stated, may be reduced to somewhat
simpler ground forms, the halves of two double volutes juxtaposed vertically or
laterally. Some of the Phoenician capitals have the ornament above the volutes,
corresponding to the palmettes, much more elaborated than anything known on
the two other types of capitals. The Phoenician capital, oddly enough, does not
appear on Greek furniture at all; apparently it did not find favor in Greece.1
It is remarkable how many of the Greek ornamental patterns antedating the
introduction of the acanthus may be reduced to just the few elements present on
these furniture legs; viz., (i) double volutes with their stems variously connected,
(2) palmettes, and (3) links or bands fastening together certain parts of the design
which do not run into one another. By varying the relative size and position of
these details an infinite variety of patterns was obtained.2 Such designs as run dead
into a base line are clearly, it seems to me, halves of complete patterns. The
most important motive in use at the time of the development of these couches, and
not represented on them, is the lotus.
The earliest examples of the bed with curved rests (Figs. 11, 44, and 38) are
without distinctive ornament. The extremities of the uprights of the rests run
into volutes. The bed of the "Aldobrandini Wedding" seems to have a head
rest with unornamented upright curling over above into a volute, which fact fits
•vyell into the theory that the painting is a copy of a Greek original, dating back
perhaps as far as the time of Alexander.3 All representations of these couches
pf later origin than the fourth century, when they show the rests distinctly, have
capital of Mount Chigri [ = Neandreia], from which last require the eye to complete the design, or at
they differ only in the imperfect spiral of the volute, least leave a feeling of dissatisfaction at the abrupt
and in the triangle masking the convergent lines cutting off of the stems of the volutes before they
at the base." See n. i on this page. arrive anywhere. The style of the beds with incised
> The various architectural capitals mentioned legS' °n *he °*er hand' does not rePresent the best
above seem to have been derived from the scroll J^ts of which Greek artistic selection was capable.
.., ,. 1 ,• ... ¦ .Nevertheless, even on furniture the Phoenician tvDe
motives with which artistic expression was perme- . ' , y^
t , ¦ ., ., ™, . • of capital was avoided by the Greeks.
ated m the seventh century. They represent various r J
experiments in the application to higher art of forms 2 See the Piece of bronze applique (tailpiece of
which were common property, already long in use chaP- 2) in the Antiquarium of the Royal Museums
in the field of industrial production. The fine at Berlin, and various examples given Olympia,
artistic instincts of the Greek architects led them Furtwangler, Vol. IV, Die Bronzen, Plates VII,
to develop the style of capital of which the double No. 84, XLII, XLIII, and L.
volute lying horizontally is the basal motive, rather 3 Robert, in Hermes, Vol. XXXV (1900), p.
than any one of the other types of capitals; for these 661.

82

STYLE

an animal's head at the upper corner and a medallion ornament at the lower {cf.
Figs. 14 and 50). The number of such monuments is small,1 but we are neverthe
less better off for the study of this type of couch than of any other of classical
antiquity, by reason of the two extensive series of extant specimens; the more import
ant series is of bronze, the second is of beds veneered with bone and illustrates
provincial work. The earliest extant bronze upright, the one from, southern Russia,
ends both above and below in a medallion with bust in relief, and it is not improb-

Fig. 44. — Dionysus and Ariadne riding a mule. Red-figured vase-painting. — St. Petersburg.
able that a medallion, fitting as it does into the curves of a volute, was the first step
in elaborating the original design. Perhaps the date of the introduction of the
motive of an animal's head looking sideways was between the date of the St. Peters
burg couch and the beginning of the second century, from which time there is a
specimen from Priene, adorned with a horse's head. Whatever the exact time of
its introduction, it was an artistic improvement, for the rests are thus varied and
their lines rendered more rhythmic. The sidewise direction of the curve of the
rests is continued in the animal's neck, and the desirable emphasis of the front of
the couch is provided by the turning of the face to view. Part of a human figure
was sometimes substituted for the animal's head, as in the case of a Pompeian
1 The numerous small terra-cotta couches are not clear enough to be decisive.

ORNAMENT. COUCHES WITH CURVED END-RESTS

83

couch,1 but it is not as fortunate a choice and seems to have been exceptional.
The human body does not accommodate itself as comfortably and with the same
appearance of naturalness to the curve of the rests as the more usual animal's
head and neck. With the neck, however, a great liberty is taken in that it is made
narrow below, to follow the curve of the rests. No horse's or mule's shoulders are
as narrow as they are represented in these bronzes (see Plates XI, XII, and XVI) ;
yet this part is often otherwise realistically rendered with collar and panther's skin.
The motive is a spirited one, and in the case of the horses' and mules' heads often
enhanced by an open mouth.2 Aquatic birds are frequently represented,3 and are
particularly adaptable to the purpose. They apparently occupied the inferior
positions at the back of the couch.4 The upper corner ornaments of other rests,
those probably on the front of the couches, are the heads of various animals —
panthers5 and lions6 (Fig. 50), for instance — but with especial frequency the
horses and mules. In literature we hear of asses' heads,7 but none exist among
ancient bronzes, so far as I can learn.8

1 Sommer, photograph No. 11,120 = Mau-
Kelsey, Pompeii: Its Life and Art2, p. 367, Fig.
188. 2 Professor Furtwangler explains this frequent
characteristic of horses in ancient art on the ground
that they wore very uncomfortable bits (Furt
wangler-Reichhold, p. 99).
3 Swans on the Pompeian "bisellia" now in
Naples (Herculanum und Pompeii, Bronzen, 3d
Series, Plate 89= Real museo borbonico, Vol. II,
Plate XXXI, 3), and much more commonly ducks;
cf. Plates X and XVo; cf. also the analogous motive
on bone carvings representing the heads of mer
gansers or sawbills (Graeven, pp. 51, 52, and
Phot. 31).
4 The reason for thinking this is that in the case
of a number of bronze attachments consisting of
both animals' heads and birds' heads, to be dis
tributed on one couch or on the couches of one
triclinium, the animals' heads are always the more
elaborate and richly inlaid, and would seem there
fore to belong on the front of the couches. Cf.
Mau, Nachrichten von der koniglichen Gesellschaft
der Wissenschaften zu Gottingen, 1896, p. 78.
s Brizio, p. 445, Fig. 8; p. 446, Fig. 9; and p.
450, Fig. 17.
6 Svoronos-Barth, Das Athener National-
Museum, Plate IX, 3.
1 Juv., XI, 96; Hyg., Fab , 274, is no doubt
correctly emended to read capita asellorum.

8 There seems to be some confusion on this
point, which is not without interest, considering the
ancient evidence for asses' heads (n. 7). Dr.
Graeven writes: "Bronzene fulcra mit Pferde-
beziehungsweise Maultier-oder Eselbusten sind
nicht eben selten" (Graeven, p. 85); and Professor
Anderson, describing some of the British Museum
bronzes, which are among those published here
(Plates VIII-XIV), says: "They all represent the
head and shoulders of a mule or ass, turning side
ways and backwards, with ears put down and a
vicious expression, which is rendered in a peculiarly
natural manner" (Classical Review, Vol. Ill [1&89],
p. 322). It is not clear whether these writers mean
that all the heads are alike, and they are uncertain
whether mules or asses are intended, or that the
bronzes differ, and some of them represent mules'
heads and others asses' heads. It seems probable
that the mule and ass were distinguished in ancient
art; the domestic ass has in general longer ears, a
head shorter and thicker above the eyes for its
length, and of greater size in proportion to the
body, than the mule. In all of the bronzes in
question which I have examined the conformation
of the heads appears to be that of mules. Cf. the
asses (?) on a sarcophagus relief published in the
Arch. Zeit., 1864, Plate CLXXXVI, 1, and the
mules on a sixth-century Greek bronze relief
(Schumacher, p. 47, No. 268, Plate VI, I), on an
Attic crater (Furtwangler-Reichhold, Plate 7),
and here Fig. 44.

84 STYLE
The horses' and mules' heads are rendered with considerable fidelity. They
differ in artistic value, some being very poor, others good. It is hoped that the
possibility afforded in the plates of comparing a large number of these bronzes will
be welcome, even though in general the illustrations fail to do the bronzes justice.
It is difficult to get favorable photographs of heads in such positions as these; the
ears, for example, do not look as unnatural on the bronzes themselves as in some
of the illustrations. In Plate XIV it is clear how successfully the horses' and
mules' heads are differentiated. In (a) and (c) of this plate, not only the patent
distinction in the length of the ears, but the narrower, somewhat shorter, and more
pointed formation of the mule's head below the eyes, is evident. In (c) of the same
plate the different shape of the muzzle of the mule is plain; it has a more rounded
gradual curve, more drooping lower lip, and less sensitive nostrils than that of the
horse {cf. d). The roached mane characteristic of mules is also well rendered.
These mules are, however, somewhat idealized ; in most cases they give the impres
sion of being nobler animals than mules. None of them show such marked con
trast to the horse, as, for instance, the mules' heads on the attachment of a vase
handle in the Bibliotheque Nationale.1 The idealization is aided by the laying
back of the ears; it would have been fatal to artistic effects to represent them erect!
The "vicious expression" to which Professor Anderson calls attention (p. 83, n,
8) is marked in a large number of these heads; in Plate VIII, for instance, the mule
at the right seems to be drawing down his upper lip — a token of .irritation like the
extreme laying back of the ears. Other heads, however, are amiable as {d) in
Plate XIV, which is one of the best of the horses' heads; in {a) of Plate XIV and
{b) of Plate XI the expression is a distinctly startled one. Professor Anderson
writes further of the British Museum bronzes: "The head is in almost every case
decorated with a garland of vine leaves entwined with tendrils and bunches of
grapes, while the shoulders are covered with a curious leather collar, the top of
which is turned down just where it joins the shaggy skin of some wild animal,
which is thrown over it. This collar seems to be almost unique in its kind, and
well deserves investigation, for it is evidently borrowed from actual life and is of a
fixed type in all these bronzes." Professor Anderson is in error in one point: the
wreath is ivy, not grape. In Plate XIII it is very evident that ivy berries, not
grapes, are reproduced.2 It is of interest that the ivy adornment does not occur
on horses' heads. One of the Pompeian "bisellia" (the low one) has mules'
1 Cat. des bronzes ant. de la Bibl. nat., p. 585, in clusters' of berries in artistic portrayal identical
No. 1455. with the berries on the bronze mules' heads. Cf.
2 Cf. in Monuments Piot, Vol. IV (1897), Plate also here the iv? on the head of the m£enad in Plate
X, the case of ivy twined about the body of a bronze
panther. Two branches tied on the breast terminate

ORNAMENT. COUCHES WITH CURVED END-RESTS 85
heads, which at present at least have no ivy branches; the same may be said of the
"bisellium" in the British Museum (Plate VIII). But the absence of ivy in the
case of mules is exceptional. In the illustrations given here, Plates XIII, XlVa c,
XV&, probably also d, and XVII, all represent heads of one type. The maeander
on the collar, the shape of collar and tassel, and the two clusters of ivy berries on
the forehead, one close to each eye, are similar in all these heads. That no two,
much less all of them, are from the same mold, although they might well be from
the same factory, is evident from differences in size, and other variations such as
the angle at which the head is turned. Plate XI Vb represents another type; the
collar is of different form and has ivy ornamentation instead of a maeander; the ivy
on the head is without berries and is differently arranged, with a curled stem hang
ing down the middle of the face. Unfortunately, I cannot throw any light on the
peculiar collar to which Professor Anderson calls attention; so far as I am aware,
it occurs only on these bronze attachments of beds. If one could get hold of any
considerable number of other representations of mules, contemporary with the
extant ornaments of fulcra, the collar might be found to be peculiar to mules. It
probably was not worn by horses, or it would occur on some of the numerous rep
resentations of horses in late Greek or Roman art. The skin fastened about the
shoulders of mules in addition to the collar, and separately about many horses'
shoulders (see Plates Xlb, Xlla, XI W, and XVI), was probably an article of
fairly common use; it extended also over the back of the animal, thus adding to
the rider's comfort. This skin is present on the earliest of the bronze couch orna
ments representing a horse's head and shoulders — the one found at Priene —
which takes its use back to the beginning of the second century B. C.,1 and it is
an occasional equipment of the riding-horse of Roman date.2
It is a question whether there is any particular appropriateness in these heads,
or whether they were chosen merely because their decorative effect was good. I
shall be able to show presently that the other ornament on the early Roman beds
has nothing about it which is exceptional for the period, or necessarily significant.
If only the heads of horses and of aquatic birds were used in the terminal orna
ments, I should reject all theory of significance. Ducks' heads are frequent in
1 A gold medallion from Tarsus of the time of of Alexander's horse. None of the other so-called
the emperor Commodus has on the reverse Alexander equestrian portraits of Alexander show it.
hunting a lion; in this the horse wears a skin. , Qn a ^ ^ ^ pakzzo ^ Conservatori]
(Morgan, Xenophm on Horsemanship, p. 33, Rom6) from & monument of Marcus Aurdius
tailpiece = Kopp, Uber das Bddmss Alexanders ^^ ^ Vq1 ^ Nq and
des Grossen, p. 7.) However, it is impossible to ., ,. r , „, ¦ ¦ , . .,
' r J/ . . r , . on another relief of irajamc date now upon the
say whether the skin was a contribution of the time a i_ r #~> . *• / a j i_ 4 v. -vr
J .,,,,. Arch of Constantine (Anderson, photograph No.
of Commodus to the type, or a faithful rendering

from earlier originals of a feature of the trappings

2546).

86

STYLE

metal-work, notably as side attachments to the handles of vessels where they join
the rim, and horses' heads have occasional use as handles of knives1 or of lamps.2
But the choice of a mule for the most prominent position in the ornament requires
some explanation; the wreath with which his head, unlike the horse's head, is
always adorned suggests that the mule had a peculiar significance. Both the ivy
and the mule are associated with Dionysus;
Dionysus and his attendants, the satyrs, are
occasionally portrayed in ancient art riding
mules3 {cf. Fig. 44). That the artists should
intentionally introduce a reminder of the god
of wine in the decoration of banquet couches
is not improbable. The horses' heads have
no such significance, and it is accordingly
not strange to find a preponderance of mules'
heads among these bronzes. The ducks'
heads are also meaningless, but they were
needed in equal numbers to balance at the back the more elaborate decoration of
the front. Dr. Graeven calls attention, apropos of an analogy in bone carvings, to the
curved transition wrought in relief between the lower ends of the terminal orna
ments and the middle of the rests.4 This is in all probability a leaf,5 one of the
circlet from which the animal's neck is conceived as emerging {cf. the terra-cotta
of Fig. 45). It would be strange indeed if on such extensively decorated couches
as these that which is perhaps the most marked peculiarity of Roman ornament, a
combination into one motive of both plant and animal forms, were wholly lacking.

Fig. 4s
Hanover.

-Terra-cotta handle ( ? ). — Kestner Museum,

1 An instance is cited in the Cat. des bronzes ant.
de la Bibl. nal., p. 477, No. 1151.
2Friedrichs, Kleinere Kunst und Industrie im
Altertum, p. 183, No. 723. Unpublished detached
handles, of which many were probably fastened to
lamps, exist in various museums. The same use
has been suggested as possible for the terra-cotta
from the Kestner Museum in Hanover, given in
Fig. 45. See p. 84, n. 2, and p. 107, n. 5, of the
work there cited.
3 Roscher, Ausftihrliches Lexikon der grie
chischen und romischen Mythologie, Vol. I, col.
1095. * Graeven, p. 51. The passage is as follows:
"Der bronzene Entenhals geht unten in einen
Biigel aus, mit dem das Zierstiick gleichsam auf-

geschoben ist auf die Holzunterlage. Bei alien
Bronzezierraten, die den gleichen Zweck wie der
Entenkopf gehabt haben, kehrt der Biigel wieder,
doch bildet er nicht immer einen einfachen Bogen,
oft ist er in der Mitte geknickt."
3 It has the same general shape, broad and
rounded, and with the edge curled over in the
middle, as that which occurs frequently in silver
work and in sculpture, and seems often arbitrarily
combined to make blossoms. Cf. the four-petaled
open blossoms on the pilaster from the tomb of the
Haterii (Wickhoff-Strong, Roman Art, Plate
VIII) and the leaves rising from the lower part of
some silver vessels (Monuments Piot, Vol. V [1899],
Plate IX, and Pernice and Winter, Der Hildes-
heimer Silberfund, Plate VI).

