num_pages: 303
description: This study examines the furniture of England, France and the Netherlands between the - twelfth and fifteenth centuries. The twelfth century marks the earliest moment in which enough evidence exists to enable us to begin to assess Romanesque furniture in a general way. (Before the twelfth century, extant medieval furniture which is complete rather than fragmentary is almost wholly confined to a handful of thrones, the majority of which are of stone or metal.) The end of the fifteenth century is chosen since it coincides with the demise of pure Gothic art in our area and the arrival of Renaissance motifs grafted upon Gothic forms in the early years of the sixteenth century; and according to one school of thought, it marks the division between what is accounted medieval and modern history. The furniture which is included covers fixed and movable forms of all materials, but excludes a particularly specialized group now found almost exclusively in churches and cathedrals; stalls, pulpits and altars. It will be noted in this survey that no division can be made between what was domestic and what was ecclesiastical in furniture. This group has been ignored because the surviving examples are so numerous that a separate volume would be needed to do them justice, and there is, in any case, a tradition of separate treatment. The intention of this study is to examine extant furniture and correlate it with other forms of contemporary evidence, in an attempt to see it in the light of its own time. The evidence utilized falls within the following categories: 1. Extant furniture of impeccable origins which has been examined for this book. 2. Furniture which has been examined and which, though lacking a secure provenance, employs techniques which cannot be reproduced in modern times (e.g. certain forms of ironwork). 3. Furniture which lacks a secure provenance but which has been examined in great detail, proving to have few, if any, restorations. 4. Documentary evidence in printed sources, primarily inventories and wills. 5. Household accounts in printed sources. 6. Literary sources, e.g. accounts of festivals, marriages, etc. 7. Household statutes and books of household management and etiquette. 8. Illuminations from MSS, and other visual evidence such as panel paintings and sculptures. 
language: English
title: Furniture in England, France and the Netherlands from the twelfth to the fifteenth century
publisher: The Furniture History Society