Bed

BED, a general term for a resting or sleeping place for men and animals, and in particular for the article of household furni ture for that object, and so used by analogy in other senses, in volving a supporting surface or layer (a word of Teutonic origin, cf. Ger. Bett). Assyrians, Medes and Persians had beds of stone, wood or metal and frequently decorated their furniture with inlays or appliques of metal, mother-of-pearl and ivory.

Greek and Roman Beds.-The Greek bed had a wooden frame, with a board at the head and bands of hide laced across, upon which skins were placed. At a later period the bedstead was often veneered with expensive woods; sometimes it was of solid ivory veneered with tortoise-shell and with silver feet ; often it was of bronze. The pillows and coverings also were costly and beautiful. Small cushions were placed at the head and sometimes at the back of the Roman beds. The bedsteads were high and could only be ascended by the help of steps. They were often arranged for two persons, and had a board or railing at the back as well as the raised portion at the head. The counterpanes were sometimes very costly, generally purple embroidered with figures in gold; and rich hangings fell to the ground masking the front.

The bedsteads themselves were often of bronze inlaid with silver, and Heliogabalus, like some mod ern Indian princes, had one of solid silver. In the walls of some of the houses at Pompeii bed niches are found which were probably closed by curtains or sliding partitions. The marriage bed, lectus genialis, was much decorated, and was placed in the atrium opposite the door. A low pallet-bed used for sick persons was known as scimpodion.

The Middle Ages.-The

ancient Germans lay on the floor on beds of leaves covered with skins, or in a kind of shallow chest filled with leaves and moss. In the early middle ages they laid carpets on the floor or on a bench against the wall, placed upon them mattresses stuffed with feathers, wool or hair, and used skins as a covering. They appear to have generally lain naked in bed, wrapping themselves in the large linen sheets which were stretched over the cushions. In the 13th century luxury increased, and bedsteads were made of wood much decorated with inlaid, carved and painted ornament. They also used folding beds, which served as couches by day and had cushions covered with silk laid upon leather. At night a linen sheet was spread and pillows placed, while silk-covered skins served as coverlets. Curtains were hung from the ceiling or from an iron arm projecting from the wall. In the 12th-century mss. the bedsteads appear much richer, with lays, carving and painting, and with embroidered coverlets and mattresses in harmony. Curtains were hung above the bed, and a small hanging lamp is often shown. In the 14th century the woodwork became of less tance, being generally entirely covered by hangings of rich terials. Inventories from the ginning of the 14th century give details of these hangings lined with fur and richly embroidered. Then it was that the tester bed made its first appearance, the tester being slung from the ing or fastened to the walls, a form which developed later into a room within a room, shut in by double curtains so as to exclude all draughts. The space between bed and wall was called the ruelle, and very intimate friends were received there. In the 15th tury beds became very large, reaching to 7 or 8f t. by 6 or 7f t. Viollet-le-Duc says that the mattresses were filled with pea-shucks or straw—neither wool nor horsehair is mentioned—but feathers also were used. At this time great personages were in the habit of carrying most of their property about with them, including beds and hangings, and for this reason the bedsteads were for the most part mere frameworks to be covered up; but about the beginning of the 16th century bedsteads were made lighter and more orative, since the lords remained in the same place for longer periods. Louis XIV. had an enormous number of sumptuous beds, as many as 413 being described in the inventories of his palaces. Some of them had embroideries enriched with pearls, and figures on a silver or golden ground. The carving was the work of Proux or Caffieri, and the gilding by La Baronniere. The great bed at Versailles had crimson velvet curtains on which "The Triumph of Venus" was embroidered. So much gold was used that the velvet scarcely showed. Under the influence of Madame de Maintenon "The Sacrifice of Abraham," which is now on the tester, replaced "The Triumph of Venus." In the 17th century, which has been called "the century of magnificent beds," the style a la duchesse, with tester and curtains only at the head, replaced the more enclosed beds in France, though they lasted much longer in England. In the 18th century feather pillows were first used as coverings in Germany, which in the fashions of the bed and the curious etiquette connected with the bedchamber followed France for the most part. The beds were a la duchesse, but in France itself there was great variety both of name and shape—the lit a alcove, lit d'ange, which had no columns, but a suspended tester with curtains drawn back, lit a l' Anglaise, which looked like a high sofa by day, lit en baldaquin, with the tester fixed against the wall, lit a couronne with a tester shaped like a crown, a style which appeared under Louis XVI., and was fashionable under the Restoration and Louis Philippe, and lit a l'imperiale, which had a curved tester, are a few of their varieties. The lit en baldaquin of Napoleon I. is still at Fontainebleau, and the Garde Meuble contains several richly carved beds of a more modern date. The custom of the "bed of justice" upon which the king of France reclined when he was present in parliament, the princes being seated, the great officials standing, and the lesser officials kneeling, was held to denote the royal power even more than the throne. Louis XI. is credited with its first use, and the custom lasted till the end of the monarchy.