ORNAMENT. COUCHES WITH CURVED END-RESTS 87
This combination takes place in two ways: either there is an apparent organic
union of the vegetable and the animal or human forms, or, as here, the protome of
the latter issues from a leafy calyx. The first combination is perhaps the older;1
at least, the bronze rest from Priene affords the earliest instance known to me of
the second, which in the years immediately following Christ's birth runs rampant.
The facts that the bed with curved rests may be traced back into the fifth century
B. C, and that the two prominent motives of Roman ornament mentioned may
be seen on pre-Roman monuments, are significant indications that the roots of
Roman art lie in an earlier period.
The entire ornament of the one ancient upright of the head-rest on the couch
in St. Petersburg is cast in one piece and is in relief. This style of couch in its
final development, however, had plastic adornment at the two extremities of the
uprights of the rests, but an inlaid pattern on the curved part between. The corners
of the couch frame were ornamented with strips of bronze • inlaid with various
patterns, and this decoration was even extended in some cases to the legs. The
ornaments forming the upper corner termini of the rests have been fully discussed
in the preceding pages. At the lower corners were always medallions, usually a
bust with considerable projection, but sometimes a head or other design in low
relief (see Plates X and XI). Heads of satyrs, of maenads, and of Eros are favorite
motives, and have numerous parallels in the art of sculpture ; these from beds often
show considerable artistic merit (see Fig. 49 and Plate IX). Animals' heads
occur in this position also, but less frequently than the human heads; a pleasing
example is afforded by one of the Anticythera bronzes, the head of a dog of shaggy
type, with one ear pricked up and the other lopping down.2 The satyrs' and
maenads' heads occurring in connection with the heads of mules strengthen the
theory of a reference to Dionysus. But taken alone one would not attach any
special significance to them, for they belong to the popular motives of an age fond
of episodes of love and revelry, and of light and playful themes. The inlaid work
on these uprights is usually of floral patterns, such as two branches of myrtle start
ing from the corners and having their tips crossed in the center (illustrated on the
"bisellium" in the British Museum, Plate IX).3 But the "Capitoline bisellium"
' For instance, a caryatid, whose drapery runs Vol. II, p. 264, No. 15 10, and Plate XXVII). Mr.
out in foliage, and whose legs merge into scroll-work, Smith cites examples of this motive dating back to
occurs on a number of architectural capitals, the beginning of the fourth century B. C.
Examples are: a very much shattered capital in the
Pergamon Museum, Berlin, which, so far as I know,
is unpublished; another from Miletus in the Louvre

2 Svoronos-Barth, Das Athener National-
Museum, Plate IX, 1. Also very poorly given in

,„. , , ' . . xt o j \ "E,<pT)P*pte ' Apxaio\oyiK-ff ,1902, col. 164, Fig. 13.
(Giraudon, photographs Nos. 1085 and 2035); a J
third from Salamis (Cyprus) now in the British 3 On a silver vessel (Monuments Piot, Vol. V
Museum (A. H. Smith, A Catalogue of Sculpture [1899], Plate I) having in its center a medallion
in the Department of Greek and Roman Antiquities, personifying the city of Alexandria, there is a border

88

STYLE

»x*

r,**,*,*,*,**^,*.*,*,*.** b~*>*^^

m

shows a more ambitious design — a vintage scene. The legs when inlaid have
wreaths of myrtle or other plants around the most prominent part of some of the
turnings, and similar branches on the lowest member,1 that which covers the ends
of the braces at the floor-level.
Fig. 46 gives a selection of designs from t'.e rails of couches. These designs
are made up of small elements repeated many
times in a single stretch of ornament. Unique,
so far as I am aware, but entirely in the spirit
of Roman art, is the pattern shown in Plate
XIX. This is also from a rail, but is more akin
to the floral decoration of the middle section of
some of the uprights than to the designs of Fig.
46. It has an approximate, but not rigid, sym
metry; as can be discovered on close inspection,
no two of the nearly equal-sized divisions
marked off above and below the intertwined
stems by the larger grape leaves are exactly alike.
The material at our disposal is not ade
quate to a study of the ornament of late Roman
couches. But I cannot close this chapter with
out returning for a moment to the questions
raised in the introductory paragraph. I have
not attempted in this discussion of style
any comparison with the furniture of other
countries and periods. Nevertheless, I
think it may be safely said that the couches
which have been considered do not exhibit
striking merits, warranting us to claim for them an exalted position in a history
of furniture. They do not show that marked superiority which is undeniable in

[MpIMpMMMpJMIU
PiMifriiMteiJl

»JJPI»JJ>JJ ^J^JI>^J^lF^f>

>?«

PBMllSaHHll

*

*l*s*

Fig. 46. — Patterns from the rails of couches.

lightly incised immediately below the rim; this
border consists of four branches arranged in twos,
with stems tied together by ribbons and with tips
meeting. The general arrangement of the branches
and one of the two highly conventionalized plants
represented are closely like the corresponding
features of the motive in question on the couches.
It is interesting to see the motive, with this difference
that the branches are naturalistically treated instead
of being conventionalized, on another of the silver
vessels from Boscoreale (Plate XVII of the work
cited at the beginning of this note). Here two olive

branches form the decoration of a cup; the branches
start in the middle of one side, and their tips
meet, barely touching, in the middle of the other
side. The conventionalized wreath has a pre-Roman
history; it is common, for instance, about the rims of
late red-figured vases. Perhaps the naturalistic
treatment of such wreaths is distinctly Roman.
Cf. Wickhoff-Strong, Roman Art, pp. 34 and 56.
1 On the bed from Boscoreale olive branches
adorn the lowest members of the legs (Jahrb., Vol.
XV [1900], Anz., p. 179).

ORNAMENT. LATE ROMAN COUCHES 89
contemporary vases, at least in those of the best Greek period. Vases of the sixth
and fifth centuries are marvelous in their beautiful lines and effective contrasts of
dark and light. But at the very period during which these vases were produced
the couches with the disagreeably incised legs were in vogue.
The study of Greek couches then teaches that Greek artistic taste in the
industrial field was far from infallible. Nevertheless, it does not seriously chal
lenge our traditional faith in the presence in the Greek people of a deeply rooted,
all-pervading artistic sense. If we have found some features of design far from
commendable, we have yet been impressed by the extent, in the Greek period, of
the influence upon furniture of other arts. In the decoration of the earlier beds —
those with rectangular, incised legs — the relations are more particularly to other
industrial products; all these — tripods, household utensils, in short, the common
articles of every-day use — abound in more or less beautiful artistic motives. Begin
ning in the fourth century, the application also of the higher art of sculpture in
couch designs is noticeable. The reliefs ornamenting the upper ends of the supports
of the couch represented in the frontispiece (see also Plate III), for instance, might
have been inspired by the frieze in the temple of Phigaleia, so closely do they
resemble in style the figures of that series of sculptured slabs. It has been pointed
out that medallions such as the satyrs' heads of Plate IX and Fig. 49 are probably
derived from greater works of sculpture.1
The survival long into the Roman period of couches having sculptured orna
ment is probably due to the interest fashionable among the Romans in Greek pro
ducts. Probably the manufacture of couches remained for a long time in the
hands of Greek artisans.2
The ornamental details of late Roman couches are less well known to us. But
this much is clear: late couches were plainer in design than earlier ones, although
probably often no less rich in materials (see p. 55). They represent the utilitarian
and practical spirit of the Romans, and have accordingly in design more in common
with present-day furniture. The critic who approves of severity and simplicity
in articles for common use will admire perchance the Roman couch with the con
ventionalized dolphins on the rests {e. g., Fig. 31), rather than the late Greek type
which has more flowing lines and many decorative details, each detail in itself
being often a charming work of art.
1 Cf. pp. 87 and 99. 2 Cf. p. 61, n. 4.

SUPPLEMENTARY MATTER
SECTION I
DISCUSSION OF PLATES
Frontispiece Frontispiece. — See under Plate III.
Plate i Plate I.1 — Etruscan terra-cotta cinerary urn, representing a couch. In the British
Museum in Case 74 of the Etruscan Saloon. Found in Cervetri. Entire
length, 59^ cm. ; height to the highest point of the cover, 34 cm. B. M. Ter
racottas, B 629. Described or referred to here on pp. 16 (n. 3), 26, 45, 47,
75 (n. 1), and 80.
The cover is in the form of a recumbent person with head and feet exposed; long
curls hang down over the drapery, which envelops the rest of the figure. The supports
have three parts — the capitals, the legs proper, and bases of curved profile which probably
represent the ends of braces running through to the other side of the couch. The tenons
show prominently {cf. pp. 42, 43).
There is a similar urn pictured by Heuzey in Recherches sur les lits antiques, p. 18,
probably one of those in the Louvre. Three specimens also found at ancient Caere and
belonging to the Campana Collection are exhibited in the Louvre. Of these, two seem
exactly alike ; in the third the reclining figure is somewhat smaller. But the reliefs in the
example published here and in the three just mentioned are alike and may well be from the
same mold. These all date perhaps from the close of the sixth century.
Plate 11 Plate II. — Working drawmg for a bed with rectangular, incised legs. Based on
the vase-painting reproduced in Fig. 27. See pp. 45, 46.
Plate in and Plate III and Frontispiece. — Terra-cotta in the Louvre.2 Found in a tomb
Frontispiece aj- T/anagra. Length, 28 cm.; height to level of seat, 12 cm.; to top of pillow,
17.2 cm.; width of pillars, 2.5 cm. Pictured and briefly described, Girard,
Fig. 4385, p. 1017. Described or referred to here, pp. 28, 46, 47, 68, 74, 75,
and 89.
1 This, Plates VIII-XIV inclusive, (c) and (d) of keeper, Dr. Cecil Smith, has been so good as to
Plate XV, (b) of Plate XXIX, and Fig. 49, are from confirm.
photographs taken for me in the British Museum. , x have to thank Monsieur E. Pottier, assistant
The permission to use the material I owe to the curator of the Louvre, for bringing this terra-cotta
kindness of the late keeper of classical antiquities, to my attention and for permitting me to publish it.
Dr. A. S. Murray. This permission the present 90

TERRA-COTTA FROM TAN AGRA. LOUVRE

9i

The pillars are plank constructions and show in their ornament reminiscences of the
incised type of leg.1
The couch is alike at the two ends (a/i</>iKe'$a\o?). The reliefs which surmount the
legs are no doubt ornate substitutes for the usual volutes of the rectangular, incised type
(cf. for general form the frontispiece with the headpiece of chap. 1). The figures in low

Fig. 47. — Various types of chair and couch supports.

1 The relation to the incised type is at first sight
more obvious in some other rectangular furniture
legs reproduced above in Fig. 47 side by side with
a view of a leg of the Louvre terra-cotta. The old
design survives with greatest fulness in (a). Inci
sions, palmettes, and double volutes are all present,
although their forms have been somewhat modified
and a few new elements have been introduced.
The two double volutes of the incisions run out
above and below into other volutes of S -shape; the
central volutes are ugly, the projections in the middle
being greatly exaggerated. The addition of the
S -shaped volutes results in a loss of the straightness
of outline above and below the incisions which was
characteristic of the older type. The rosettes at the
top may possibly correspond to the star on the nor
mal type, but the rosettes in the middle and at the
bottom are additions. The medallion with head
also occurs on other late examples, but never earlier
(cf. the instance in a vase-painting mentioned, p. 28,
n- 3)- In (b) the disintegration of the design character
istic of the rectangular, incised legs is farther ad

vanced. Here the ornament no longer forms a
single, unified pattern, the various elements of which
pass into one another without interruption; rather,
it is broken up by horizontal lines into three parts.
In the central part there is a survival of the incised,
double volutes. S-shaped volutes appear above and
below, but not as in (a) growing out of the central
volutes. The two palmettes are present, but are
likewise disconnected from one another and from
the remainder of the design.
In (c) there is the triple division of the leg hori
zontally as in (b), without, however, a reminder in
the middle division of volute incisions. On the con
trary, double volutes without projections or hori
zontal links (see p. 76, n. 2, second paragraph)
edge the upper and lower divisions. The scheme of
ornament in (c) is really a combination of two
derivatives of the rectangular, incised type. These
derivatives are represented (1) in (b), which (c)
resembles in the triple horizontal division, and (2)
in the tailpiece of chap. 4, which (c) is like in the
repetition of the double volutes. On the chair
shown in the tailpiece mentioned the double volutes

92 DISCUSSION OF PLATES
relief are here purely ornamental, without subject significance. * They are remarkably
beautiful for work on such a small scale and in such rude material; unfortunately the illus
trations fail to do them justice, either artistically or in bringing out details. The relief at
the left end of the couch (Plate Ilia) represents a woman moving rapidly to the right.
She wears an ungirded Doric chiton which has an overfold reaching below the waist. The
chiton has become loosened on the right shoulder and has slipped down, exposing her
right breast. She holds in each hand a corner of a mantle which falls from her head and
forms a background for her figure. The head is seen in profile, looking down and back
ward. Her hair is waved over her forehead and is adorned with a fillet. The other relief
(Plate III&) represents a youth moving to the left. He is nude except for a chlamys which
is fastened by a round brooch under his chin and floats out behind. His form is lithe
and energetic, although of stalwart proportions. His hair is effectively rendered as if blown
back by the wind. These two reliefs were formed separately and then attached to the
terra-cotta. The interest and charm of the terra-cotta are greatly increased by the remains of color
upon it (frontispiece). Red has been the most enduring color. It filled in the volutes
carved on the pillars. The background of the reliefs on the rail and of the figures sur
mounting the pillars was solidly red. Zigzags and rows of circles on the rail, maeanders
(not visible in the illustration), and stripes on pillows and seating were also red. Other
bits of this vivid color may be seen on the tails of the dolphins and the lips of the masks
adorning the rail. Considerable blue is still clear in the furnishings of the~eouch, maeanders,
dots set in rows, wave patterns, and stripes, all in blue, being included in the designs of
these richly colored stuffs. There are traces of gilding visible on the hair of the mask to
the right, and of white in various places on the terra-cotta; undoubtedly the little couch
originally had much more gilding and more white color.
The terra-cotta must be thought of as representing a structure with an interlacing,
which may well have been fastened in the same manner as the interwoven leather strands
reproduced in the marble fragment from Pergamon (Plate V and p. 65, Fig. 34) ; the inter
laced surface was thus at a slightly lower level than the top of the rails. A long and narrow
tapestry, admirably rendered in the terra-cotta, fitted exactly in width and thickness the
space inclosed by the side-rails and the interlacing, thus making the whole surface of the
have not lost the original form seen in the Assyrian (b), and the plank-like appearance of the legs prove
prototype (Fig. 39). Each of the two larger divi- that (d) also is a derivative from the rectangular,
sions of (c) contains further an adaptation of the incised type.
traditional arrangement of palmettes.
„ „ . , ° , , , - it . . , * Probably they are excerpts from some compo-
Finally in (d) the departure from the incised .. J . J f ,.,
' . ,, . ,. , ., sition, representing a definite scene, which was
type is very great. All feeling for the cut-out, ' *" & . '
; . , , . , „ , ,, . within the repertory of the designer of the terra-
double volutes is lost. Toward the top is repre- v i . 6 .
, ... . , , , , . cotta. But scenes in which appear fleeing or pur-
sented a winged creature with single head and two . ,
, ,. , . , . ¦ x- ii_ 1 r suing women and youths are too numerous to
bodies, which is unique as a motive on the legs of ° , . , ...
,.,,.,,• . , j- • • permit us to name the particular one to which we
couches. Nevertheless the horizontal divisions con- r r
necting (d) with the designs in (b) and (c), the
S-shaped volutes establishing a relation \.o°A(a)jtn&

FRAGMENTS OF MARBLE COUCH FROM PERGAMON 93
couch even, as it appears in the frontispiece, and contributing to the comfort of the occu
pants. This covering was drawn up over the end-boards and fell half-way to the floor,
with corners hanging still lower. The cushions were also covered with a richly colored,
striped material, and were furnished with tassels at each corner.
The couch is to be dated chiefly on grounds of style and belongs in all probability
somewhere between the close of the fifth and the close of the fourth century B.C. I am
inclined to place it in the third quarter of the fourth century B. C.1
Plates IV-VI. — Two fragments of a marble couch.2 Found in the Library Plates iv-vi
attached to the precinct of Athena Polias at Pergamon, and therefore probably
dating from the reign of the builder of the Library, Eumenes II. (197-159
B. C). Now in the Pergamon Museum in Berlin. One piece, represented
in two views in Plates IV and V, is 55 cm. high and about 25X20 cm. on top;
the other (Plate VI) is 26 cm. long, 15 cm. high, and 15 cm. wide. Briefly
described in the small official Fiihrer durch das Pergamon-Museum, p. 45.
Mentioned here, pp. 16, 32, 64, 65, and 69.
The interlacing of the one piece, the pillow of the other, and the valance appearing on
both identify these blocks at once as parts of a couch. Many features of the original monu
ment are clear from what remains. It had the interwoven filling, cushion at one end and
richly figured valance just referred to, an ornamented rail, and at least at one upper corner a
1 We have seen that the wide rails occur in figures in question are on so small a scale, are of
the case both of chairs and couches on late red- humble material and were made in a place removed
figured ware (p. 49 and n. 1); and we have found from the center of the influence of Lysippus.
evidence for the existence in Attica, at least as early Modifications of the design seen on rectangular,
as the middle of the fifth century, of couches with incised legs are found as early as the fifth century
the two ends alike, although they were apparently (p. 27) and are frequent in the fourth century (p.
only coming in then and did not become common 28) ; the pattern of the legs of this terra-cotta, how-
until later (pp. 26 and 28). The poses of the ever, has features in common with that of the legs
two figures in relief do not aid us. The striding of chairs assigned to the Roman period, and one
attitude, with one leg bent at the knee and the would like therefore to place these as late as possible.
other nearly straight, and often with the face Finally the find-spot, Tanagra, according to the
turned away from the direction of movement, as views prevalent at present, is favorable to setting
in the case here of the girl, is very common in the date of this terra-cotta after 350 B. C. (See
Greek relief sculpture from the archaic period B. M. Terracottas, Introduction, pp. XXXIX,
down to the Neo-Attic school. (Cf., for instance, XL.)
the girl's figure in the center of the front side of a ¦>- My obligation is great to Geheimrath Kekule
sarcophagus in the Uffizi Gallery; Amelung, Fiihrer, von stradonitz, director of the Department of Classi-
p. 24, No. 27=Alinari, photograph No. 1313.) Cal Antiquities of the Royal Museums in Berlin, for
The proportions of the figures in relief on the calJing my attention to these marble fragments and
terra-cotta are perhaps significant of a date before allowing me to publish them. My thanks are due
the introduction by Lysippus of a new canon. It to him also for the photographs reproduced in (b)
is principally for this reason that I have suggested of plate VIIj in (o) and (6) of plate XVj in plate
above a date between the years 350 and 325 B. C. XXVIII, and in the tailpiece of chap. 2.
Yet even here caution must be exercised, since the

