Popular Woodworking 2005-10 № 150, страница 57

The History of Case Furniture

The history of case furniture actually needs to start with chests that first appeared in Egypt more than 4,000 years ago. The boxes were made from boards joined together at the corners and were used to carry heavy loads when traveling. Around 1,500 B.C. chests found in Egyptian tombs showed improved joinery skills with the introduction of frame-and-panel construction. The interiors often were divided for storage of jewelry and other valuables used in the burial process.

In time, legs were added to boxes used by the Egyptians and these pieces became the first rudimentary case furniture. They were used to store linens, jewelry and toiletries. The next evolution of casework (adding shelves and doors) didn't appear for quite a while.

Furniture designed for holding household goods, what we would call cupboards, didn't appear until late in the Greek and Roman eras. They were still not considered valuable furniture, and were often built using rough wood and crude joinery.

This construction trend continued into the early Middle Ages when the cupboard, known as the press, was often vividly painted to disguise its generally crude joinery. Presses began changing and improving in the Gothic era as more attention was paid to the construction and decoration of the pieces. The form began

This is a Spanish, 17th-century wooden coffer with wrought-iron mounts and a falling flap, on carved stand. (Basically, it's a fancy box.)

to change as well, with specific purposes being assigned to the furniture. It was during this period that the armoire and wardrobe furniture styles came into fashion.

True cabinetry started in Italy in the 16th century and the concept quickly spread across the continent. When it came to decorating these cabinets, architecture heavily influenced the designs, much of it classical in nature. During the 17th and 18th centuries, cabinets were the most important and elaborate pieces of furniture made. Because of the time, effort and skill required to create these pieces, the profession of cabinetmaker became synonymous with particularly fine furniture.

The next evolution for casework was the addition of divided storage. Cabinet pieces with drawers became very popular in America in the mid-17th century. Chests were often filled with drawers (usually four) and were referred to as "cases of drawers." Doors and drawers were soon blended together in pieces to offer a variety in storage options.

And that brings us up to the furniture design that most of us consider traditional case furniture. However, during the mid-20th century, there was a change in case construction that continues to affect the type of furniture we have in our homes - frameless construction.

It's widely accepted that the origin of frame-less cabinetry can be traced back to the post-World War II reconstruction effort in Germany. The need for quick, inexpensive furniture

This is a 16th-century coffer fort (a coffer fort is bigger than a coffer). The decoration s bitten in with acids so as to present the appearance of its being damascened, and the complicated lock, shown on the inside of the id, is characteristic of these safeguards for valuable documents at a time when the modern burglar-proof safe had not been thought of.

using a minimum of materials led to the 32mm assembly-line construction of case pieces. New hardware made it possible to build cabinets without face frames, revolutionizing 20th-century furniture design. —DT

This bookcase design was published in "The Cabinet Maker and Upholsterer's Drawing Book" by Thomas Sheraton in 1793.

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