The Ceremonial

the habit of using this bed to hear petitions, etc., came the usage of the grand lit which was pro vided wherever the king stayed, called also lit de parement or lit de parade, rather later. Upon this bed the dead king lay in state. The beds of the king and queen were saluted by the tiers as if they were altars, and none approached them even when there was no railing to prevent it. These railings were apparently placed for other than ceremonial reasons originally,, and n the accounts of several castles in the century mention is made of a railing to keep dogs from the bed. In the chambre de parade, where the ceremonial bed was placed, certain persons, such as ambassadors or great lords, whom it was desired to honour, were received in a more intimate ion than the crowd of courtiers. The petit lever was held in the bedroom itself, the grand lever in the chambre de parade. At sailles women received their friends in their beds, both before and after childbirth, during peri ods of mourning, and even directly after marriage—in fact in any circumstances which were thought deserving of congratulation or condolence. During the 17th century this curious custom became general, perhaps to avoid the tiresome details of etiquette. Port able beds were used in high society in France till the end of the ancien regime. The earliest of which mention has been found belonged to Charles the Bold (see Memoirs of Philippe de Corn ines). They had curtains over a light framework, and were in their way as fine as the station ary beds.

Iron beds appear in the 18th century ; the advertisements ommend them as free from the insects which sometimes infested wooden bedsteads, but one is mentioned in the inventory of the furniture of the castle of Nerac in 1569, un lit de fer et de cuivre, avec quatre petites colonnes de laiton, ensemble quatre satyres de laiton, quatre petits vases de laiton pour mettre sur les nes; dedans le dit lit it y a la figure d'Olopherne ensemble de Judith, qui sont d'albdtre (a bed of iron and copper with four small brass columns, together with four brass satyrs and four small brass urns to place on the columns; within the said bed there is a figure of Holofernes together with that of Judith, these being of alabaster). In Scotland, Brittany and Holland the closed bed with sliding or folding shutters has persisted till our own day, and in England—where beds were commonly quite simple in form —the four-poster, with tester and curtains all round, was the usual citizen's bed till the middle of the i9th century. Many fine exam ples exist of i ; th-century carved oak bedsteads, some of which have found their way into museums. The later forms, in which mahogany was usually the wood employed, are much less archi tectural in design. Some exceedingly elegant mahogany bedsteads were designed by Chippendale, Hepplewhite and Sheraton and there are signs that English taste is returning to the wooden bed stead in a lighter and less monumental form ; indeed the most modern type of all, the divan, has reduced the bed to the utmost simplicity of form. (J. P.-B.) The Modern Metal Bedstead.—The manufacture of metallic bedsteads on a commercial scale began in the Midlands of Eng land, chiefly in and around Birmingham, in the middle of the century, and quickly attained great importance, many types of such sleeping accommodation being exported to almost every country in the world.

The modern demand is for something lighter than the very heavy cast-iron bedstead of the middle 19th century, and this is painted by the spraying process, usually white, and are used extensively in hospitals at home and abroad. Great Britain exported, in 1926, 12,36o tons of bedsteads, valued at .1619,90o.

Eastern Beds.

In the Near East it has been the custom for years to make beds simply by piling up a number of rugs on the floor of a room. Cushions are also in use, but as a rule the Per sian simply reclines upon these piles in some soft garment and makes no use of sheets, blankets or other lighter coverings.

In India the inhabitants live in the open to such an extent that the designing and ornamentation of beds is negligible except for the use of royalty.

In China, however, beds not unlike those of the Egyptians were used some 2,000 years ago and we find replicas of them in pot tery in the tombs of the Han period (206 B.C.-A.D. 22o). The beds of China reflected the various periods of design just as they did in England and some magnificent specimens have come to light executed in carved wood and in lacquers. During the Ming period and probably earlier, it became the custom in some sections to enclose the beds with gauze or netting, and later they were made along the back-walls of a small square room with a being catered for by much more dainty designs, also by bedsteads the parts of which are welded together, thus disposing of the heavy castings found on the earlier metallic designs. The brass bedstead is still largely used, although wooden bedsteads, of which the patterns are numerous, are generally preferred. Thousands of light iron combination or "single" patterns are exported to dif ferent countries, chiefly South Africa ; these consist of two "D" shaped ends with galvanized mesh on frame, eliminating the old fashioned laths and stretcher, and are very easily packed and assembled. They are supplied with portable fourpost tops, with curtain rods for mosquito nets where the conditions demand them. The heavy brass type of bedstead is still sold chiefly to South America. The iron and brass fourposter still finds favour in Egypt and the Far East. Some very beautiful designs in square and round brass tube bedsteads, with pearl and other ornaments, are also in great demand, and are made and finished in many ways; oxidized silver, nickel plate and bronze being popular.

Huge bedsteads resembling houses are occasionally shipped at great cost for the use of Eastern potentates.

The great strides accomplished in medical science have been helped by the supply of bedsteads of all descriptions for hospital use : operating tables, spinal carriages, etc., suitable for any dis ease, operation or medical requirement. These are hygienically small ante-chamber cut off by sliding doors. An interesting ex ample of this type exists intact in the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago. These beds were covered with matting and were never as soft and voluptuous as those of the Near East. The pillows were made of wood, porcelain, or stone, carved in such a way as to fit the neck and lower part of the sleeper's head.

In Korea and northern China the gudeul or floor is made of flat stones, bricks or earth, with flues under the top layer; some what below the level of the floor is a fire-place. When cooking is going on the heat circulates through the flues in the floor and sleeping places are arranged on the warm spots.

In Japan the whole floor about 12 ft.sq., covered with a tatami or mat, is a bed. The people sleep between shiki- f uton or under quilt and kake-futon or over quilt. It is warmed during cold weather with a kotatsu or little wooden box holding a charcoal burner. The use of the kotatsu has disadvantages, often causing skin-diseases, vitiating the air, and sometimes starting fires. For these reasons it is falling into disuse; but whole families may still be found who sleep on the same tatami, their feet towards the burner, and their bodies radiating from that point like the spokes of a wheel. (Y. K.)