94 DISCUSSION OF PLATES
griffin support instead of an ordinary couch leg. If we look closer, it is evident that these
are end-pieces, and that they cannot belong to the same end of the couch. In the side-
view of the one (Plate IV) are folds indicating the drawing up of the valance to a corner,
and in the top-view (Plate V) of the same block small portions of the frame show on two
sides. The other fragment (Plate VI) is clearly from a corner, and the low cushion or pillow
distinguishes it as belonging to the head of the couch. In the fragment from the foot of
the couch, owing to the unfortunate breaking off of the corner, the nature of the support at
the lower end is not apparent, but it may be assumed to have been like that at the head.
The valance and ornamented rail would naturally have been on the front of the structure.
The main points of doubt, then, are whether the couch was finished all around or was
designed to stand against a wall, and therefore left plain behind, and how the griffin sup
ports and the ends otherwise are to be restored.
In case the couch was finished all around, the two long sides were no doubt alike,
and there were griffin supports at all four corners. But if it stood against a wall, and it
was accordingly appropriate in the design to emphasize the front as distinguished from
the back, it is very possible that there were legs of one of the ordinary forms at the back
(cf. the instance of less ornate legs at the back of the Vathia funerary couch, Fig. 38). There
are, however, two other possibilities, in case the couch stood against a wall: one is that
since the couch-form had merely a surface rendering upon a solid block of marble, and
therefore supports at the back were not constructionally essential, these supports were
omitted altogether; the second is that up to the wall on both ends the couch was finished
like one designed to stand out, visible on all four sides.
The griffins faced outward. They may have been crouching or standing, their bodies
being carved in relief along the ends of the bed; their tails would then probably have formed
an S-shaped curve, with ends apparently helping to support the rail of the couch. But
there is another plausible restoration ; that is, after the manner of the supports of the marble
tables (cartibula) seen in the atria of Pompeian houses (e. g., Fig. 48). In these, only the
head, wings, and a portion of the body of the griffin are represented; below, the body passes
into one huge leg with claw-foot.1 Other more or less elaborate designs fill in the space
between the two opposite supports.
Our main interest, however, is not in this marble couch as such, but in it so far as it is
a translation into stone of contemporary real couches. There can be no question that the
' It is unfortunate that the Pergamene fragments the incongruity, into a heavy claw-foot. This
are indecisive on this point. One would like to hybrid is analogous to the older of the two combina-
know whether this kind of griffin support which was tions of plant and animal forms (see p. 87) in the
common in the Roman period in work in marble was one respect that the two parts in the two classes of
in use in the Hellenistic age. Certainly there are motives appear to be organically united. The
similar combinations of very ancient origin. For various Greek and Roman decorative motives in
instance, the archaic Etruscan sarcophagus of terra- which mythological animals or other unreal com-
cotta in the British Museum rests upon supports (see binations of animal forms, as well as vegetable and
the detail of this sarcophagus given in Fig. 41), which animal forms together, appear, would repay extended
consist each of the upper part of a sphinx or siren study and analysis.
passing, without leaves or other forms to disguise

FRAGMENTS OF MARBLE COUCH FROM PERGAMON

95

FlG. 48. — Marble table in the atrium of the "House of Meleager,'
Pompeii.

interlacing, valance, and ornate frame are not marble forms. For all of these, analogies
can be. found in representations of what were certainly ordinary beds or couches in use
in interiors. But the griffin support in the representation of a bed is, so far as I know,
unique. ' This may be mere chance. On the other hand, it is possible that the griffin was
introduced in this case by the designer because particularly appropriate to work in marble.
Besides the Pompeian examples in
marble mentioned in the preceding
paragraph, animal supports are numer
ous in relief sculpture, in small bronzes,
and in terra-cottas.2 It is perhaps
possible to explain them as fanciful
conceits, or as miniature copies of cult
statues in bronze or marble, rather than
as modeled on common household
furniture. Certainly animal supports
made out of wood or bronze would
render an indoor article of common
use heavy and unwieldy, whereas
solidity in effect and in actual weight
are desirable in marble. Further, the
distribution of the apparently support
ing members is a matter of indifference (except to artistic feeling) where these members
are carved or cast in relief and the real burden is borne by the solid background. It is
difficult to conceive of some forms seen on the monuments as practical in the round even
in bronze. In the case under consideration, the constructional difficulty of connecting
the end- rail with the side- rail, which seems to lie at a slightly lower level (Plate VI), is in
favor of the view that the griffin is an introduction into the design as adapted to work in
marble. • The rails seen in Plates IV-VI undoubtedly represent wooden construction, but it is
not so clear whether the ornament on the front-rail and the griffin support were of wood
or of bronze, if, contrary to the view set forth above, the griffin was a feature of an actual
couch which served as a model to the worker in marble. There is a sharpness of relief in
the palmette depicted on the rail (Plate VI) which suggests that this palmette was an applied
1 Cf. p. 112, n. 27.
2 There is in the Archaeological Museum in
Florence a terra-cotta cinerary urn in the form of a
seated life-size figure; the supports of the chair of
this figure are sphinxes facing to the front with
wings clasped about the sides of the chair. In
numerous small terra-cottas, as well as in larger
works in marble, representing Cybele seated, lions
occupy a similar position (see Reinach, Repertoire
de la statuaire grecque et romaine, Vol. I, pp. 182-85).

Two bronze female figures in the British Museum
stand on stools that have animal supports; these
supports are in the one case, No. 493 in the Etruscan
Saloon, lions; in the other, a fifth-century Greek
bronze (Bulletin de correspondance hellenique, Vol.
XXII [1898], Plate I), they arepegasi. A fragment
of a relief from Rhodes representing Serapis and
Isis, which is also in the British Museum, shows a
chair with sphinx support extending in relief on the
side. These examples might be multiplied.

96 DISCUSSION OF PLATES
ornament of metal rather than one carved in the wood of the rail. Moldings like the one
forming at the top a transition from the rail to the interlacing (p. 65 and Plate V) serve
a similar purpose for the decorative panels on the side of the rail, curving from the surface
of the rail to the ground of the sunken panels.
One of the most interesting features of these marbles is the representation of a valance.
From the appearance of the folds, the valance is to be thought of as of fairly heavy stuff,
and probably as woven rather than embroidered, possibly as the kind which at a later date
was exported to Italy and used on mattresses (cf. p. 71 and n. 12). I have found no other
valance equally elaborate in design, unless it is the one of different character on the little
terra-cotta from Egypt pictured in Plate Vila. In vase-paintings a plain border and
polka-dots or rosettes scattered over the surface of the valance are common, and rows of
animals, as in the headpiece of chap. 4, are occasional. Here the pattern is in horizontal
registers containing a great variety of common and uncommon motives. Beginning at the
top (Plate IV), the first register after the break in the stone contains two varieties of rosettes,
alternating and placed in squares. Both these rosette forms are closely composed and have
a small circle in the center. One is made up of four broad leaves with the rounded ends
outward and tendrils between the leaves. The other is formed of four leaves pointed at
the outer extremities and broad in the middle, with rays occupying the space between them.
(Cf. Plate VI, where one of the rosettes made up of petals with rounded ends is visible
just below the rail.) The next register shows a somewhat narrower, running tendril
design, of a kind known from the Mycenaean period1 down to Roman times. Then comes
the widest field of the entire valance. The preserved portion of it is occupied by a tripod
(tall, with claw-feet, and no doubt to be thought of as made of bronze) and a griffin. Both
wings of the griffin show; his head is turned looking back, his left paw is raised, and his
tail curves up over his back. There was doubtless a second griffin in a corresponding
position on the other side of the tripod. The next design is unusual in Greek art, although
a common one on Assyrian monuments (Perrot and Chipiez, Vol. II, Ckaldee et Assyrie,
Figs. 41, 42, 86, 102, 104-7, II2> JI8> 359, and Plate XIV). Its position here should be noticed,
for it is properly an upper terminal border. For instance, it is the regular upper finish, of
braziers of bronze of the Roman period.2 Almost the same motive is seen in Moorish art,
the only difference being that the line connecting the steps in the Moorish type is no longer
vertical, but is a diagonal turning inward.3 The next register below is nearly as wide as
that containing the griffin and tripod. In it parts of sea monsters may be made out — to
the left, a sinuous, scaly body; to the right, the fore feet and head of some sea creature.
Next comes a very graceful variety of the alternating palmette and lotus pattern ; in this the
component parts of the palmettes have the ends curved in. Below this is the familiar
1 Cf. Riegl, Stilfragen. Grundlegungen zu einer Life and Art2, p. 377, Fig. 207, and Real museo bor-
Geschichte der Ornamentik, on "Die Entstehung der bonico, Vol. II, Plates XL VI, 2, and LIV).
Ranke," pp. 113 ff. 3 E. g., a parapet around the tops of buildings,
2 Examples in Lyons, France (Catalogue som- such as the Mosque of Cordova, and the upper bor-
maire des musees de la ville de Lyon, pp. 229, 230, der of the mosaic of tiling which occupies the wall-
Fig. 70) and in Naples (Mau-Kelsey, Pompeii: Its space below the plaster work in the Alhambra.

TERRA-COTTA FROM EGYPT. BERLIN 97
astragal of Greek art, and then a design which is far from clear. Finally, there are traces
of a fringe.
Not only is this work remarkable as picturing an elaborate valance, but it is rare as an
attempt to render in marble a figured stuff. The one other notable example, aside from
the mattresses of marble sarcophagi in couch form, is the more beautiful sculptured piece
of drapery from Lycosura in the National Museum at Athens. This last has the same
horizontal divisions and indications of fringe and some similar decorative motives — as the
sea monsters. It seems to me that the existence of such similar work in the Pergamon
couch is favorable, so far as it goes, to dating the Lycosura marbles in the second century
B. C.1
Plate Vila. — Terra-cotta in the Egyptian Department of the Royal Museums Plate viia
at Berlin.2 Verz. der dgypt. Altert.% p. 280, No. 13,696. Mentioned here,
pp. 62 (n. 4) and 69.
That a bed is represented is clear from the indications of an interlacing in paint upon
its upper surface. The design of the valance has a broad central division and two narrow
side divisions. In the center is a goddess3 standing in a boat and holding in each hand a
lotus flower with long stem. The side divisions are occupied by grotesque figures of the
god Bes. Although the patterns of the valance are distinctly Egyptian, this style of couch
was unquestionably brought into Egypt through foreign influence.4 The rude terra-cotta
reproduces imperfectly the form of a bed which no doubt had rectangular legs at the front
as at the back, and was of plank construction similar to that of Fig. 25. The valance may
well have extended also along the sides.
There is no means of fixing with certainty the date of this terra-cotta. The fifth-
century analogy just noted (Fig. 25) is favorable to placing it also in the fifth century.
Yet, except perhaps for the extremely high proportions, this simple form might well occur
later. Figures of Bes were especially popular in the Roman period, but as representations
of this god are known even from the New Empire of Egyptian history, their occurrence on
the valance is no hindrance to a tentative dating of the terra-cotta in about the fifth
century B. C.
1 A recent utterance in regard to this much- Chicago, has kindly called my attention to the
disputed point is by Mr. A. M. Daniel (/. H. S., resemblance of this figure to the Syrian goddess
Vol. XXIV [1904], pp. 41 ff.), in favor of a date in Kedesh (cf. Maspero, Struggle of the Nations, p.
the fourth century B. C. 159), and to the fact that a purely Egyptian divinity
.,, , „. a,,,-^ ,• would hardly be represented in full front view.
* I am indebted to Professor Adolf Lrman, direc-
tor of the Egyptian Department of the Berlin 4 Late Egyptian couches, known in small terra-
Museums, for permission to reproduce this terra- cottas slmilar to the one of Plate VIIo> have lions'
cotta as well as to use the following material: the leSs^ these' unllke the claw-feet of non-Egyptian
terra-cotta of Plate XXIXa, the Egyptian couch furnlture> whlch usually turn out, are placed as an
whose rail is given in Figs. 32 and 33, and the frag- ammal's leSs are> a11 directed forward- EgYPt™
ment of Egyptian faience pictured in Fig. 13. couches are ve]7 low' further> they have footboards,
but instead of headboards small rests to fit under
3 Professor J. H. Breasted, of the University of the neck.

98

DISCUSSION OF PLATES

Plate v lib Plate VII6.1 — Terra-cotta from southern Italy. In the Antiquarium of the
Royal Museums at Berlin. Height, 12 cm. Cf. Kekule von Stradonitz,
Die antiken Terrakotten, Vol. Ill, Winter, Die Typen der figiirlichen Terra-
kotten, p. 206, No. 9, where a replica is pictured and a third example cited,
both also in the Berlin Antiquarium. Mentioned here, pp. 29 and 68.
Plates vin-x Plates VIII-X.2 — Parts of a couch restored as a seat. In the British Museum.
Height of present structure, 48 cm. ; width, 30 cm. Uprights of fulcra, from
tops of mules' heads to outer edges of medallions, 28 cm.; diameter of medal
lions, 5.7 cm. B. M. Bronzes, p. 330, No. 2561. 3 Mentioned here, pp. 32,
50, 83 (ns. 3, 8), 84, 85, 87, and 89.
United in this seat are parts of a couch of the type with curved rests. By lengthen
ing the rails, placing the uprights of the fulcra in their proper position above the rails, those
with mules' heads in front, and those with ducks' heads (Plate X) at the back, restoring
the wooden parts which once connected the
uprights, removing the unwarranted braces from
leg to leg, and using their bronze casings for the
back corners of the rails, and supplying finally at
the ends the floor-level braces of wood which are
implied4 by the form of the lowest members of the
legs, the ancient couch in approximately its origi
nal appearance, exclusive of interlacing and fur
nishings, would be recovered.
The winged heads of the medallions (Plate
X) in low relief which were on the back of the
couch are similar to (or identical with ?) heads on
the so-called "bisellia" in Naples.5 The medal
lions of the front of the couch (see Plate IX and
a slightly different view in Fig. 49) are especially
worthy of attention. They represent youthful,
laughing satyrs. Little horns growing from the foreheads, pointed ears, and small protu
berances on the neck mark them as satyrs. The fawn-skins over their left shoulders and

Fig. 49. — Satyrs' heads. — British Museum.

1 See p. 93, n. 2.
2 See p. 90, n. i.
3 By some oversight the erroneous statement has
crept in that the mules' heads of the fulcra are
adorned with vine-wreaths.
4 Otherwise the turned legs would certainly end
in slender members. This guide has been correctly
followed in supplying the floor-level braces of the
couch from Boscoreale, now in Berlin (Jahrb., Vol.

XV [1900], Anz., p. 178, Fig. 1). On many bronze
legs of couches, as on those of Plates VIII and
XVIII, in the process of restoration, the openings
intended to receive the ends of the wooden braces
have been closed with metal.
5 Real museo borbonico, Vol. II, Plate XXXI, 3.
According to Amelung, Rom. Mitt., Vol. XVII
(1902), p. 270, n. 1, one at least of these "bisellia"
has now been reconstructed as a bed.

BRONZES IN THE BRITISH MUSEUM 99
ivy crowning their heads are also appropriate to satyrs. The firm flesh of the cheeks, heavy
brows, modulations of the forehead, broad nose, curve of the lips, and above all the rollick
ing, irresponsible expression are well rendered in these bronzes. These heads are interest
ing as compared with similar types known in sculpture, such as the superb bronze head
in Munich (Beschr. der Glypt., p. 369, No. 450) and the marble one in the Louvre,
reproduced in Reinach, Recueil de tetes antiques ideates ou idealisees, Plate 261.
The bronze and marble heads mentioned are Hellenistic work,1 but these bronzes
resembling them are not necessarily of contemporary date. Indeed, if the same rule holds
good in small bronzes that has been recognized2 in the case of marble sculpture, the form
of the satyrs' busts of Plate IX, showing as they do so much of the arms and breast
indicates that they were made in the reign of Trajan or of Hadrian.3
Plates XI and XII.4 — Bronze uprights of the fulcra of couches. In the British Plates xi and xii
Museum. The inlaid patterns formerly filling the frame (cf. Plate VIII)
are now lost. B. M. Bronzes, p. 331, Nos. 2563-67. Mentioned here, pp.
32, 83, 84, 85, and 87.
Plate XIa and b (= Nos. 2567, 2566) are alike in size, 42.5 cm. from the top of the head
to the outer edge of the medallion, and are probably from the front and back of the same
couch. No. 2566 is said in the catalogue (B. M. Bronzes) to have on a bridle; there is cer
tainly none now present on the bronze. About the horse's neck is a panther's skin, as
frequently in these bronzes, not a collar terminating in a dog's head, as suggested in the
catalogue. The disk, similar to that of (a), which once ornamented the medallion of (b),
has been lost.
Plate Xlla (=No. 2565). Diagonal dimension taken as above, 28 cm. Feminine
bust, at the lower end of the upright, distinguished as Artemis by the quiver visible above
the right shoulder.
1 Professor Furtwangler assigns the Munich acute angle. In the other form the corner is not
bronze to the Alexandrian period, and M. Reinach so attenuated, and the upright strip of molding ter-
thinks that the marble in the Louvre may be an minates upon the lower strip in a tiny volute (Plates
original of Pergamene or Rhodian workmanship. XI, XII) or simply passes into the lower strip with
* By P. Bienkowski. See Revue archeologique, a preceding slight inward curve (Plate XVI). But
Series 3, Vol. XXVII (1895), pp. 214 and 293 that these corner forms are to be considered chrono-
-97. logical peculiarities is not the only explanation which
3 I have not been able, with the material at my m^ be offered- Xt is e(lually Possible that this
command, to work out the chronology of the various detad ls the same in br°nzes issuing from one lac-
bronze attachments of couches. One other point to^' and that the forms mentioned were in use
besides the different forms of the busts should be simultaneously in different cities or workshops. In
mentioned which may be indicative of differences of either case the matter is of Merest. There is a
date. This is the varying shape of the frame of the chance> u seems to me> by usinS these bronzes which
uprights at the outer, lower corners, opposite the exist in such abundance ^ a starting-point, to arrive
medallions. There are two distinct forms notice- at some interesting conclusions in regard to the
able. In one, represented in Plates VIII-X and in chronology and common place of production of
Plate XXI, the molding runs out in an acute angle m3X^ obJects of Roman industrial art.
and then turns back on itself, forming an inner 4 See p. 90, n. 1.

ioo DISCUSSION OF PLATES
Plate XII& (=No. 2564). Diagonal dimension, 34 cm. The medallion contains an
unattractive head of Eros with childish chubby cheeks and open mouth; the front hair is
gathered into a topknot, and there are small wings with recurved tips. Around the neck
is a heavy garland similar to that seen on the medallion of bone in Plate XXII.
Plate XIIc ( = No. 2563). Diagonal measurement, 27 cm. Cast, as the two preceding,
all in one piece, including the medallion. The holes for attachment to the wooden parts
of the fulcrum are 5 mm. in diameter; the bronze nails are still clinging in some of them.
A head of Eros adorns the lower end; in this case the god is apparently represented as a
half-grown lad.
Plates xiii, xiv, Plates XIII, XIV, and (d) of Plate XV.1— Upper corner ornaments of fulcra
and (d) of Plate which, contrary to the technical method pursued in the case of the uprights
of fulcra represented in the preceding plates, were cast separately, and have
thus become detached. Now in the British Museum. In B. M. Bronzes, p.
330, Nos. 2562^5, six mules' heads are briefly described. I am unable to
correlate the statements with the individual bronzes represented here, except
that No. 25623 = Plate XTVb. Mentioned here, pp. 33, 50, 84, and 85. In
these heads the eyes were in whole or in part inserted of another material, and
the inserted portions have in many cases dropped out. The collars were more
or less richly inlaid with silver.
Plate xva and b Plate XVa and b. ,J— Upper corner ornaments of fulcra. In the Antiquarium of
the Royal Museums at Berlin. The duck's head, (a), bears the miscellaneous
inventory number 3771 and is from Pompeii. The mule's head, (6), is pub
lished by Professor Pernice in the Jahrb., Vol. XIX (1904), Ariz., p. 30, Fig.
36. I have repeated it here, since the photograph reproduced in Plate X.Vb
gives a slightly different view of the head, and since the representation of a
ring in the mouth for the attachment of a leading-rein is unique among these
bronzes. Professor Pernice calls attention to the particularly careful work
manship on this head. The ivy adorning it, as in many previous cases, is
wrought out in high relief, parts being completely detached from the ground.
The eyes were of silver inserted, with the pupils inlaid in another material.
The pattern of the collar was also once inlaid with silver. Mentioned here,
PP- 33* 83 (n. 3)1 and 85.
Plate xvc Plate XVc.1 — One of two busts of boys. Probably a lower corner ornament of
the fulcrum of a couch. In the British Museum. Height, 10.2 cm. B. M.
Bronzes, p. 273, No. 1717. Hair very thick and wavy; that of the upper part
1 See p. 90, n. 1. 2 See p. 93, n. 2.

