Who invented the book table? Who made the first table? Dark times illuminated with innovations
It is impossible to talk about chairs and ignore the table. It has long been considered the most significant element of the decor. Its inventors were the inhabitants of Ancient Egypt, who are credited with creating two types of tables - dining and working. The desktop was mobile - it could easily be folded and moved from place to place. Not big table had for eating round table top, which was located on a rounded massive leg (gefidon prototype). Later, a model appeared with a rectangular tabletop supported by three legs.
The Greeks invented high tables-stands on three legs, which served to place vessels with drinks. Meals took place at squat tables, which were taken out of the room at the end of the meal. The Greeks used marble, bronze and wood to make tables.
During the Middle Ages, wooden models came into use. Roughly crafted massive tables were a mockery of the refined antique silhouettes.
The Renaissance became a new starting point in the history of the table - they acquired the elegance that had been lost. They were again decorated with carvings and inlays, and the shapes of the tabletop varied (from the traditional circle to an oval). There has been a revival of interest in desks (initially these were desks where people worked while standing, but they were gradually replaced by more comfortable models, work activities for which were carried out while sitting).
In the eighteenth century, elegant dressing tables appeared on the furniture scene, as well as serving tables, necessary in such an important process for maintaining etiquette - table setting. Around the same time, jardinieres came into fashion in salons - elegant tables with a round top on which flowers were placed.
In Rus', the table came into general use in the tenth century. It was then that in the homes of ordinary peasants, tables made of clay began to be dug into the earthen floor. Wood replaced clay much later.
The significance of the table as a witness to the Last Supper is difficult to overestimate for followers of Christian teaching. It is not for nothing that bad behavior at the table (foul language, showdowns, etc.) was considered one of the serious violations. Sitting on a table or putting your feet on it - our ancestors couldn’t even imagine this! Until now, the rules of etiquette condemn the pseudo-democratic pose - elbows on the table.
Nowadays, the table still remains a fundamental element of the interior. Therefore, all progressive designers consider it a matter of honor to contribute to the evolution of the table. Their bold experiments with materials (glass, plastic, natural stone, mirror, etc.), tabletop shapes (drop, abstraction, etc.) were never dreamed of by furniture makers of the past.
Our catalog presents an extensive collection of elegant tables (dining tables, coffee tables), which illustrates everything modern tendencies furniture fashion and confirms that since the time of the pharaoh the purpose of the table has remained unchanged - to be the semantic center of the interior composition and, of course, a source of good energy that helps us look at the world with optimism.
IN Ancient Rome seat furniture was used only by high officials. The slaves carried behind them a folding chair with x-shaped legs, which later acquired a backrest. This model has stood the test of time and is used by many designers now. The materials were wood, metal, and bronze.
Medieval furniture was austere and quite primitive. A hard formal chair with a high back and armrests. Nevertheless, imperial thrones had such a design, thanks to which the seated person assumed a proud posture and a majestic appearance.
In the 15th century, a “peasant” chair with four legs appeared in Germany. Carvings were used only on the back of the chair; most often these were fairy-tale ornaments. In the 15th century, upholstery made of red fabrics became popular; the fashion for upholstery affected, first of all, chairs.
The era of Louis XIV is the time of the birth of the chaise lounge, which was a light sliding chair in which one could recline. The “winged” chair received its name due to the semicircular protrusions on the sides of the back; this chair subsequently became popular among scientists and philosophers of the 17th century.
However, furniture for business people– a completely separate area for the imagination of designers. Chairs for scientists had slats that extended from the armrests; the tabletop was laid on these slats. The chairs were also equipped with retractable drawers for papers. In the 18th and 19th centuries, some of the chairs were moved to the middle (“movable”), and the rest took place along the rooms (“furnishings”). The armrests were made turned to the sides, since the fashion of that time dictated that ladies wear wide pannier skirts. The seat base becomes increasingly soft. Wrap furniture is becoming widespread, that is, furniture carefully draped and covered with lace capes.
A revolution in materials for making furniture took place in the 20th century. Steel, glass, plastic, and aluminum began to be used in the production of chairs. This allowed designers to invent new and increasingly original options chairs.
It is impossible to talk about chairs and ignore the table. It has long been considered the most significant element of the decor.
It is believed that the table was invented back in Ancient Egypt. Then it was divided into two types: working and lunch. The worker was foldable and could be moved from one place to another. The dining table had a round top and one massive leg. Later, a rectangular tabletop with three legs appeared.
