The ancestry of case furniture and cabinets can be traced back to Egypt over 4000 years ago when boards were joined together to make chests. The more common chests were made out of woven papyrus reeds and used to store household items. Others chests were made of wood and often portable to carry heavy objects while traveling from place to place.


Boxes found in Egyptian tombs around 1500 BC show signs of frame-and-panel construction and had divided interiors for storing valuable items such as jewelry. Early coffins have also been found constructed with butt joints, miter joints, and even dovetail joints. Artistic expression varied depending on the contents, but many were painted with detailed narratives.

Over time, the Egyptians added legs to boxes that stored linens, toiletries, and jewelry, making the first rudimentary case furniture. Since animals often represented spiritual beings, Egyptians hypothesized that by using the legs of animals, powerful virtues were conveyed. Plants and animals indigenous to the Nile inspired craftsman, geometrical patterns were used, and motifs carried various types of symbolic and supernatural interpretations.


Furniture such as cupboards designed for storing household goods, appeared later in the Greek and Roman times. Design motifs were also geometric and inspired by nature with animal legs, but were more detached from symbolic representation. Roman chests varied in size and were designed to store clothing, cloth, and valuables such as coins and jewelry. These storage chests were generally basic and constructed of simple materials and methods. Chests made of cedar in Greece indicated an owner’s wealth as wood was scarce during this time. Only furniture constructed of bronze and stone have survived from this period and most were practical and utilitarian.





In The Middle Ages and Medieval times (500 BC to 1500AD), the chest was considered to be the most important piece of furniture in the castle and many other types of case furniture developed such as the armoire, the chest of drawers, and the dressoir.


While earlier examples of chests were constructed of hollowed-out logs, improvements in construction, sophisticated locking devises, and iron reinforcements were used to insure the safety of valuables. Clothing, tapestries, and household objects were stored in these chests unless the owners could afford a cupboard of which was now gaining popularity. Before the development of the cupboard, utensils were placed on a plank of wood attached to the wall called a cup board. Cupboards would later be defined as a case fitted with doors.


As other items were beginning to be stored in these cupboards and owners wanted more surfaces to display their material wealth and household goods, the stage was being set for new case furniture developments. Sacred books and items were stored in the sacristy cupboard. Food was stored in the livery cupboard and had ventilated doors. The dressoir was used to store table linens and display eating implements. The credenza was enlarged into the size of a cabinet or sideboard and was used to serve food to guests. Military armor was stored in armoires (armarium), which soon became fitted with shelves and stored articles of clothing. This also inspired the development of the chest of drawers.



Motifs in the Middle Ages, reflect the medieval architectural achievements of the cathedral projects and were gothic in design with pointed arches, tracery patterns, strap work carvings, and natural forms such as grape motifs. The scale of furniture was much larger, often constructed in oak, and designed for economy and function.


Amy Spencer

The word renaissance is used to describe the cultural rebirth and significant change that began in Italy during the 15th century and continued into the 16th and 17th century. The concept of cabinetry started in the 16th century in Italy as a rising middle-class economy enabled more people to afford finer household goods.


Since education was now allowed outside of the church, establishments prompted the study of nearby classical ruins in such places as Rome. This movement spread throughout the continent and by the 17th and 18th centuries, cabinets were much more elaborate with classical motifs and the profession of cabinetmaking became synonymous with fine furniture.


During the Renaissance in Italy, the chest was called a cassone and resembled the Roman sarcophagus decorated with classical figures rather than fortified chests that were made in the Medieval period. These chests were often made as bridal gifts to contain household goods and instructions for marriage. Examples show gilding, decorative carvings, and depictions in polychrome tempera rather than the restrained decor in previous pieces. Walnut also replaced oak as the primary wood used in furniture construction and carvings prevailed as a common decorative feature.

Storage cupboards became proportionately larger and doors were often carved with motifs and opened to reveal shelves inside. Credenzas stored a multitude of objects and were located in either the bedroom or the dining hall.



In Spain, styles were similar to that in Italy with classical detailing, but with Moorish cultural influences and geometric designs from nearby eastern borders. The armario designed after the medieval armoire, stored articles of clothing and resembled two chests placed on top of one another. The vargueno, a fall front desk, took the form of a chest on a table sometimes with drawers below. The palera was a small cabinet used to store important papers and documents.


French styles were often classically ornate with fluted pilasters, mythological figures, arabesques, and Roman designs. The armoire a deux corps, was an armoire “of two bodies” and similar to those in Spain, resembled two chests placed on top of one another.



The court cupboard was common in England with tiered shelving for displaying tableware and predates the sideboard or buffet. Variations of this cupboard, called the hall and parlor cupboard, had closed top compartments and concealed drawers and shelves.


The geographical separation of England from other European countries kept artisans from traveling to Italy to study the new Renaissance styles. Case furniture of the 16th century in England made little advancement from the medieval and gothic forms. Some were more ornate with geometric diamond patterns, painted designs, and decorative carvings, while others were modestly decorated with classical motifs, constructed of oak, and less sophisticated than the Italian and French pieces. One notable difference between the Renaissance and Medieval English chests, was that the hardware was concealed on the inside of the piece.



Amy Spencer

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