BRONZES IN VIENNA, PARIS, AND LYONS 101
of the head gathered into a topknot. Childish features of peculiar type, the
lower face being heavy, the cheeks fat, lips small and full, nose broad and
stubby, and eyes set wide apart.
Plate XVd.— See above, Plates XIII, etc. Plate xvd
Plate XVI.1 — Bronze upright of the fulcrum of a couch. In the Kunsthistorisches Plate xvi
Hofmuseum in Vienna, Room XIII, Case IX, No. 749. Diagonal measure
ment from top of horse's head to outer edge of medallion, 15 cm. Cast in
one piece, except for the filling (now lost) of the frame between the two ter
minal ornaments. Provenience unknown. Mentioned, pp. 32, 83, 84 (n. 2),
and 85.
The feminine head of the lower ornament is marked as that of a maenad or possibly of
Ariadne by the wreath of ivy. Less is seen of the shoulders and bust than in the instances
in the preceding plates. The hair above the forehead is parted in the middle ; in the neck
it hangs in long, wavy locks. The horse's head of the upper end of the bronze has the fore
lock gathered into a tuft.2 A panther's skin is placed about the shoulders.
Plate XVII.3 — Two bronze mules' heads from the uprights of the fulcra of a Plate xvn
couch. Found at Vienne, France. In the Louvre, in the Thierry Collection,
Nos. 48 and 49. Height, 12.5 cm. Mentioned, pp. 33 and 85.
Plates XVIII and XIX.4 — Parts of a couch restored as a seat. In Lyons. The Plates xviii and
entire structure as it now appears is given in Plate XVIII, a detail from one XIX
rail in Plate XIX. Height, 55 cm.; width, 98 cm. Found at Jallieux, near to
Bourgoin (Isere), in 1848. Catalogue sommaire des musees de la ville de Lyon,
p. 229, No. 71. Mentioned here, pp. 8, 88, and 98 (n. 4).
Unless the bronze uprights of one or two fulcra have been lost, we have here the parts
of a middle couch, which in a 'triclinium requires no end- rest (cf. p. 33). In Plate XVIII,
by close inspection, the entire pattern on the lower corner strip to the left may be made
out. There are two rosettes at each extremity: two vines, one ivy, the other grape, start
from each end and run intertwined toward the center, where they terminate each side of a
central lozenge. (Cf. p. 88.) Details of the pattern and the present corroded condition
of the bronze are clearly shown in Plate XIX.
1 My thanks are due to Professor Robert von 3 Reproduced from a photograph taken at my
Schneider, curator of classical antiquities in the request by M. Giraudon, with the kind permission
Imperial Museums of Vienna, for permission to of the authorities of the Louvre.
publish this bronze and for the photograph repro- 4 FrQm photographs taken at my request by M
duced in this plate. Silvestre, of Lyons, with the kind consent of M.
2 See in regard to the forelock arranged in a tuft, Dissard, curator of classical antiquities in the Lyons
Morgan, Xenophon on Horsemanship, p. 175, note Museum.
on p. 44.

102 DISCUSSION OF PLATES
Plates xx-xxvi Plates XX-XXVI. — Funerary couch found in a tomb at Orvieto some time pre
vious to the year 1896, when it was acquired by the Field Columbian Museum
of Chicago.1 The restoration was made in Italy by Campanini.2 The
museum records contain only the further statement that at the time of finding
the bone parts, having fallen away from the wooden frame, were lying in lines
and heaps, and were gathered by the excavators into bags. Probably, there
fore, all the antique parts of the present structure were found in one tomb
chamber. The modern parts are numerous, consisting of the frame of wood,
much of the mosaic of plaster and bone covering this frame, some entire figures
in bone, and patches on the carvings in both bone and plaster. Mentioned,
PP- 32> 56-58, 75 (n- 5), 99 (n- 3)1 and IO°-
The original design of the couch has been discussed on pp. 56-58. It remains here
to consider details and to determine as far as possible what antique carvings now on the
couch are foreign to the original structure, probably having belonged on some other object
or objects deposited in the tomb chamber. In the accompanying plates3 examples are
given of the various classes of carved ornament represented on the present couch. An
enumeration of all the carvings follows:
1. Two pairs of medallions with heads in high relief . Height, 9.7 cm. One pair given
in Plates XXI and XXII.4 These heads are all of one type, the only difference between
the two pairs being in the bust. In the one pair it was adorned with a garland (Plate XXII) ;
in the other it had a garment draped over one shoulder as in Plate XXI, where the bust is
modern, but is restored from the other pair of medallions. The heads of each pair are
symmetrical, one being turned to the right and the other to the left. In the case of the
two with drapery, the latter is over the left shoulder of the one figure and over the right
shoulder of the other.
2. Four lions' heads of a single type. Height, 11.4 cm. Plate XXIII.5
T I wish here to express my thanks to the authori- on front of bust of Plate XXII seem to be renewed;
ties of the Field Columbian Museum for permitting the wings, made up partly of old, partly of new
me to publish this bed. pieces, are much too large and spreading. The
2 See chap. 2 p. 57 n. 1. figure of Plate XXII shows in the general view of
3 Plate XX is 'from a photograph taken when the the bed> Plate XX> the two medallions framed in
bed was still in Italy. As the bed is too fragile to moldings (in part antique) to the right and left
be moved readily, and is now inclosed in a case, I are themselves wholly modern. On the opposite
was unable to get a better general view of it. The slde of the bed> in the middle> is one medallion of
views of details reproduced in Plates XXI-XXVI the other Pair> also Provided b? the restorer with
were made by the museum photographer, Mr. C. H. larSe> spreading wings. This has the medallion
Carpenter, who succeeded admirably, considering shown in ^^ XXI on the left and its own com-
the difficulties of unfavorable light on some parts Priori-piece similarly framed on the right.
of the bed and the necessity of working through s The left ear, the mane on the left side, and the
glass. top of the head have been renewed. The three
" The bust of Plate XXI is restored, without, other heads have been more or less patched and the
however, wings, which should just fill out the circle eyes repainted. Cf. Plate XX; these four lions'
of the medallion (cf. Graeven, Phot. 54). The heads now occupy positions between the medallions
chin, top of head, back, right side piece, and bits and the corners on the long rails of the couch.

FUNERARY COUCH OF BONE FROM ORVIETO 103
3. A series of figures carved in relief. These are on panels 10.4 cm. high, having a
shghtly curved surface and joints cut radially. Their width varies slightly, from 4 to
4.8 cm.1 Plates XXIV-XXV.2 The following have enough antique parts to guarantee
them: a) Three panels bearing a horn of plenty above and a diminutive putto below. On
the lower part of the horn is visible a hand holding it, and filling in the space beside it is
an arm. The putto is looking back in the opposite direction from that in which he is walk
ing. Of the three preserved specimens, two, in which the putto is walking to the right,
are alike, and the third is exactly reversed.
b) Three figures walking and looking in the same direction with a garment draped
about one leg and drawn up over the shoulder on the same side, also passing in a roll across
the other thigh. Of these, two are moving to the right and have the drapery mostly on
the left side of the figure, the third is moving to the left and has the drapery on the right
side. c) Eleven figures, nude except for a very slight scarf-like drapery passing over one
shoulder and under the other arm with end hanging down from .the shoulder; heads and
legs turned in opposite directions. Of these, five are moving to the right and six to the
left, and the figures of the two sets are in every way symmetrical.
d) Parts of four torches and hands holding them.
4. One lion's head. Somewhat smaller (height, 9.9 cm.) than those of (2) and
differing slightly in stylistic details. Plate XXVI.3
In the light of the evidence presented in chap. 2, pp. 56 ff., it seems reasonably certain
that the original couch had curved rests at each end with the medallions of (1) at their lower
extremities, and that the carvings of (3) were on the legs. It is not so clear how the fulcra
appeared otherwise, or how the carvings enumerated under (2) and (4) were originally
used. The filling of the curve of the uprights of the fulcra between the two terminal orna
ments is certainly lost ; this would have been either a plain covering of bone or an ornament
flatly executed — incised or carved in very slight projection — analogous to that of some
bronze uprights of fulcra (cf. Plates VIII-X). The upper corner ornaments of the fulcra
are also gone, unless they be some of the lions' heads. Those of (2) are of the proper
number to suit this position, and their similarity to one another corresponds to the resem
blance between the medallions, the two pairs of uprights then, in case the lions' heads
occupied the position in question, having been almost exactly alike. The heads of other
1 This is not surprising, as it was probably 3 Tip of nose and part of mane next the head on
occasioned by the varying size of the bones at the the right and the whole of the mane on the left seem
disposal of the workman. to have been renewed. Cf. Plate XX, which shows
• Plate XXIV seems entirely antique, except the this head as now situated in the middle of an end-
right arm and the triangle between the legs of the ralL In a corresponding position on the other end-
figure on the left. In Plate XXV the principal rad ls an mrpossible-looking, draped half-figure,
restorations are the arms, right leg, and triangle of whlch on examination proved to be chiefly plaster.
the figure to the right, the lower part of the cornu- l can make nothmS of the few Pieces of bone which
copia, and the entire smaller figure to the left. are incorporated into it.

104

DISCUSSION OF PLATES

animals than horses and mules occur as the upper corner ornaments of fulcra (cf. Fig. 50) ,
so that there is no objection on the score of their being lions' heads to the proposed restora
tion. If these lions' heads were so used, their necks, now lost, as well as tips of leaves form
ing a transition to the moldings below, no doubt filled out the usual scheme. In technic,
then, the upper ornaments would represent a stage in the use of bone between carving in
the round, as the heads of the Ancona beds are, executed,
and low relief, represented in other ornaments from the
upper corners of fulcra (see p. 58). Here the projection is
considerable, but the heads are nevertheless not finished
at the back and are to be attached to a ground.
The single smaller lion's head does not find any
possible place in the original design as just sketched.
Besides this carving, I doubt also whether the bronze
shoes (visible in Plate XX) belong to the original struct
ure. They are a feature not present on the Norcia and
Ancona couches, and there is a more serious objection to
supposing that they belonged on a couch; the bronzes
themselves have a slight curve which makes them an
inappropriate and ill-fitting termination of straight legs.
This curve is more pronounced in a specimen in the
Kestner Museum, Hanover, given in Fig. 51.1 In Zan-
noni, Scavi della Certosa, Plate XIX, 42, is an attempted
reconstruction of a piece of furniture having such shoes.
The cut is reproduced2 in Schumacher, p. 55, apropos
of two examples, Nos. 320 and 321, in the Karlsruhe
Museum. Both Zannoni and Dr. Schumacher call the
article of furniture a table. But tables, so far as I am
aware, in both the Greek and Roman periods had upright
legs with claw-feet or other animals' feet, at least never
crossed legs, as in this restoration. Zannoni's drawing looks exactly like the stool with
crossed legs of compound curve which appears as early as on south-Italian red-figured vases
(Fig. 52) and soon superseding the Greek ocladias with legs ending in lions' or deers' feet is

Fig. 50. — Part of a terra-cotta cinerary urn.
-Palermo.

1 1 have to thank the director of the Kestner
Museum, Dr. Schuchhardt, for the photograph
reproduced above, as also for that of Fig. 45. The
bronze is 16 cm. high, with a lower diameter of
3.5 cm. The left-hand prong has been broken off
at a little less than half its height and is fastened
again in place; the ball-like object at its upper end
on the rivet passing to the other prong is modern
cement. The British Museum has a similar speci
men, not included in the catalogue of bronzes, so
far as I can find. It measures 5.8 cm. to the top

of one of the lower prongs (the higher prongs are
broken off above) and 3.7 cm. in diameter at the
lower end. Within are remains of wood, a part of
the furniture leg to which it was once attached;
this is proof that the shoe was not at the end of a
metal rod such as perhaps always formed the
strength of the legs of bone (cf. p. 55, n. 9).
2 Also in Montelius, La civilization primitive
en Italie depuis Tintroduction des metaux, Part I,
Plate 102, 15.

FUNERARY COUCH OF BONE FROM ORVIETO

i°5

Fig. 51. — Bronze shoe from
Museum, Hanover.

stool. — Kestner

frequent on monuments down to a late Roman
period.1. Now, these stools are the only pieces of
furniture having the legs ending below in a curve
which the bronzes would fit ; the stools vary among
themselves in proportions, to judge by the monu
ments, some being tall enough to render the lower
curve as slight as that of some of the preserved
bronze shoes. Zannoni's restoration therefore,
apart from the name applied to it, is probably
correct, although I am unable to cite any certain,
ancient representations2 of the bronze shoes in
place. The probability of the identification is
further increased by the fact that in at least two
cases3 round ornaments have been found with the
shoes, such as the monuments show at the crossing
of the legs of many folding ( ?)4 stools. This brings
me to the suggestion that the tomb chamber in which
this funerary bed was found may have contained
such a stool veneered in bone, with the smaller
lion's head (Plate XXVI) and another like it, not
preserved, at the crossing of the legs, and the two
pairs of bronze shoes protecting the lower ends of
the legs. Fig. 52 from a red- figured vase of south
Italy shows a stool of this type with a human mask
at the intersection of the legs, and lions' masks are
equally suitable to such a position.
It is possible to make out with considerable
assurance the arrangement of the carvings on the
legs of the original couch through the aid afforded
by the symmetry observable in the preserved pieces.
To turn back to (3) it will be at once clear that

1 For example, a bronze statuette in the Louvre
seated on such a stool (Reinach, Repertoire de
la statuaire grecque et romaine, Vol. II, p. 686, 1;
clearer in Giraudon's photograph, No. 114 [series
of bronzes in the Louvre]), likewise an Etruscan
scarabaeus (Baumeister, Vol. Ill, Fig. 1839), a
marble statue in the Museum of Saint-Germain, No.
28,218, and a small bronze figure in the British
Museum (B. M. Bronzes, No. 849 = Reinach, ibid.,
p. 630, 2). That these stools continued long in use
is proved by their occurrence on Christian sar
cophagi, as on two in the Lateran Museum (Mos-
cioni, photographs Nos. 6759 and 2916). These
successors of Greek folding stools, although having
their chief features of design in common, differ in

some particulars among themselves; but this is not
the place to enter into such details.
2 The bronze statuette in the Louvre, cited at the
beginning of the previous note, and some others, do
indeed show on stools a profile which at the floor-level
is similar to that of the bronze shoes, but I have never
discovered the longer and shorter prongs characteris
tic of these bronzes in any ancient reproductions.
3 1 refer to the specimens in Karlsruhe and to
others found by Zannoni. For references see p. 104.
4 In many instances, at least, the stools have a
wide rail which would prevent their folding. Cf.
Fig. 52, where there is not only a wide rail, but an
ornament filling in the triangle formed by rail and legs.

io6

DISCUSSION OF PLATES

the three carvings enumerated under (a) imply a fourth now lost, and similarly in the case
of (b). The figures of (c) must have numbered sixteen originally, for six of each kind
would not divide up so as to preserve the symmetry on four couch legs. This gives, then,
for each leg: one panel with a cornucopia and a small figure with feet turned to right or left;
one of a draped figure, moving either to the right or left; four of the nearly nude figures,
two with feet directed to the left and two with feet directed
to the right ; and finally one panel with a hand holding a
torch on it in some position — seven in all.1 The diagram
in Fig. 53 shows the probable arrangement of these carvings
on two front legs. They were no doubt placed with refer
ence to the long sides of the couch, corresponding in that
respect to the decorations of the fulcra. The arrows indi
cate the directions in which the figures are supposed to be
moving, and the letters correspond to the enumeration under
(3). Since (b) by reason of the drapery and its single occur
rence is especially marked, it naturally belongs to the center
of the composition. The panel of the (b) class seen in Plate
XXIV joins perfectly with the adjacent panel having the
cornucopia; these two, then, belonged together and occu
pied the most conspicuous position on the legs and the four
panels of (c) fall into place on each side. The joint between
(c) and (a) where the figures are moving to the left is assured in one case (not given in the
plates) which helps in the distribution of the panels, showing that the direction of move
ment was toward the back panel (d). This last
may have had a column,2 tripod,2 or altar, and
probably stood for the goal of the procession,
the most interesting point of which is shown
in the group on the front of the legs. The
torch I assign to this panel because there is no
room for it on any of the others; it was in all
probability held by one of the adjacent figures
of the (c) class. Crude as the work is in execution, the composition is not bad. The break
in the direction of march between (c) and (b) is not displeasing, because (c) is looking back
at (b). There is unity in the central composition, the little figure is walking in the same

Fig. 52. — Darius enthroned
from a vase-painting. — Naples.

