The chairs and benches had cushions to soften the
hard wooden seats. The stuffs of the time were most beautiful Genoese
velvet, cloth of gold, tapestries, and wonderful embroideries, all
lending their color to the gorgeous picture. The carved marriage chest,
or cassone, is one of the pieces of Renaissance furniture which has most
often descended to our own day, for such chests formed a very important
part of the furnishing in every household, and being large and heavy,
were not so easily broken as chairs and tables. Beds were huge, and were
architectural in form, a base and roof supported on four columns. The
classical orders were used, touched with the spirit of the time, and the
fluted columns rose from acanthus leaves set in an urn supported on
lion's feet. The tester and cornice gave scope for carving and the
panels of the tester usually had the lovely scrolls so characteristic of
the period. The headboard was often carved with a coat-of-arms and the
curtains hung from inside the cornice.
Grotesques were largely used in ornament. The name is derived from
grottoes, as the Roman tombs being excavated at the time were called,
and were in imitation of the paintings found on their walls, and while
they were fantastic, the word then had no unkindly humorous meaning as
now. Scrolls, dolphins, birds, beasts, the human figure, flowers,
everything was called into use for carving and painting by genius of the
artisans of the Renaissance.
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