IN Ancient Greece high tables with three supports were used. Vessels with drinks were placed on such tables. But the dining tables, on the contrary, were low and were taken out of the room at the end of the meal. The Greeks made tables from wood, marble and bronze.
Appeared in the Middle Ages wooden tables. They were rough and massive, in contrast to the refined antique silhouettes.
But the tables of the Renaissance, undoubtedly, can boast of their beauty and grace. They were of all kinds, had different tabletop shapes and were always decorated with carvings and inlays.
In the eighteenth century they already appeared serving tables, jardinieres - small elegant tables on which flowers were placed, as well as dressing tables familiar to us.
The first tables that appeared in Rus' in the 10th century were made of clay. But wooden tables appeared much later.
Don't underestimate the role of the table these days. For many years now, families have been gathering around the family table to not only dine, but also share joys and sorrows together. That is why, for a long time, foul language at the table was considered a great sin, and elbows on the table - a gross violation of the rules of etiquette. Nowadays, the table still remains an indispensable piece of furniture. That is why modern designers strive for constant experiments when creating them. Now you can see tabletops of round, rectangular, oval and asymmetrical shapes. When creating tables they are widely used various materials, such as wood, metal, glass, plastic, stone and even mirror. In addition, there are various variations of folding tables and transforming tables that furniture makers never even dreamed of in the old days.
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Today I’ll tell you about the traditions and rules of behavior at the table in X - XVII centuries. That is, before the active penetration of European traditions into Rus'.
Everyone has their place at the table
Tables for meals were usually not placed in the middle of the room, but were moved towards the wall near the benches, where each family member had his own place.
In Rus', seniority at the table was always strictly observed.
In the front corner, at the “upper” end of the table, under the images, the owner sat.
On his right hand is his eldest son or younger brother. The farther from the owner, the less prestigious the place was considered
The places on the benches along the wall were considered to be for men, and the places on the side benches were for women.
In pre-Petrine times, women did not sit at the common table when many guests gathered: they served food and ate later.
Domostroy: “When you are invited to a feast, do not sit in the place of honor. “Suddenly, from among those invited, someone will be more respectful than you, and the owner will come up to you and say: “Give way!” - and then you will have to move to last place with shame. But, if you are invited, sit down in the last place upon entering, and when the one who invited you comes and says to you: “Friend, sit higher!” - then the rest of the guests will honor you. Likewise, everyone who exalts himself will humble himself, and the humble will exalt himself.”
Invitations
They didn’t go on a visit without an invitation (“an uninvited guest is worse than a Tatar”). Invitations to the feast were conveyed personally or through servants sent specifically for this purpose.
Accepting an invitation the first time was considered bad manners (“they don’t go to visit when invited”), just like being the first to arrive.
Start of the meal
While the family and guests gather, no one begins to eat, even if the plates are already full. The eldest picks up the first spoon, and this serves as a sign for the start of lunch.
Before sitting down to the table, they always washed their hands, the head of the family said a prayer of thanks, and only then could the meal begin.
A Russian person at the table had to behave as decorously as in church. The Russians personified the laid table with the palm of God. In no case did they scold the food, no matter what it was, it was considered blasphemy. It was believed that God served food and should be honored.
Table manners
A document from that time about the rules for admission to the table.
YOUTH HONEST MIRROR.
What should a young boy do when he sits with others at a feast?
When you happen to sit at the table with others, then put yourself in order according to the following rule: first, cut your nails, don’t appear as if they were lined with velvet, wash your hands and sit decently, sit straight and don’t grab the first thing from the dish.
Don’t eat like a pig, and don’t blow into your ears so that it splashes everywhere, don’t sniffle when you eat, don’t be the first to drink, be abstinent and avoid drunkenness.
Drink and eat, no more than you need, in moderation, take the last thing from the dish, when they offer you something, then take some of it, give the rest to someone else and thank him.
Don’t let your hands lie on the plate for a long time, don’t dangle your feet everywhere.
When you need to drink, do not wipe your lips with your hand, but with a towel, and do not drink until you have swallowed food, do not lick your fingers and do not gnaw bones, but cut them with a knife.
Don’t brush your teeth with a knife, but with a toothpick, and cover your mouth with one hand when you brush your teeth, don’t cut the bread against your chest, eat what’s in front of you, and don’t grab the rest.
If you want to give something to someone, don’t grab it with your fingers, as some people are now accustomed to.
Don’t slurp over your food like a pig and don’t scratch your head.
Don’t speak without swallowing a piece, because that’s what peasants do.
Frequently sneezing, blowing your nose and coughing is not good.