Detail

FRONT

Fig. 53.

1 This result is confirmed by such approximate
calculations as I have been able to make from the
dimensions of the panels. On the basis of 4.4 cm.
width, seven panels would form a circle of nearly
12 cm., which is a very probable diameter for the
legs of a Roman bed at their widest parts.
2 Cf. two other sets of similar carvings which
probably served the same purpose. The first set

was published by Brunn, Ann. d. I., 1862, Plate P
=Brunn and Buixe, Heinrich Brunn' s kleine
Schriften, pp. 122 ff., and lately in part in Graeven,
Phot. $$. These are now in the Museo delle
Terme in Rome. The second series, in the Berlin
Antiquarium, is poorly given in Gerhard, Elrus-
kische Spiegel, Vol. I, Plate XIV. In Graeven,
p. 91, n. 2, it is announced that the Berlin carvings
are soon to be discussed in the Jahrb.

FUNERARY COUCH OF BONE FROM ORVIETO 107
direction as the larger one, acting as a support to his companion's arm which holds the heavy
cornucopia. At the same time, a connection with (c) is established by the hand of the
figure of (c) on the head of the little figure, and the turning of the gaze of the (c) figure
back to the central group. Each of the other two (c) figures next to (d) is looking back at
the companion who follows him.
A series of similar carvings in Berlin1 has four figures draped exactly like those of the
Orvieto couch, also panels with horn of plenty and small putto. Dr. Graeven2 recognizes
in the principal figure the youthful Dionysus. The case for a Dionysiac interpretation is
strengthened there by the occurrence of the thyrsus on several of the other panels of the
series. But the torch is also connected, although less frequently, with Dionysus.3 And
since grapes are conspicuous in the filling of the cornucopia here as in the Berlin series,
there seems no doubt that the carvings are Dionysiac in character, and the presumption is
strong that the principal figure is intended for the god. Dionysus has frequently in art one
or more attendants (usually satyrs) much smaller than himself, as, for instance, on the
"Icarius reliefs" and the Pergamene altar frieze. The tiny figure here is perhaps an
echo of that motive. Since Dionysus and his other companions are boy-like, there is no
attempt to differentiate this accessory figure except by his lesser size and complete nudity.
These carvings are not only without attraction, but are positively ugly. The greatest
fault in the panel reliefs is in the legs which are short in proportion to the bodies, being
especially stunted below the knees. The lions' heads and the medallions show the limita
tions imposed by the use of bones. The lions' noses are unnaturally and disagreeably
broad,4 and the human heads have heavy lower faces, due, in part at least, to the necessity
of following the curve of the bones without deep cutting. For the same reason, in the
medallions the eyes are not deeply enough set, and the noses have little elevation. The
very flat, spreading nostrils, and tiny mouth framed by unduly full cheeks, give a repulsive
expression to the faces.
There is no external clue for dating this funerary bed, but one may say that it could
hardly be earlier than 200 B. C. or later than 100 A. D. There is meager evidence in
regard to the Ancona and Norcia couches in a coin found with each — with the Ancona
couch a coin of 168 B. C.,5 with the Norcia couch one of the time of Augustus.6 Pasqui
states that in the region of Norcia in graves of the third century, amply dated by coins,
wooden sarcophagi, not beds of bone or carvings in bone of any sort, were found. The
style of the carvings ought to help in the dating, but squat figures with comparatively large
heads begin probably in the third century B. C. within the limits of old Etruria.7 If the
poorness of the work were a safe criterion, the reliefs under consideration would come very
1 See preceding note. 4 Cf. the carvings found at Ancona (Brizio, p.
2 Graeven, p. 91. 455) where the horses' faces have the same unnatural
3 Especially in literature, but occasionally also breadth as that noted above.
in art after the middle of the fifth century. See s Brizio p. 41:8.
Roscher, Ausfiihrliches Lexikon der griechischen
und romischen Mythologie, Vol. I, cols. 1043, 1044, Q ' co ' 2^4-
and Vassits, Die Fackel in Kultur und Kunst der 7 Springer, Handbuch der Kunstgeschichte,
Griechen, pp. 38 ff. Michaelis,^Vo1. I7, p. 368.

108 DISCUSSION OF PLATES
late among the various extant series of carvings in bone. But it is equally possible that a
less skilful workman may have produced them in a period when better work was done.
In fact, this last was probably the case, for the points of identity between the carvings in
Berlin and these are so many that the two sets must be nearly contemporaneous and be
in some way related to one another. The reproductions cited on p. 106 in n. 2 are inade
quate for a fair detailed comparison, yet it is apparent from them that the Berlin figures
are better proportioned, and the entire composition of the series which they form is less
monotonous than in the case of the carvings published here.
It can no longer be thought that this class of work was practiced only in the Abruzzi,1
since beds of bone have been found in both Ancona and Orvieto, but Pasqui's theory that
the art was introduced from Campania is probable enough. In the last three centuries
B. C. central Italy was probably influenced by southern Italy rather than directly by the
Greek East, and there is every probability that the beds in metal and ivory which these
resembled in design were produced in southern Italy.
Plate xxvu Plate XXVII. — Working drawing for a bed of Roman type. Based on the sar
cophagus relief reproduced in Fig. 31. S.ee p. 60.
Plate xxvin Plate XXVIII.2 — Relief in lead, in all probability the end of a coffin. In the
Antiquarium of the Royal Museums at Berlin. Length, 26 cm.; height,
18 cm. Mentioned, pp. 34, 36, and 59. In the accession report (Treu,
Arch. Zeit., 1881, col. 260) it is suggested that this relief maybe Byzantine.
If so late — which I doubt — the relief at least shows a form inherited from the
Romans.3
Plate xxiXa Plate XXIXa.4 — Terra-cotta in the Egyptian Department of the Royal Museums
at Berlin. Length, 13.5 cm.; height, 9.5 cm. Verz. der dgypt. Altert.2, p. 373,
No. 13,166. Mentioned here, pp. 34, 36,-38, and 75. Marks of attachment
on the seat of the sofa indicate that there was probably once a second small
dog next the cushion.
Plate xxixb Plate XXIX6.5 — Terra-cotta in the British Museum. Height, 9.9 cm.; length,
9.9 cm. From Italy. B. M. Terracottas, p. 365, No. D 359. Described
here, pp. 34, 35, and 76 (n. 1).
T Pasqui, col. 242, and Graeven, p. 92. coffins and may be able to throw some light on their
chronology.
2 See p. 93, n. 2. c
1 yo' 4 See p. 97, n. 2.
3 1 shall publish elsewhere a brief article on lead s See p. 90, n. 1.

SECTION II
TABLE OF GREEK AND LATIN TERMS APPLIED TO BEDS, THE PARTS OF BEDS, AND
THEIR FURNISHINGS1
Bed, Couch: beds and
Common Words— COUCHES
Homeric and occurring in later poetry: \e%o?2 (both sing, and pi.).
Post-Homeric —
Prose : kXIvt}.
Prose and poetry: lectus.
Rarer Words —
Homeric and occasional in later poetry: heptvia2 (pi.), Xe'/crpov2 (both sing, and pi.).
Post-Homeric —
Poetry: KXivT-rjp, icXivk, Koirrj.s
Poetry and prose: cubile, pulvinar.
Diminutives, often colloquial, sometimes, but not always, denoting
smaller beds: kXcviSiov, icXivTrjpiov, icXuvapiov, lectulus, lecticula.3*
Poorer, humbler beds: (ncip.'n-ov;, dcncdvT7)<;, acr/cavTo*;* 'yap,evvq,s icpdB-
j3a,To<;, or /cpd/3aTo<;, grabatus; diminutives of preceding: cnci/jiTr68iov)
'Xap.evviov.6
Couch in semicircular form: rj/UKv/cXiov,7 stibadium, sigma.
Leg: 7tou?,8 pes.9 parts of
Rail: evqXaTov,10 /cXivrrjpiov,11 sponda.12
End-rest: eiriKXivrpov1* dvdicXivTpov1^ avdicXnov,1* dvdicXicn':,1* fulcrum,16 pluteum.16"
Back ( ?) : pluteus or pluteum.11
Back and end-rests (?): Tot^ot.18
Interlacing19 —
Strands, without implication as to material: tovoi, fasciae, institae.
Thongs: lora; of horses' hide, icdXa> iinrelot.20
Strands of vegetable fiber: cnrdpTai, airapria, iceipiai, a^olvoi ( ?),21 cr^oivlai ( ?).21
Adjectives Descriptive of Beds: epithets
Homeric Terms— APPLIED to
With turned legs: Sivcord22 (Xe^ea).
(?) TprjTa23 (Xe^eci).
Post-Homeric Terms —
Having rests at both ends of the bed: ctfubiKe^aXos.2*
Veneered (?), veneered with boxwood (?): a/w/utfoWo?,2* TrapaKoXXos,2* irapd-
7rv£o?.2s ( ?) acprjvoirov; ,26
Having sphinxes introduced in the design of the legs (?): trfyvyyoTrohes .2?
109

BEDS AND
COUCHES

BEDS AND
COUCHES

no TABLE OF GREEK AND LATIN TERMS
FURNISHINGS MATTRESS :
OF BEDS Ordinary words: rvXri, culcita, torus.
AND _. . . ^ „ ' '
Diminutive : rvXeiov.

COUCHES

Occasional: KvecpaXXop.
Pillow :
Commonly: TrpocriceobdXaiov, pulvinus.
Occasional: culcita (?),28 cubital.
Doric: TToriKpavov.
Post- Augustan : cervical.
Stuffing for Mattresses and Pillows: TrXijpcofia,29 tomentum.
Coverlets, Draperies:
Homeric: prjyea,2-0 ¦)(XaZvai,30 Ta7r»?Te?.3°
Skins: iccoea.
Post-Homeric —
Various terms: ap.<j)iTa7roi,31 SdiriSesf2 eirLBX^fiaTa,33 iiriBoXaia,3* e^earpiBe^,33
instragula, ^vo-rto'e?," opercula,35 opertoria36 operimenta, 7re/3t/3o'\ata,3' 7rept-
arpcofiaTa,38 saga,39 stragula,*0 stramenta, arpcofiara, aTpoopvai, Ta7riSe?,3'
vTroaTpcofiaTa,3^ yXalvai,33 vestes stragulae.
Sheepskins used for bedding: dpvafciSes,*1 icd>8ia.
Coverings with nap on one side: TaV^Te?.3 2
Coverings with nap on both sides: dpJ^>nd'irr}r&; 32
Coverings with smooth surfaces: ¦^nXohdirt.Bei3* ¦^nXoTairihe;31
Rush mat to throw over a bed: tyCaOos*2 (pop/jboi.*3
( ?) toralia.4*
r I give references in the following notes only which the bed-clothing was laid away when not in
for such words as offer special difficulties, and are use; the occurrence of koWt\ in Pollux, VII, 160, in
omitted or not adequately treated in the dictionaries. company with [tla-ms, kIo-ttj, and KifSarbs, would seem
However, the indications here of the use of these to confirm the translation "chest" for these pas-
words are only approximate. I have not been able sages. Cf. Wilhelm, Jahresh., Vol. VI (1903),
to make an exhaustive investigation of terminology. p. 240.
* For distinctions in the various Homeric terms 3" I am aware that the number of occurrences of
for beds see Buchholz, Vol. II, Part II, pp. 150 ff. some of these words is very small for basing a clas-
3 Used of the bed, not as a structure, but with sification upon. Nevertheless, it has seemed best
emphasis on the idea of a reclining-place. Profes- to include even vel7 rare words in the table of
sor Mau's interpretation: "Es gab Betten an denen ten«s, placing them according to such evidence as
sie [the hi\ara\ eine gewisse Hohe hatten, und die exlsts-
Gurte an ihrer Unterseite befestigt waren, so dass 4 Suidas only.
eine Bettlade, koIt-ti (Poll., VI, 10), entstand" 5 The variant xaMeura occurs in the list of
(Mau, col. 370), seems to me unfounded. In the property of the Hermocopidse (Dittenberger,
first place, I do not know of any monumental evi- Sylloge Inscriptionum Graecarum,2 No. 44, 1. 5;
dence for the statement that the interlacing was Wilhelm, Jahresh., Vol. VI [1903], p. 237).
sometimes fastened to the under side of the iviiKara, 6 In Poll., X, 35, synonym of o-k^ttous, daKdvrrp,
and, secondly, it is much simpler to understand the Kpdpparov. The diminutive form need not be taken
word in Pollux, VI, 10, as denoting a chest in as necessarily denoting smaller size.

TABLE OF GREEK AND LATIN TERMS

in

» Poll., VI, 9.
8 Athen., II, 486; VI, 2S5e; Poll., X, 34. Cf.
kKivwv irddes, I. G., I, pp. 73-76, item 33. Pro
fessor Michaelis in Der Parthenon, p. 291, says:
"die 12 [should be 13] versilberten Fiisse von Ruhe-
betten haben schwerlich etwas damit gemein"
(speaking of the famous chair of Xerxes, which had
silver legs), and Dr. Vollmoller speaks more
decisively on this point in the Athen. Mitt., Vol.
XXVI (1901), p. 371, n. 2. Most beds must have
been made to take down and put up (cf. p. 48, n. 2),
and at this time the decoration of couches was
largely lavished on their supports, so that there is
nothing impossible or very remarkable in the presence
of detached legs of couches among the treasures
kept in the Parthenon.
'Tee, Ad., 585; Ov., Met., VIII, 656-59.
10 M. Girard thinks that this word was applied
to the legs (Girard, p. 1015), but the passages that
he cites do not prove the statement, and Artem., I,
74, referred to by Professor Mau (Mau, col. 370),
seems conclusive for the usual translation given
above. 11 In Poll., VI, 9, apparently intended as a
synonym for foijXaToc
12 Isid., XX, 11, 5, and Hor., Epod., 3, 22, indi
cate the use of the term for the front rail only or the
front portion of the couch. Other passages, such
as Ov., Met., VIII, 656, and Petron., 97, seem
conclusive for the meaning, the couch frame, viz.,
the four rails taken collectively.
13 Poll., VI, 9, shows that these terms are syn
onymous, and X, 34, that they denote parts of a bed;
the legs and frame being otherwise provided with
names, and the etymology of the word being favor
able, the translation given above seems highly
probable. "+ Corp. Gloss. Lat., II, 74, 8.
*s Etym. M., 90, 30. Cf. Wilhelm, Jahresh.,
Vol. VI (1903), p. 240.
16 The meaning of this word was made clear
by Professor Anderson in the Classical Review,
Vol. Ill (1889), pp. 322 ff., in an article entitled
"The Meaning of Fulcrum and Fulcri Genius;"
the word ¦ is discussed by Professor Mau, appar
ently without knowledge of the earlier article, in
the Nachrichten von der kdniglichen Gesellschaft

der Wissenschaflen zu Gbttingen, 1896, pp. 76 ff.,
under "Fulcra Lectorum. Testudines Alveorum."
l6" Corp. Gloss. Lat., II, p. 152, 39. Cf. Mau,
col. 371.
17 Occurs in reference to beds in three passages,
Prop., IV, 8, 68; Mart., Ill, 91, 10; Suet., Calig.,
26; for all of which the translation "back" seems
appropriate, although the passages are not abso
lutely conclusive for this interpretation.
18 Artem., I, 74. The word admirably describes
the end-boards and back of late Roman couches.
Cf. Figs. 18 and 40. Artemidorus lived at a time
when such couches were in vogue.
19 See pp. 62 ff.
20 An item in the newly published fragment of
the lists of the property of the Hermocopidse is
Kd]\o Hunrefo dio (Wilhelm, Jahresh., Vol. VI [1903],
p. 239). 21 Poll., X, 36, mentions the terms as doubtful,
and Suidas does not give this meaning under the
words themselves, although he employs them in his
explanation of Keipta, etc.
22 See p. 39.
23 Heuzey (Mission archeologique en Macedoine,
p. 256) and M. Girard (Girard, p. 1014) think
that the term refers to rectangular legs with incisions.
It seems to me extremely improbable that this well-
known type of historic times is older than the sev
enth century (see p. 73, n. 3). The term has also
been interpreted as referring to holes for the accom
modation of the interlacing. See further Buchholz,
Vol. II, Part II, p. 152.
24 The form dp.(pi.Kve'<pa\\os of Poll., X, 36, is
probably an error. See the latest discussion of the
two forms by Dr. A. Wilhelm in the Jahresh., Vol.
VI (1903), p. 237. For monumental illustration see
Figs, n and 12 and Plate I.
2S See p. 41, n. 1.
26 Occurs in laws in regard to funerals of the
city of Iulis on the island of Ceos (Roehl, Inscrip
tiones Graecae Antiquissimae, 395a). Dr. Voll
moller (Athen. Mitt., Vol. XXVI [1901], p. 348,
n. 3) reports the application by Professor Wolters
of the term to beds of the type represented by
the couch at Vathia (Fig. 38). But to my mind
the meaning of o^vbirovs is too general to be
assigned with assurance to any one type of couch

