Studio: international art (33.1905)

A ncient Chairs

it was richly carved, and had a place of honour in
the homes of the upper classes. Such stools and
benches as those reproduced on page 332 are very
rarely to be met with. Both are from the North
of France, and date from the end of the fourteenth
century. They are very fine in form and con-
struction. The man under whose intellect and

italian chair or " pope's stool"

early sixteenth century

hand they grew was filled with the dignity of his
labour; the grip of the tools was sure. Centuries
have rounded and smoothed the edges, but, in
spite of this, we can be certain that the work was
severe and exact.

The chair had its own particular place in the
homes of our ancestors. It was sacred to its par-
ticular owner, an honoured custom still kept up in
many houses. In the North of Germany it was

334

child's high chair

sixteenth century

child's chair sixteenth century