When you eat an egg, cut off the bread first and make sure it doesn’t leak, and eat quickly, break the eggshells, and while you eat the egg, don’t drink, meanwhile, don’t dirty the tablecloths and don’t lick your fingers, don’t make a fence around your plate with bones, bread crusts and other things.
When you stop eating, thank God, wash your hands and face and rinse out your mouth.
Completing a meal in Rus'
Previously, the meal ended in the same way as it began - all together and with a kind word of gratitude.
“Breaking the table” - standing up at random - was considered extremely impolite; those who had eaten remained at the table until the elders had eaten.
Every time we sit down at the table, with the usual feeling of comfort, which we practically do not notice, we begin to work (often with a spoon). A friend from childhood, Samuil Yakovlevich Marshak, asked a question, immortalizing the history of the table in his poems: “Take a book and a notebook, sit down at the table. Could you tell where the table came from?”
Of course, the table, both writing and dining, equally deserved a monument before humanity, but the monument was awarded a chair, and then the 12th chair, which Ostap Bender was hunting for. Let's at least try to find out how long the table has been known, where and when this ingeniously simple invention first appeared.
The first tables most likely appeared with the development of upright walking in humans. When he straightened his back and stood on a pair of lower limbs, bending down for food seemed to him not a noble occupation, and soon the first tables appeared - sort of boards, mounted on the prototype of modern legs - some kind of goats. But we, the inventors, expressed our own assumption, which we in no way impose, although we do not rule out that this was actually the case. Perhaps the origin of the table is connected with the religious beliefs of different peoples, where people used altars as a table for sacrificial offerings to the gods. In essence, these are the same tables, only in profile, for example, made of a block of stone (these were ancient civilization Maya, who lived long before the Egyptians). Then, probably, the priests or shamans (all of them, sharpers, did force themselves to be respected for their art of charlatanism), imagined themselves worthy of careful handling, a kind of transmission link between deities and people, and allowed themselves to no longer bend down, not take pasture, and to place food on a raised altar, which (for fear of arousing the anger and indignation of commoners and deities) was more commonly called the (or dinner) table. The common people took over the kind and rational initiative and also stopped eating from the floor.
Documentary proof first dining tables found among the ancient Egyptians (which is not surprising, since they are the first civilization that learned to document, thanks to the emergence of more or less articulate writing and an optimal assortment of hieroglyphs). Although the term “table” itself, as historians and linguists convince with their ability to extrapolate, is the merit of a Latin word meaning something like the modern concepts of “board, plane”. But if you take the trouble and look into the English Wikipedia, people write a similar assumption - the ancient Egyptians could have invented a table as a pedestal for food.
In Rus' the table was large (since there were large families) and traditionally occupied a place of honor in the room. Dahl in his dictionary interprets the origin of the word table from the Old Russian verb “to lay.” According to the old proverbs “does not keep his own table,” meaning that a person does not dine at home, the initial mission of the table is to serve as a kitchen utensil, or rather - kitchen furniture, that’s why the name of the room “dining room” came about, in which they “eat” - sit down to eat. And if you trace the meaning of the word capital, it all comes from the same table: the word “table” was synonymous with the throne, reign, power, and the capital in ancient times was a capital city, in which the most magnificent feasts with honest guests are an indicator worthy only of a government person .
Until now, tables are gathered for guests and relatives on holidays, and on weekdays for meals - with family members. Everyone now has different tables - there are folding and folding tables, there are small and large ones, depending on the size of the rooms and family members. It is curious that our contemporaries did not use folding tables. Tables with removable tops appeared in the Middle Ages - during mass social gatherings after a feast, they were dismantled to make room for dance entertainment. Extendable tables appeared in the middle of the 17th century. The first designs were almost 3 meters long, but over time, fashion trends changed: later dining etiquette did not allow guests to be seated at the same table for various reasons, so small tables appeared. Sliding tables have been transformed to XVIII century- the need for legs connecting the legs disappeared, and tables with a hinged lid appeared. It has gone out of fashion to keep an untidy (unfolded) large table in an ordinary room, even if the area of the room allowed. Large tables were preserved only in special rooms - dining rooms.
It is curious that the design of the table at all times was not much different from modern ones - hinged “lids” or sliding doors-tabs continue to exist not only in kitchen tables, but also in book-tables adapted for living rooms and bedrooms. Despite all sorts of modifications, the table remains the main piece of furniture in the history of mankind: all significant events for the people were decided by managers earlier at the altar, and today at large, round and not so, and more often - dining tables.