112

TABLE OF GREEK AND LATIN TERMS

known to us. The turned legs of the Vathia couch
and its analogues are no more "wedge-shaped"
than many other styles of couch legs. And it seems
further as if the Greeks would have applied the
same word to the turned legs of couches that they
did to those of chairs, i. e., arpoyyvKtmoSes, (I. G.,
II, 646, 1. 13; 673, 11. 4 and 9; 675, 11. 12, 13; and
Michaelis, Der Parthenon, p. 297, Nos. 14 and 30
P and q). Since there is no other occurrence of the
term a<p-nvtnrovs in ancient sources, it may have
described a local style of couch not illustrated in the
monuments. 2? Athen., V, 197a- The term, indeed, suggests
couches with sphinxes instead of legs as supports,
after the manner of some chairs (cf. p. 95). Dr.
David Robinson, formerly fellow of the American
School of Classical Studies at Athens, kindly allows
me to mention a fragment of a small terra-cotta
plaque found at Corinth, which he has identified
as the end of a couch. In this the support is a
crouching figure, probably a sphinx. This is
described by Dr. Robinson in an article entitled
"Terra-Cottas from Corinth" soon to appear in
the Am. Journ. Arch. This one small terra-cotta,
however, and the analogy of the marble couch with
supports in the form of griffins, do not convince me
that real beds ever had such unwieldy substitutes
for legs as sphinxes or griffins. I am inclined
to think that the o-<piyy6ro5es KKIvat. were certain
couches, known through monumental evidence,
which had crouching sphinxes introduced between
the turned members in the design of the legs (see
Figs. 14, 30, and 50, and pp. 29, 30). This style of

couch was at the height of its popularity at the time
of the celebrated feast of Ptolemy Philadelphus,
referred to by Athenaeus.
28 The etymology is favorable to either mattress
or pillow, and most passages are indecisive; in a
few the context makes it probable that a mattress
is intended; I do not know any such for the meaning
"pillow." 2' Poll., X, 41.
30 For distinctions in these Homeric terms see
Buchholz, Vol. II, Part II, p. 157.
31 Athen., VI, 2556.
32 Poll., X, 38.
33 Ibid., VI, 10; X, 42.
3+ Ibid., VI, 10.
3s Varr., L. L., V, 167.
36 In Sen., Ep., 87, 2, coverlets to be drawn up
over the reclining person.
3' Poll., X, 42.
38 Ibid., VI, 10, and Athen., II, 48c.
3» Mart., XIV, 159.
?° In Sen., Ep., 87, 2, coverlets thrown over the
bed. *T Aristoph., Nub., 730.
t2 Poll., X, 43; Aristoph., Lysistr., 916 ff.;
Theophr., H. P., IV, 8, 4.
*3 Given by Poll. (X, 43) directly following
\l/la$os. *+ From Hor., 5a/., II, 4, 84, it appears that
toralia were washable. See note in Kiessling's
Horace on this passage.

SECTION III

Blumner, Hugo:

Girard, P.:

Mau, August:

Petersen, Eugen:

BIBLIOGRAPHY
A. ARTICLES OF A GENERAL CHARACTER
(i) Baumeister, Vol. I, pp. 312-14, article Betten.
(2) Das Kunstgewerbe im Altertum. (Only in small part con
cerned with couches.)
(3) Kunst und Gewerbe, 1885, Parts 10-12, "Der altgriechische
Mdbelstil." (Deals also with chairs and stools.)
(4) Daremberg and Saglio, Dictionnaire des antiquites grecques
et romaines, pp. 1014-23, article Lectus.
(5) Pauly-Wissowa, Real-Encyclopadie der classischen Alter-
tumswissenschaft, Vol. Ill, cols. 370-73, article Betten.
(6) Rom. Mitt., Vol. VII (1892), pp. 32-80, in an article
entitled "Aphrodite."
Some general matter also in the articles and books cited under
B, 8 and 10, and F, 31 and 32.

Altmann, Walter:

Heuzey, Leon:

Kuruniotis, K. :
VOLLMOLLER, K. G.

IN REGARD TO FUNERARY COUCHES
(7) Architectur und Ornamentik der antiken Sarko phage,
Part I, 4, "Die kXIvcu."
(8) (a) Mission archeologique en Macedoine, pp. 250-66,
"Les sepultures macedoniennes et les lits funebres."
(b) Gazette des beaux arts, Vol. VII (1873), pp. 305-12
and 501-14, "Les lits antiques, considered particu-
lierement comme forme de la sepulture" = Recherches
sur les lits antiques, (pamphlet). (Substantially the
same article as (a), from which it varies only in the
introductory paragraphs and in the illustrations.)
(9) 'F,d)T}/j.epl<; 'ApxaioXoyiKT], 1899, cols. 221-34.
(10) Athen. Mitt., Vol. XXVI (1901), pp. 333-76, "Uber zwei
euboische Kammergraber mit Totenbetten."
(11) Griechische Kammergraber mil Totenbetten. (Doctor's
Dissertation, Bonn.)

C. COUCHES OR PARTS OF COUCHES WITH BRONZE ATTACHMENTS

Amelung, Walther:

(12) Rom. Mitt., Vol. XVII (1902), pp. 269-76, "Das capi-
tolinische Bisellium."

113

H4
Anonymous :

BIBLIOGRAPHY

(13) 'Etbrjfiepk apxaioXoryiicrj, 1902, col. 168, Figs. 11-13, in
article entitled "Ta TLvprftiara tov Natwyibu twv 'Avti-
KvOrjpwv.
Babelon, Ernest, and
Blanchet, J. Adrien: (14) Cat. des bronzes ant. de la Bibl. nat., p. 478, No. n 56, and
p. 632, No. 1830.
(15) Bullettino delta commissione archeologica communale di
Roma, Vol. II (1874), pp. 22-32, "II bisellio capitolino."
(16) Collection Raoul War ocquS. Antiquites igyptiennes, grecques
et romaines, p. 33, No. 52.
(17) Collection Auguste Dutuit, pp. 31-33.
(18) Jahrb., Vol. XV (1900), Anz., pp. 178 ft.
(19) Jahrb., Vol. XIX (1904), Anz., p. 30, No. 36.
(20) Beschreibung der Sammlung antiker Bronzen zu Karlsruhe,
PP- 56» 57, Nos. 324, 325.
Svoronos, J. N., and
Barth, W. (translator): (21) Das Athener National-Museum, Parts I and II, "Die
Funde von Antikythera," pp. 51 ff., Plate IX.
(22) B. M. Bronzes, pp. 330, 331.

Castellani, Augusto:
Cumont :
Frohner, W. :
Pernice, Erich:
Schumacher, Karl:

Walters, H. B.:
Wiegand, Th., and
Schrader, H.:

D.
Brizio, Edoardo:
Brunn, Heinrich:
Gerhard, Eduard:
Graeven, Hans:

Pasqui, A.

Ransom, C. L.

(23) Priene. Ergebnisse der Ausgrabungen 1895-98.
See also article cited under F, 30.
BEDS OF BONE OR CARVINGS FROM SUCH BEDS
(24) Notizie degli scavi, 1902, p. 445, "Tombe dell' epoca
romana (ad umazione)."
(25) Ann. d. I., Vol. XXXlV (1862), pp. 284-87 and Plate P,
"Lavori intagliati in osso" ¦= Brunn and Bulle, Hein
rich Brunn' s kleine Schriften, Vol. I, pp. 122 ff.
(26) Eiruskische Spiegel, Vol. I, Plate XIV.
(27) Antike Schnitzereien aus Elfenbein und Knochen, pp. 26,
27> 48-53, 56, 58, 59, 82-92, 97-99, and 100.
(28) Monumenti antichi pubblicati per cura dell' Accademia dei
Lincei, Vol. I (1889), cols. 233 ff., "Di un antico letto di
osso scoperto in una tomba di Norcia."
E. PARTS OF WOODEN COUCHES (?)
(29) Jahrb., Vol. XVII (1902), pp. 125-40, "Reste griechischer
Holzmobel in Berlin."

BIBLIOGRAPHY

"5

Anderson, W. C. F.:
Blumner, Hugo:
Marquardt, Joachim,
and Mau, August:
Mau, August:

f. terminology
(30) Classical Review, Vol. Ill (1889), pp. 322-24, "The
Meaning of Fulcrum and Fulcri Genius."
(31) Technologie und Terminologie.
(32) Das PrivatrLeben der Romer,2 Vol. VII of Handbuch der
romischen Alterthilmer, by J. Marquardt and T. Mommsen.
(33) Nachrichten von der koniglichen Gesellschaft der Wissen-
schaften zu Gbttingen, 1896, pp. 76-82, "Fulcra Lectorum.
Testudines Alveorum."

Consult also articles cited under A, 4 and 5.

SUBJECTS AND SOURCES1 OF THE TEXT-ILLUSTRATIONS
Fig. i, p. 20. — Body lying in state; seated and standing mourners. Part of a Dipylon
vase-painting. From Vases ant. du Louvre, Plate XX, A 541.
Fig. 2, p. 21. — Heracles reclining upon a dining-couch in the house of Eurytus. Detail
from a Corinthian vase-painting. Louvre. After Rayet and Collignon, Cer. gr., Plate
6 = De Longperier, Musee Napoleon III, Plate XXXIV.
Fig. 3, p. 21. — Man reclining on a banquet-couch. Part of a Corinthian vase-painting.
From the Jahrb., Vol. V (1890), p. 242.
Fig. 4, p. 22. — The body of Achilles lying in state. Part of a Corinthian vase-painting.
Louvre. From Heuzey, Recherches sur les lits antiques, p. 8.
Fig. 5, p. 22. — Phineus reclining on a dining-couch. Detail from a Chalcidian vase-
painting. Wiirzburg. Drawing after Furtwangler-Reichhold, Plate 41.
Fig. 6, p. 23. — Woman spinning, seated upon a couch. Fragment of a terra-cotta plaque.
Acropolis Museum, Athens. Drawmg after J. H. S., Vol. XVII (1897), P- 3°9, Fig- I-
Fig. 7, p. 24. — Etruscan couch. Detail from the relief decoration of a limestone cinerary
urn. British Museum. Sketched from original.
Fig. 8, p. 25. — Banqueting-scene. Detail from a wall-painting in an Etruscan tomb.
Corneto-Tarquinia. From Bulle, Der schbne Mensch; Alterthum, Plate 66.
Fig. 9, p. 26. — Banqueting-scene. Detail from a red-figured vase-painting. Corneto-
Tarquinia. From Gjolbaschi-Trysa, p. 176, Fig. 150.
Fig. 10, p. 27. — Part of a dining-couch. Fragment of a red-figured vase. From Jahrb.,
Vol. XIV (1899), p. 105.
Fig. 11, p. 27. — Theseus slaying Procrustes. Detail from a red-figured vase signed by
Aison. Madrid. From the Ant. Denkm., II, Plate I.
Fig. 12, p. 29. — Marble funerary couch, found in a tomb near Pydna in Macedonia.
Louvre. From a photograph, Giraudon, No. 1439.
Fig. 13, p. 30. — Person reclining on a couch. Fragment of Egyptian faience. Berlin.
Drawing from original. See p. 97, n. 2.
Fig. 14, p. 31. — Man reclining on a couch and holding a drinking-bowl. Two attendants
below. Terra-cotta cinerary urn. Museo Kircheriano, Rome. From a photograph.
Fig. 15, p. 34. Specimens of turned legs from Roman couches. Sketch based on the
following sources (counting from the left): (1) photograph of a late Roman sarcoph
agus in the Museo Kircheriano, Rome, Tuminello, No. 397; (2) photograph of a
1 In the following list the name of the house could be otherwise sure in the matter. In a few
issuing a given photograph is stated in every case instances, however, I have to my regret been unable
where that name appears on the photograph or I to identify the photographs used.
116

FIGURES 16-27 117
late Roman sarcophagus found in Servia (see p. 36, n. 1); (3) photograph of a tomb-
relief in the Lateran Museum = Helbig, Fiihrer,2 Vol. I, p. 462, No. 691; (4) photo
graph of a Roman gravestone on the island of Paros, No. 92, Paros series taken for
the German Archaeological Institute; (5) photograph of Alcestis sarcophagus in the
Vatican = Helbig, ibid., p. 43, No. 76; (6) photograph of a relief in the Lateran
Museum; (7) picture of a Roman gravestone, Fig. 108, p. 118, in Haverneld, Cata
logue of the Roman Inscribed and Sculptured Stones in the Grosvenor Museum, Chester.
Fig. 16, p. 34. — Patterns from the rails of late Roman couches. Sketch based on the
following sources (counting from the top): (1) Clarac, Musee de sculpture antique et
moderne, Vol. II, Plate 153 (333), sarcophagus of a young girl; (2) see Fig. 17; (3) the
work cited under Fig. 15, 3; (4) sketch of end-piece of a sofa in marble = Amelung,
Fiihrer, p. 192, No. 215.
Fig. 17, p. 35. — Cover in couch form of a Roman sarcophagus. Museo Torlonia, Rome.
From Robert, Antike Sarkophag-Reliefs, Vol. Ill, Plate XXXIV.
Fig. 18, p. 36. — Rehef on a Roman gravestone. Island of Paros. Drawing from a
photograph of the German Archaeological Institute, No. 85, Paros series.
Fig. 19, p. 36. — Detail from a sofa of Roman date. From Rom. Mitt., Vol. VII (1892),
p. 45, Fig- VIII, 3.
Fig. 20, p. 37. — Detail from a sofa of Roman date. From the Rom. Mitt., Vol. VII
(1892), p. 45> Fig. VIII, 6.
Fig. 21, p. 37. — Relief on a Roman cippus. From Clarac, Musee de sculpture antique et
moderne, Vol. II, Plate 135 (339).
Fig. 22, p. 40. — Detail from a banquet-scene on a red-figured vase. British Museum,
No. E 47. From Hartwig, Meisterschalen, Plate XXXIV.
Fig. 23, p. 42. — Detail from the scene "Theseus slaying Procrustes." Red-figured vase.
After Noel des Vergers, L'Fttrurie et les Iitrusques, Vol. Ill, Plate XIV.
Fig. 24, p. 42. — Detail from the scene "Theseus slaying Procrustes." Red-figured vase-
painting from the workshop of Chachrylion. Archaeological Museum, Florence. After
Harrison and McColl, Greek Vase Paintings, Plate X = Museo Italiano di antichita
classica, Vol. Ill, Plate II.
Fig. 25, p. 43. — Couch from a banquet-scene on a red-figured vase. Sketched from origi
nal in the British Museum, No. E 495.
Fig. 26, p. 43. — The slaying, upon the return of Odysseus, of the suitors of Penelope.
Detail from a red-figured vase-painting. Berlin. From Bulle, Der schone Mensch:
Alter thum, Plate 132.
Fig. 27, p. 45. — Heracles reclining upon a dining-couch, attended by Hermes, Athena,
and a serving-lad. Black-figured vase-painting in the style of Andocides. Munich.
From Furtwangler-Reichhold, Plate 4.

118 SUBJECTS AND SOURCES OF THE TEXT-ILLUSTRATIONS
Fig. 28, p. 48. — Banquet-scene on a vase signed by Duris. British Museum. From
Kulturhistorischer Bilderatlas, I, Schreiber, Altertum, Plate LXXVII, 9 = Wien. Vor-
legebl., Series VI, 10.
Fig. 29, p. 49. — The body of Archemorus lying in state. Detail from a red-figured vase-
painting. Naples. From Baumeister, Vol. I, Fig. 120.
Fig. 30, p. 52. — Small terra-cotta in the National Museum, Athens. Found in Asia
Minor. From a photograph.
Fig. 31, p. 59. — Roman sarcophagus from Syria. Constantinople. From a photograph,
No. 76 of series on sale in the Imperial Ottoman Museum.
Fig. 32, p. 65. — Section of wooden rail of an Egyptian couch. Berlin. Scale-drawing
from the original. See p. 97, n. 2.
Fig. 33, p. 65. — Sketch of wooden rail of an Egyptian couch, inner side, showing method
of attaching the interlacing. Berlin. From original. See p. 97, n. 2.
Fig. 34, p. 65. — Sectional view (proposed restoration) of rail of couch represented in the
marble fragments from Pergamon.
Fig. 35, p. 67. — Achilles attended in illness by Thetis. Detail from a Corinthian vase-
painting. Louvre. From Jahrb., Vol. VII (1892), Plate I.
Fig. 36, p. 68. — Various styles of Greek pillows and bolsters. From vase-paintings.
Beginning in upper left-hand corner, these details of pillows are derived from the fol
lowing sources: (1) Jahrb., Vol. VI (1891), Plate V; (2) sketch from original, No. E
453 in the British Museum; (3) Hartwig, Meisterschalen, p. 332, Fig. 44a; (4) Baumeis
ter, Vol. II, Fig. 857; (5) Furtwangler-Reichhold, Plate 32; (6) Wien. Vorlegebl., Series
E, Plates VII, VIII; (7) Hartwig, ibid., Plate XXXV, 1.
Fig. 37, p. 69. — Eros ministering to the dying Adonis. Part of a red-figured vase-painting.
Naples. From Baumeister, Vol. I, Fig. 18.
Fig. 38, p. 70. — Funerary couch of marble in a tomb at Vathia on the island of Eubcea.
Sketch based on the colored reproduction in Athen. Mitt., Vol. XXVI (1901), Plate
XVI.
Fig. 39, p. 74. — Parts of an Assyrian seat and footstool. British Museum. From a pho
tograph, Mansell, No. 583.
Fig. 40, p. 76. — Relief from a Roman gravestone. Island of Paros. From a photograph
of the German Archaeological Institute, No. 94 of the Paros series.
Fig. 41, p. 78. — View of one end of an Etruscan terra-cotta sarcophagus. British Museum.
From a photograph, London Stereoscopic Co., No. 161 of British Museum series.
Fig. 42, p. 78. — Figure of Hera enthroned. Detail from a red-figured vase-painting. Karls
ruhe. From Wien. Vorlegebl. Series E, Plate III, 1 = Mon. d. I., Vol. I, Plate
XLIX.
Fig. 43, p. 79. — Etruscan terra-cotta sarcophagus. Museo di Papa Giulio, Rome. From
a photograph, Moscioni, No. 9331.

