One species of bedstead was known as the “coach,” or “rolling coach.” This was intended for children, and the name “coach” was extended to include the children’s sleeping-place. Mention is made in a treasurer’s account of Dordrecht (1586) of “three bedsteads with a coach underneath,” which shows that the coach is the trundle or truckle bed.
Tables and chairs were found in every room. About 1640, the “drop-leaf” or “hang-ear” tables came into use. They were usually made of solid walnut- or sacredaan wood.
The chairs had high curved, or leather, backs and low seats of leather, on top of which were placed loose cushions or pillows, which were often piled up so high on the seat that a child standing on tiptoe could not see over the pillow on the seat of the chair. Chairs were also covered with rich damask, serge and other woollen goods. In the old inventories mention is made of “Prussia leather table chairs,” ebony carved chairs, red cloth covered sacredaan wood chairs with pillows of different shapes, and of high-backed carved walnut table chairs.
Plate XLV.—Flemish Chair.
CLUNY MUSEUM, PARIS.
Typical chairs are shown in Plates XXXIII and XXXIV from the Rijks Museum. In the first there is a caned armchair on the left, an upholstered armchair on the right, with turned legs and rails; and in the middle a chair in the Marot style, with a mirror-shaped back, cane panel, straight legs and crossed straining-rails. The example on the extreme left of Plate [XXXIV] is an armchair of carved oak, with scrolled arms and cane seat and back. It is similar to the one without arms from Cluny in Plate [XLV]. A cane chair without arms appears in the centre, and on the right an armchair with turned legs, carved top rail, and leather back and seat. The Flemish chair on Plate [XLV] is constantly seen in the rooms of the seventeenth century.
The chair on the left of Plate [XXX] in the Cluny Museum, called “Spanish of the Seventeenth Century,” is a curious transitional piece. The high back and seat are covered with Spanish leather put on with large-headed nails. The pattern of the leather represents peacocks, flowers and human figures. The ornamentation of the top rail consists of a leaf and scrolls ending in sharp spikes at the corners, very much in the early Regency style. On the rail below the seat is carved a heart-shaped ornament. The front legs are cabriole, connected with stretchers and ending in hoof feet. The back legs, also connected by stretchers, are straight.
Other furniture included spinets and harpsichords, Friesland clocks, table watches and pocket watches, which, when not in use, were placed in little cases, as were the mirrors the ladies wore at their waists. Sand- or hour-glasses were to be found especially in the kitchens, and the table-bell, which had now supplanted the whistle as a call for the servants.
The woods used for furniture were oak, walnut, cedar, olive, nutwood, ebony (black, green and yellow); kingwood, from Brazil, a hard wood with black veins on a chocolate ground; beef-wood, from New Holland, of a pale red used for borders; palissandre, or violet wood, from Guiana, for inlays on fine furniture; and, above all, sacredaan, or Java mahogany, a very hard wood, sweet smelling and of a bright yellow or pale orange colour. This was a favourite wood for chests, as the odour served to protect furs and woollen stuffs from the attacks of moths, etc.
The Dutch kitchen towards the end of the century was fully equipped with all kinds of brushes, brooms, pots, pans and every utensil that was necessary to effect the cleanliness and produce the good cheer so necessary to every prosperous burgher. In 1680, a kitchen of a man of moderate means in New Amsterdam contained the following: