International studio (27.1905/1906(1906))

Ancient Bedsteads and Cradles


GOTHIC BEDSTEAD (Count Wilczek’s Collection) 15TH CENTURY

examples. The child’s cot in the
Nordböhmisches Gewerbe-Museum
at Reichenberg (page 133) is a
rare example of Gothic art,
although it is thought that it may
have been made out of the remains
of earlier structures.
Later examples of the “sky” bed-
stead are shown on pages 137 and
138. This form is still to be met
with, especially in country places.
The custom of receiving in bed,
I think, began in Germany, and
thence made its way into France.
In any case it was populär even in
the fifteenth Century. Beds played
an important part in the ceremonial
life of the French. The King
granted audiences au lit, and some-
times both king and queen, as we
gather from old miniatures. Even
ambassadors, as representing Sove-
reigns, had the right of granting
audiences in bed. Louis XIV., we
are told, lay on a bed with chequered

of luxury. It came from
Schloss Annaberg in the
Tyrol, and it is interesting
to observe that the blue
check pattern of the bed-
linen is in vogue among
the peasants of Tyrol,
Styria, and other districts at
the present day and in the
large cities for servants’
bed-clothes. The dolls’beds
shown in our illustrations
all belong to the Figdor
collection, and are remark-
able as having resisted the
wear and tear of nearly four
hundred jears. They help
to furnish a doll’s house
which is a history in itself
and which is the oldest one
existing. The Industrial
Museum at Brünn, the
Capital of Moravia, con-
tains the bedsteads illus-
trated on pages 137-8.
They are in a fine state
of preservation, and are
exceedingly beautiful


134

DOLL S BEDSTEAD

(In the Fis;dor Collection)

ABJUT A.D. 1600