FIGURE 44— HEADPIECE, CHAPTER IV 119
Fig. 44, p. 82. — Dionysus and Ariadne riding a mule, attended by a satyr. St. Peters
burg. Red-figured vase-painting. From Compte-rendu, 1863, Plate V.
Fig. 45, p. 86. — Terra-cotta handle(?). Kestner Museum, Hanover. From a photo
graph. See p. 104, n. 1.
Fig. 46, p. 88. — Ornamental patterns from the rails of couches. Sketch based on the fol
lowing: (1) Castellani's restoration of the "Capitoline bisellium," Tuminello, pho
tograph No. 1273; (2) a photograph of the British Museum "bisellium," (cf. Plate
IX); (3) couch in the Naples Museum, Sommer, photograph No. 11,120; (4) " bisel
lium " in the Naples Museum, Sommer, photograph No. 11, in; (5) "bisellium" in the
Museo Kircheriano, Rome, sketch from original; (6) fragment from a couch rail in
Karlsruhe (Schumacher, p. 56, No. 325).
Fig. 47, p. 91. — Various types of chair and couch supports. From photographs, (a) Detail
of a marble seat in the Glyptothek, Munich, Bottger, photograph No. 346 = Beschr.
der Glypt., p. 335, No. 346. (b) Detail from a seated figure pictured in the Escorial
Codex, Arndt-Amelung, Einzelne-Aufnahmen, No. 1497. (c) Detail of a marble seat
in the Glyptothek, Munich; Bottger, photograph No. 327 =Beschr. der Glypt., p.
327, No. 327. (d) Detail of terra-cotta in the Louvre, from a photograph; cf. frontis
piece of this book.
Fig 48, p. 95. — Marble table in the atrium of the "House of Meleager," Pompeii. From
a photograph, Sommer, No. 1257.
Fig. 49, p. 98. — Satyrs' heads on the "bisellium" in the British Museum. From a pho
tograph. See p. 90, n. 1. Cf. Plate IX.
Fig. 50, p. 104. — View of the head of a couch with occupant and attendants. Terra
cotta cinerary urn. Palermo. Drawing from a photograph of the German Archaeo
logical Institute, No. 301, Roman series.
Fig. 51, p. 105. — Bronze shoe from a stool. Kestner Museum, Hanover. From a pho
tograph. See p. 104, n. 1.
Fig. 52, p. 106. — Darius enthroned. Detail from a vase-painting. Naples. From a pho
tograph = Mon. d. I., Vol. IX, Plate L.
Fig. 53, p. 106. — Diagram showing probable arrangement of carved ornaments on the legs
of the Orvieto couch.
Headpiece, Chap. I. — Detail from the scene "The Dioscuri coming to the feast of the
Theoxenia." On a black-figured vase with white ground. British Museum, No. B
633. After Frohner, Deux peintures de vases grecs de la necropole de Kameiros.
Headpiece, Chap. III. — The dead upon a bier. Two mourners. From a Dipylon vase-
painting. From Kulturhistorischer Bilder atlas, I, Schreiber, Alterlum, Plate XCV, 2.
Headpiece, Chap. IV. — Banquet-scene. A Boeotian vase-painting. Athens. From Rayet
and Collignon, Cer. gr., p. 291, Fig. 111.

120 SUBJECTS AND SOURCES OF THE TEXT-ILLUSTRATIONS
Tailpiece, Chap. I. — Detail from a rehef on the back of an Etruscan terra-cotta sarcoph
agus. British Museum. Sketched from original. Cf. Murray, Terracotta Sarcophagi,
Greek and Etruscan, in the British Museum, Plate X.
Tailpiece, Chap. II. — Bronze ornament, once apphed to some wooden object. Berlin.
Published Jahrb., Vol. XIX (1904), p. 30, Fig. 35. From a photograph. See p. 93,
n. 2.
Tailpiece, Chap. IV. — Tiny bronze chair (about 9 cm. in height). In the Wallraf-
Richartz Museum, Cologne. Found in Cologne. Sketch from original.
Tailpiece, Chap. V. — Detail from the decoration of a Melian vase. Athens. After Riegl,
Stilfragen. Grundlegungen zu einer Geschichte der Ornamentik, p. 155, Fig. 66.

GENERAL INDEX1

Acropolis, at Athens, capital found on, 80.
Agrigentines, ivory beds of, 53.
A four work, see under Technic.
Alctbiades, furniture included in property of, 54.
See also Hermocopids.
Aldobrandini Wedding, ^7 n- *; 81.
Amorgus, cloth of, 71.
ap.(pi.Ki<j>akos, 28, 91, 109.
dp.<t>LKo\\ost 41, n. 1; 109.
Amphio, Lucius Hostilius, 61, n. 4.
Ancona, beds of bone found at, 32; 50, n. 1; 57;
58; 104; 107; 108.
Animal supports, 95. See also under Griffins.
Appliques, see under Technic.
Ara Pacis, 32, n. 1; 54, n. 5.
Archias, 61.
Armchairs, Mycensean models of, 19.
Artemis, 99.
Asses, 83.
Assyrian furniture, 41, n. 3; 50, n. 2; 51; Fig. 39;
73. Purple, 71.
Astragal, figured on a valance, 97.
Attalic mattresses, 71.
Babylonica, 71.
Back, 34, 60, 76, 109.
Beitenus, 61.
Bes, 97.
Birds, aquatic, heads of, 58, 83, 85, 86. See also
Ducks and Mergansers.
Bisellia, so-called, 32; 83, n. 3; 84; 85; 87; 98;
119. See also "Capitoline bisellium."
Bone, carvings of, 58, 107. Couches of, 56 ff.; see
also under Ancona and Norcia. Substitute for
iv°rv, 55> 6°-
Border designs, 78.
Boscoreale, bed from, 32; 88, n. 1; 98, n. 4. Sil
ver vessels from, 87, n. 3.
Boy, bust of, 100.
Braces, floor-level, 43; 49; 90; 98, n. 4; cf. Figs.
2, 22, 25, 27, and Plate II. Restored between
legs, 5°, S7> OS-

Branches, arranged in twos, 87, n. 3.
Branchidae, seated figures from, 47, n. 2; 73, n. 3;
76, n. 2.
Capitals, architectural, akin to types on furniture,
80. Caryatid, 87, n. 1. Furniture types, 80.
Ionic, 80. Phoenician type, 80, 81.
Capitoline bisellium, 32, n. 6; 51, n. 1; 87; 119.
Cartibula, 94; Fig. 48.
Carvilius Pollio, 61.
Carving, see under Technic.
Caryatids, 87, n. 1.
Chalcidian beds, 22; Fig. 5.
Chian beds, 54.
Cinerary urns, Etruscan, 30, Fig. 14; 90, Plate I.
Details from, 24, Fig. 7; 104, Fig. 50.
ClazomeNjE, sarcophagi from, 77.
Collar, worn by mules, 84, 85, 100.
Corinthian beds, 20; 21; 66; 67; 73, n. 3; Figs.
2, 3, 4, and 35.
Cotton, 70, 71.
Dedicated couches, 16, n. 4.
Delian beds, 60.
Demosthenes, workshop belonging to the father
of, 39; 4°; 4i, n. 2544, n. 3553.
Dionysus, reference to, in ornament of banquet-
couches, 86, 87. Perhaps represented, 107.
Riding a mule, 86, Fig. 44.
Dog, head of, 87. Lying on a sofa, Plate XXIXa.
Dolphins, as uprights of end-rests, 34, 36, 60,
Plate XXVIII. Between round and seat of a
stool, 34, n. 1. Extant specimens of metal, 34,
n. 1. Modern usage, a revival of the Roman
motive, 38. Ornament on rail, frontispiece, 92.
Drapery, 66 ff. Enveloping couches entirely, 26,
29, Fig. 37. Fringed, 67, 97. Lycosura, sculp
tured, from, 97.
Ducks, heads of, 83, n. 3; 85; 100. See also Birds.
Egyptian couches, 97, n. 4.
Egypt, objects from: ivory couch legs ( ?), 53, n. 2.
Wooden sarcophagi from Abusir, 47, n. 1; 49.
Toy bedstead of palm sticks, 38, n. 2.

1 Greek and Latin words occurring only in the Table of Terms, pp. 109 ff., are not repeated here.
121

122

GENERAL INDEX

End-rests, 36, 75, 109. Construction of, 33, 50.
Number of, 33. Position of, 33, 34.
Eros, heads of, 87, 100.
Feathers, used in stuffing pillows, 70.
Footboard, 97, n. 4. See under End-rests.
Forge work, 51.
Fringe on draperies, 67, 97.
Fulcra, see End-rests.
Funerary couches, 16, 102 ff.
Gjolbaschi, reliefs from, 27, 69.
Gnaphalium, 70.
Gordion, fragment of a bed from, 14, n. 1. Star
like rosettes, carved in ivory, from, 46, n. 3; 73,
end of n. 3.
Grape vine, in ornament of a couch rail, 88, 101.
Griffins, couch supports, 32, 94, 95. On a val
ance, 96.
Haterii, tomb of, 86, n. 5.
Head-rest, construction of one, 48. Egyptian,
97, n. 4. End-view of, Figs. 9, 28; cf. 33, ns. 3
and 4. See also End-rests.
Hermocopid.e, 63; in, n. 20. See also under
Alcibiades.
Hollow casting, see under Technic.
Homeric beds, 19, 39.
Horn of plenty, 107, Plates XXIV, XXV, Fig. 48.
Horses, heads of (on beds), 34, Fig. 17; 82; 84;
107, n. 4. (Handles), 86, Fig. 45.
Hostilius Amphio, Lucius, 61, n. 4.
Icarius reliefs, 31, 107.
Inlaying, see under Technic.
Interlacing, 62 ff., 92.
Ionic capitals, 80; 81, n. 1.
Ivory, see under Materials. Reliefs from Nineveh, 80.
Ivy, associated with Dionysus, 86. On collars of
mules, 85. On heads of mules, 84, 85, 86. On
maenad's head, 101. On heads of satyrs, 99. On
a rail, 101.
Kd\a lirirelo) Sio, 63; III, n. 20.
Kedesh, 97, n. 3.
Keipla, 63.
kvkIs, 44, n. 3.
kKiv&v irb5e$ iirdpyvpol, 41; 51; in, n. 8.
Leaf motive on fulcra, 86.
Leather, used for pillows, 70.
Lecticula lucubratoria, 15, n. 5.

Lectus cubicularis, 15, n. 3. Tricliniaris, 15, n. 3.
Legs, 109. Plank constructions, 47; plain, 26, 43,
97; with volute capitals, 26, 44; with volute
capitals and incisions, 20 ff., 44-46, 72, 73;
derivatives of type with incisions, 91. Rudely
hewn, 26, 42, 43. Turned, see under Technic.
Turned and carved, 29; see also under Sphinxes.
Length of couches, 15, n. 5; 16, n. 5; 37; 38.
Lesbos, capital found on island of, 80.
Leuconian blankets, 71.
Linen, 70, 71.
Links, combined with volutes in ornamental
designs, 76, n. 2; 80; 81.
Lions, heads of, 34, 83, Fig. 50, 102, 103, 107.
Legs of, supports of Egyptian couches, 97, n. 4;
supports of Greek folding stools, 104. Supports
of chair of goddess Cybele, 95, n. 2.
Lora, 63, 109.
Lycosura, sculptured drapery from, 97.
Maeander, combined with rosettes, 77. On
collars of horses and mules, 85. On rails, 23;
88, Fig. 46.
Maenads, heads of, 87; Plate XVI, 101.
Making couches, conditions of, 53, n. 6. Names
of artisans employed in, 61.
Mardonius, gold and silver couches of, 51.
Materials: bone, 55; see also under Bone. Bronze,
40, 41, 56. Gold, 40, 41, 56. Iron, 41, 55. Ivory,
4°, 53> 55- Jewels, 56. Metal, 41, 42. Silver, 40, 41,
56. Tortoise shell, 40, 55. Wood, 39; 41, n.
3,55-
Medallions, 87; 91, n. 1; 98; 99; 100; 102; 103;
107.
Mergansers, 83, n. 3.
Metapontum, temple at, 77.
Milesian beds, 54. Coverings, 71.
Miletus, coins of, 77.
Mortising, see under Technic and Tenons.
Mules, heads of, 83, 84, 85, 100. Sacred to Diony
sus, 86, Fig. 44.
Munich, satyr's head in, 99. Seats of marble in,
76, end of n. 2.
Myrina terra-cottas, 29, 31, Fig. 30.
Myrtle, 87, 88.
Neandreia, capital from, 80.
Nineveh, ivory reliefs from, 80.
Norcia, couch found at, 32, 56, 57, 107.
Nut-galls, used in stains, 44, n. 3.

GENERAL INDEX

123

Ocladias, 104.
Odysseus, bed of, 13, 39, 62.
Olive, branches of, 88, n. 1.
Ornament, Roman, important motives, 86; 87; 94,
n. 1. Significance of, on couches, 85, 87.
Painting of wood, 49.
Palmettes, 81. Bronze applique", 61, tailpiece
chap. 2. Furniture legs, on, 76; 80, n. 1; 91, n. 1.
Rails, on, 88, Fig. 46; 95. Valance, figured on,
96. Cf. also Figs. 41, 42, tailpiece chap. 5.
Panthers, heads of, ornaments of fulcra, 83.
Skin of, worn by Roman riding-horses, 85, 99.
Small bronze, 84, n. 2.
Paphus, ' couch with silver legs of youth of, 41,
Si-
irapatrv^os, 41, n. 1; 109.
Parc. . . , Gaius, 61, n. 4.
Paris, marble head of a satyr in Louvre, 99.
Parthenon, furniture kept in, 16, n. 4; 40; 54, n. 3;
in, n. 8.
Pegasi, supports of a stool, 95, n. 2.
Pergamon, frieze of altar, 107.
Phigaleia, frieze of temple at, 89.
"Phineus vase," 22.
Pillows, 66 ff.; Fig. 36; 93; Plates VI, VIK,
XXVIII, and XXIX.
Plank constructions, 43 ff., 47, 91, 97.
PlatjEA, beds dedicated at, 16, n. 4; 41; 51.
Plating, see under Technic.
Polishing wood, 44, ns. 2 and 3.
Pompeii, couches found at, 32, 57.
Priene, couch from, 30, n.,5; 41; 51; 82; 85; 87.
ftaSos, 68, n. 3; no.
Ptolemy Philadelphus, golden couches used at
accession festivities of, 41, 51.
Punic couches, 60.
Purple cloth, 71.
Rails, 30, 42-45, 95, 109. Adornment of, 34, 49,
88, 101, frontispiece; Figs. 16, 29, 46; Plates I,
VI, IX, XIX. Material of, 41, n. 3. Two in
number paneled up at back, 47, frontispiece.
Wide, analogies in chairs, 49; 93, n. 1.
"Reliefs, Tomb of the," 76, n. 2.
Repousse, 44, n. 5; 51.
Rhesus, slave of Caninius, 61, n. 4.
Romanus, 61, n. 4.
Rosettes, 21; 77; 88, Fig. 46; 91, n. 1; 96. See
also under Gordion.

Sarcophagi, Etruscan, 22; 23; 76, n. 2; Figs. 41
and 43. Roman, 36, Fig. 31; 34, Fig. 17.
Sardian draperies, 71.
Satyrs, attending Dionysus, 107, Fig. 44. Heads
of, 87, 89, 98, 99.
Sawbills, 83, n. 3.
Selinunte, temple S at, 77.
Shark skin, used in finishing wood-work, 44.
Shoes of bronze, 104, Fig. 51.
Silk, 70, 71.
Skins, bed- coverings, 71, no. Worn by horses, 85,
99, 101.
SOTERICHUS, 6l.
Sparta, furniture industry in, 53.
o-irdprai; 63, 109.
o-<j>iyy6iro8es, 51; 109; 112, n. 27.
Sphinxes, a feature in the design of couch legs, 29;
30; 51, n. 1; Figs. 14, 30, 50; cf. 112, n. 27. Sup
porting chairs, 95, n. 2.
Staining, 44, n. 3.
Stool, folding, 104, 105.
Stop-gaps, elimination of, 78.
St. Petersburg, bed from southern Russia in, 30,
41, So, 82, 87.
aTpoyyvkbro Ses, m, n. 26.
Swans, heads of, 83, n. 3. See also Birds.
Tables, 94, Fig. 48; 104.
Tanagra, 93, end of n. 1.
Technic: a jour work in metal, 44, n. 5; in wood
and ivory, 46, n. 3. Appliques, of ivory, 46, n. 3;
of metal, 44, n. 5; of wood, 46, n. 3; 47, n. 1; cf.
rail of frontispiece. Carving in bone, 104, 107;
limitations of, 103, n. 1; 107. Carving in wood,
44, 47, Fig. 43. Forge work, 51. Hollow casting,
50; Egyptian and Assyrian examples of, 50,
n. 2. Inlaying, with ivory, 46, n. 3; in bronze
with silver and copper, 56, 87, 88, 100, Plates IX,
XIII, XIV, XVb, XVII, XVIII, XIX. Metal
encasing all surfaces, 51. Mortising, 43, 44; cf.
Figs. 27 and 26; see also under Tenons. Painting
wood, 49. Plating with precious metals, 56, n. 4.
Polishing wood, 44, ns. 2 and 3. Repousse", 44,
n. 5; 51. Staining, 44, n. 3. Soldering together
of metal castings, 50. Turned work, couch legs,
20-24, 27-34, 39, 48, 49; part of head-rest, 48;
imitated in metal castings, sometimes retouched
on wheel, 50; 51, n. 1. Veneering, with wood, 41,
55; with ivory, 46, n. 3; 52; 55.
Telephus frieze, 31.

124

GENERAL INDEX

Tenons, round, Fig. 24. Rectangular, lying verti
cally, Fig. 23. Rectangular, lying horizontally,
Fig. 25. Showing prominently, 90, Plate I.
t6vos, 63, 109.
Topknot, hair gathered into, 101. Horse's fore
lock arranged in a, Plate XVI; 101, n. 2.
Torch, 103, 106. Associated with Dionysus, 107.
Triclinium, 33, 101.
Tripod, figured on a valance, 96.
Turned work, see under Technic.

Upholstery ( ?), 36, 37.
Uses, 16, 17.
Valances, 68, 96, 97.
Vatican, bronze bed in, 20; 62, n. 4.
Veneering, see under Technic.
Volutes, 73, n. 3; 74; 76-81; 91.
Wool, 70, 71.

INDEX OF PASSAGES IN GREEK AND LATIN AUTHORS
REFERRED TO IN TEXT

/Elian, Var. Hist., XII, 29 — p. 53.
Apuleius, Met., X, 34 — p. 55, n. 6.
Aristophanes, I.ysistr., 916 ff. — p. 112, n. 42.
Nub., 730 — p. 112, n. 41. Ran., 542 — p. 71,
n. 6.
Artemidorus, I, 74 — p. in, ns. 10, 18.
Athan^eus, I, 286 — p. 54, n. 2. II, 480, b — pp.
53; 71. n- 7! m, n. 8. II, 48c— p. 112, n. 38.
VI, 25S«— PP- 4i, n- 8; in, n. 8; 112, n. 31. V,
197a — p. 112, n. 27. V, 197a, b — p. 41, n. 9.
VI, 2sse— p. 71, n. 7. XI, 4860— p. 54, n. 2.
Bion, I, 67 — p. 41, n. 9.
Cato, De Agric, 10, 5 — p. 62, n. 4.
Catullus, 64, 48 ff. — p. 71, n. 4.
Cicero, De Div., II, 134 — pp. 13; 62, n. 4. Pro
Mur., 36, 75— pp. 60, n. 4; 71, n. 2.
Clement of Alexandria, Paedag., II, 3, p. 188 —
P- 55, n. 3.
Critias, I, 5— p. 54, n. 2. Fragm. 1, 1. 5 (p. 31,
ed. Bach) — p. 54, n. 2. Fragm. 26 (p. 95, ed.
Bach) — p. 53, n. 5. Fragm. 28 (p. 95, ed. Bach)
—p. 54, n. 2.
Demosthenes, XXVII, 10 ff. — p. 39, n. 4. XXVII,
31— p. 40, n. 1.
Digest, XXXII, 100, 4— p. 55, n. 8. XXXIII, 10,
3, 3— P- 56, n. 7. XXXIII, 10, 9, 1— p. 56, n. 5.
Herodotus, IX, 80-82 — p. 51, n. 3. IX, 118 — pp.
62, n. 4; 63.
Hist. Aug. Vit. Elag., 20, 4 — p. 56, n. 5.
Homer — p. 13. II., Ill, 391 — p. 39, n. 2. Od.,
XIX, 56— p. 39, n. 3. Od., XXIII, 195-201— p.
39, n- i-
Horace, Ep., I, 5, 1 — p. 61, n. 3. Epod., 3, 22 —
p. in, n. 12. Sat., II, 4, 84 — pp. 71, n. 5; 112,
n. 44. Sat., II, 6, 103— p. 55, n. 4.
Hyginus, Fab., 274 — p. 83, n. 7.
Isidorus, Orig., XX, 11, 3— p. 59, n. 4. XX, n,
5— p. in, n. 12.
Juvenax, XI, 96 — p. 83, n. 7. XI, 98 — p. 56, n 1.

Livy, XXXIX, 6— p. 56, n. 1.
Lucan, X, 310, 126 — p. 56, n. 7.
Lucian, Asin., 621 — p. 55, ns. 6, 8.
Macrobius, Saturn., Ill, 13, 11 — p. 55, n. 4.
Martial, III, 91, 10 — p. in, n. 17. VIII, 33, 6 —
p. .56, n. 4. IX, 22, 6— p. 56, n. 4. IX, 59, 9—
p. 55, n. 2. XII, 66, 5— pp. 55, n. 8; 56, n. 7.
XIV, 85— p. 55, n. 2. XIV, 159— pp. 71, n. 8;
112, n. 39.
Ovid, Ep. ex Ponto, III, 3, 14 — p. 55, n. 1. Met.,
VIII, 656— p. in, n. 12. Met., VIII, 656-59
—pp. 55, n. 1; in, n. 9. Trist., I, n, 37— p. 15,
n. 5.
Persius, I, 52— p. 15, n. 5. I, 52, 53— p. 55, n. 2.
I, 106— p. 15, n. 5.
Petronius, 97 — pp. 62, 11. 4; 65; in, n. 12.
Plato, Prot., 315^ — p. 71, n. 2. Republ. X, 5966 —
5976— p. 53.
Plato (comic poet), quoted in Athen., II, 480, b — •
P- S3-
Plautus, Stick., 378 — p. 71, n. 10.
Pliny, Ep., V, 5, 5— p. 15, n. 5. N. H., VIII, 196
—p. 71, n. 12. N. H. IX, 39— p. 55, n. 5. N.
H. IX, 137— p. 71, n. n. N. H., XXXIII, 144
—pp. 54, n. 6; 55, n. 5; 56, n. 2. N. H., XXXIII,
146— p. 56, n. 3. N. H., XXXIV, 2, 9— p. 41,
n. 2. N. H., XXXIV, 14— p. 56, n. 1.
Plutarch, Lycurg., 9 — p. 53, n. 5.
Pollux — p. 13. VI, 9 — p. in, ns. 7, 11, 13. VI,
10— pp. no, n. 3; 112, ns. 33, 34, 38. VII, 160
—p. no, n. 3. X, 34— p. in, ns. 8, 13. X, 35
— pp. 40, n. 6; no, n. 6. X, 36 — pp, 62, n. 4;
in, ns. 21, 24. X, 38 — p. 112, n. 32. X, 41 —
pp. 70, n. 4; 112, n. 29. X, 42 — p. 112, ns. 33,
37- X, 43— p. 112, ns. 42, 43. X, 64— p. 63.
Propertius, II, 13, 22 — p. 71, n. 12. IV, 5, 24 —
p. 71, n. 12. IV, 8, 68 — p. in, n. 17.
Seneca, Ep., 17, 12— p. 55, n. 1. Ep., 72, 2— p.
15, n. 5. Ep., 87, 2— p. 112, ns. 36, 40. Ep.,
no, 12 — p. 56, n. 7. Fragm., 114 — p. 61, n. 3.

12s

126 PASSAGES IN GREEK AND LATIN AUTHORS
Strabo, XV, 693— p. 71. Thucydides, III, 68, 3 — p. 41, n. 2. IV, 48, 3 —
Suetonius, Aug., 78 — p. 15, n. 5. Calig., 26 — ¦ p. 62, n. 4.
p. in, n. 17. Calig., 32 — p. 56, n. 3. Iul., 84— Tevleus, quoted in Aelian, Var. Hist., XII, 29—
P- 55, n- 4- P- 53-
Suidas, — p. 13. S. W. Keipta and t6vos — p. 63. 5. V.
ao-Kavros—p. no, n. 4. Varro, — p. 13. L. L., V, 167 — p. 112, n. 35. L.
Terence, Ad., 585-p. in, n. 9. L> VIII> 3*. 3»-P- 6°> n- *•
Theocritus, XXIV, 43-p. 39. VlRGIL' Cir-> 44°-PP- 61, n. 2; 71, n. 9.
Theophrastus, — p. 39. H. P., IV, 8, 4 — p. 112,
n. 42. Xenophon, Anab., VII, 5, 14 — p. 54.

INDEX OF PLACES1

Athens: Acropolis Museum, terra-cotta plaques,
23, Fig. 6; 27, n. 2; 49; 68. Central Museum,
terra-cotta, 52, Fig. 30; 29; 51; 69; 75, n. 5; 112,
n. 27. — Vase, Boeotian, detail from, 66, head
piece, chap. 4; 69. — Vase, Melian, detail from,
89, tailpiece, chap. 5; 78.
Berlin: Antiquarium, duck's head, 100. — Lead,
relief in, 108. — Palmette-ornament, 61, tailpiece
chap. 2; 44, n. 5; 81, n. 2; 93, n. 2. — Terra
cotta, 98. — Vase, detail from red-figured, 43,
Fig. 26; 26; 68. Egyptian Department, faience,
fragment of, 30, Fig. 13; 68, n. 3; 69; 97, n. 2.
— Wooden couch, rail of, 65, Figs. 32, 33; 64;
97, n. 2. — Terra-cotta, 108. Pergamon Museum,
fragments of marble couch, 93 ff.
Cervetri (Caere), cinerary urn from, 90.
Chicago, Field Columbian Museum, bed of bone,
102 ff .
Cologne, Wallraf-Richartz Museum, tiny bronze
chair found in Cologne, 71, tailpiece chap. 4;
15, n. 2; 47, n. 2; 76, end of n. 2; 91, n. 1.
Constantinople, sarcophagus from Syria, 59,
Fig. 31; cf. Plate XXVII; 34; 36; 89, 108.
Corneto-Tarquinia, vase, detail from red-figured,
26, Fig. 9; 44, n. 1; 68. — Wall-painting in a tomb,
detail from, 25, Fig. 8; 23; 24; 43; 49; 67.
Egypt, objects from, see Berlin, Egyptian Depart
ment.
Florence, Archaeological Museum, vase, detail
from red-figured, 42, Fig. 24; 26.
Hanover, Kestner Museum, shoe of bronze, 105,
Fig. 51; 104. — Terra-cotta handle ( ?), 86, Fig. 45.
Jallieux, parts of a couch found at, 101.
Karlsruhe, vase, detail from red-figured, 78,
Fig. 42; 7°, n. 2.
London, British Museum: Assyrian furniture, 74,
Fig- 395 41, n- 3; 73-— "Bisellium," 98.—
Bronzes (various attachments of couches), 99 ff.

— Cinerary urn, 90; detail from another, 24, Fig.
7; 23; 24; 27, n. 2; 49. — Sarcophagus, Etruscan,
view of end of, 78, Fig. 41; 22; 76, n. 2; detail
from design on back of, 38, tailpiece chap. 1; 22.
— Terra-cotta, 108, — Vase, black -figured on white
ground, detail of, 19, headpiece chap. 1; 26; 91.
— Vases, red-figured, details from, 40, Fig. 22;
26; 39; 68.-43, Fig. 25; 26; 44; 47; 49; 97.-48,
Fig. 28; 20, n. 2; 27; 68; 72.
Lyons, bronze parts of a couch in, 101.
Macedonia, couch found in tomb at Pydna, see
under Paris.
Madrid, vase, detail from red-figured, 27, Fig. 11;
81; in, n. 24.
Munich: Glyptothek, seats of marble, details
from 91, Fig. 47; 119. Antiquarium, vase,
detail from black-figured, 45, Fig. 27; cf. Plate II;
22; 44J 46; 47J 49! 76, n. 2.
Naples, vases, details from red-figured, 49, Fig. 29;
37; 68.-69, Fig- 37; 17, n- 1; 29; 68.— 106, Fig.
52; 104; 105.
Orvieto, couch of bone from, 102 ff.
Palermo, cinerary urn in, detail of, 104, Fig. 50;
30; 75, n. 5; 82; 83; 112, n. 27.
Paris, Louvre: marble couch from Pydna in Mace
donia, 29, Fig. 12; 28; 80, n. 1; 111, n. 24. —
Mules' heads, 101. — Terra-cotta, 90 ff. — Vase,
Dipylon, detail from, 20, Fig. 1; 66. Vases,
Corinthian, details from, 21, Fig. 2; 20; 49; 67.
—22, Fig. 4; 21; 23, n. 1, 37; 45; 67; 80, n. 1.
—67, Fig. 35; 21; 73, n. 3.
Paros, Roman gravestones on the island of, 36,
Fig. 18 and 76, Fig. 40; 35; 38; 75; in, n. 18.
Pergamon, fragments of a marble couch found at,
93 A-
Pompeii, duck's head found at, 100. — Marble table
in "House of Meleager" in, 95, Fig. 48; 94.
Pydna, couch found in tomb at, see under Paris.

1 Find spots (so far as known) and present situations of objects pictured in this book. Other important
objects referred to under the names of places are included in the general index.
127

128

INDEX OF PLACES

Rome: Museo Kircheriano, cinerary urn, 31,
Fig. 14; 16, n. 3; 30; 34; 38; 75, n. 5; 82; 112,
n. 27. Museo di Papa Giulio, sarcophagus, 79,
Fig. 43; 23; 44; 45; 76, n. 2; 80. Museo Torlonio,
sarcophagus, cover of, 34; 35, Fig. 17; 69.
St. Petersburg, vase, detail from red-figured, 82,
Fig. 44; 27; 50, n. 2 ; 68; 75 ; 81 ; 83, n. 8; 86.
Syria, sarcophagus from, see under Constantinople.

Vathia, couch in tomb at, 70, Fig. 38; 28; 69; 75;
81; 94; in, n. 26.
Vienna, bronze upright of an end-rest, 101.
Vienne, bronze mules' heads found at, 101.
Wurzburg, vase, detail from red-figured, 22, Fig. 5;
23; 24; 495 67-

STUDIES IN ANCIENT FURNITURE, I

PLATE I

ETRUSCAN TERRA-COTTA CINERARY URN.— British Museum.

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WORKING DRAWING FOR CONSTRUCTION OF A COUCH OF GREEK TYPE.

STUDIES IN ANCIENT FURNITURE, I

PLATE III

RELIEFS ON TERRA-COTTA MODEL OF A COUCH.— Louvre.

STUDIES IN ANCIENT FURNITURE, I

PLATE IV

FRAGMENT OF ANCIENT MARBLE REPRODUCTION OF A COUCH. FRONT-VIEW
SHOWING VALANCE.— Pergamon Museum, Berlin.

STUDIES IN ANCIENT FURNITURE, I

PLATE V

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STUDIES IN ANCIENT FURNITURE, I

PLATE VI

FRAGMENT OF ANCIENT MARBLE REPRODUCTION OF A COUCH.— Pergamon Museum, Berlin.

STUDIES IN ANCIENT FURNITURE, I

PLATE VII

TWO SMALL TERRA-COTTAS.— Berlin.

STUDIES IN ANCIENT FURNITURE, I

PLATE VIII

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STUDIES IN ANCIENT FURNITURE, I

PLATE IX

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STUDIES IN ANCIENT FURNITURE, I

PLATE X

STUDIES IN ANCIENT FURNITURE, I

PLATE XI

UPRIGHTS OF FULCRUM OF A COUCH.— British Museum.

STUDIES IN ANCIENT FURNITURE, I

PLATE XII

UPRIGHTS OF FULCRA OF COUCHES.— British Museum.

STUDIES IN ANCIENT FURNITURE, I

PLATE XIII

UPPER CORNER-ORNAMENT OF FULCRUM OF A COUCH— British Museum.

STUDIES IN ANCIENT FURNITURE, I

PLATE XIV

UPPER CORNER-

-ORNAMENTS OF FULCRA OF COUCHES.-**** Museum.

STUDIES IN ANCIENT FURNITURE, I

PLATE XV

A B UPPER CORNER-ORNAMENTS OF FULCRA OF COUCHES.— Berlin.
C D ORNAMENTS OF FULCRA OF COV CUES. —British Museum.

STUDIES IN ANCIENT FURNITURE, I

PLATE XVI

UPRIGHT OF FULCRUM OF A COUCH.— Vienna.

STUDIES IN ANCIENT FURNITURE, I

PLATE XVII

UPPER FRONT CORNER-ORNAMENTS OF FULCRA OF A COUCH.— Louvre.

STUDIES IN ANCIENT FURNITURE, I
/

PLATE XVIII

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FUNERARY COUCH WITH CARVINGS OF BONE. WRONGLY RESTORED.— Field Columbian Museum, Chicago.

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STUDIES IN ANCIENT FURNITURE, I

PLATE XXI

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FUNERARY COUCH. BONE ORNAMENT FROM LOWER CORNER OF A FULCRUM.— Field
Columbian Museum, Chicago.

FUNERARY COUCH. BONE ORNAMENT FROM LOWER CORNER OF A FULCRUM.— Field Columbian Museum, Chicago.

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STUDIES IN ANCIENT FURNITURE, I

PLATE XXIII

FUNERARY COUCH. HEAD OF LION CARVED IN BONE.— Field Columbian Museum, Chicago.

STUDIES IN ANCIENT FURNITURE, I

PLATE XXIV

FUNERARY COUCH. FIGURES CARVED IN BONE.— Field Columbian Museum, Chicago.

STUDIES IN ANCIENT FURNITURE, I

PLATE XXV

FUNERARY COUCH. FIGURES CARVED IN BONE.— Field Columbian Museum, Chicago.

STUDIES IN ANCIENT FURNITURE, I

PLATE XXVI

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FUNERARY COUCH. HEAD OF LION CARVED IN BONE.— Field Columbian Museum, Chicago.

WORKING DRAWING FOR CONSTRUCTION OF A COUCH OF ROMAN TYPE.

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STUDIES IN ANCIENT FURNITURE, I

PLATE XXVIII

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STUDIES IN ANCIENT FURNITURE, I

PLATE XXIX

a. SMALL TERRA-COTTA.— Berlin.
b. SMALL TERRA-COTTA.— British Museum.

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