RomanArmyTalk

Does anyone have any resources on recreating Roman furniture?

I've been having a go at the internets without much success.

Update:

I realize now of course that this should probably be posted in the Ancient Civ section. Even though I'm a moderator, I haven't the foggiest clue how to move it.

Help please.

Salve Travis,

If you open up your posting, there should be a red "X" all the way to the right, near where you could edit your posting... that should remove it.

As for Roman furniture... I see their beds looked, really,really, comforable... NOT!



Serioulsy though, that is a difficult topic... I did find a book on Amazon you might want to consider:
http://www.amazon.com/Roman-Furniture-T ... 0752440977

Also, you have to register but, this link seems to have a wealth of information (copy and paste the whole link, the forum doesn't like the brackets):
http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0004-3079(192609 )9%3A1%3C80%3AAFAHOG%3E2.0.CO%3B2-R.htm

BTW: What did you think of my attempt at making Pteruges?
http://www.romanarmy.com/rat/viewtopic.php?t=18704
I followed your advice and used felt wrapped in linen with natural fabric fringe, about 1" thick. I'm using at least two rows, three if I have the material, using dozens of Pteruges, and I'm using the alternating color pattern like Augustus had on his statue.

Hi Travis
Alex Croom who wrote the book on 'Roman Clothing and fashion', has just written a book on 'Roman Furniture' published by Tempus. That might be what you are after.

Graham.

There's LacusCurtius, it has a section on furnishings.

http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/R ... /home.html

And a good book, if you can get a hold of it, is Private Life of the Romans, by Harold Whetstone Johnston. It's online, too. Here's the home and furnishings section.

http://www.forumromanum.org/life/johnston_6.html

I love that book....

Hi Travis,

Quote:Does anyone have any resources on recreating Roman furniture?

You could also check

Wooden Furniture in Herculaneum: Form, Technique and Function (Circumvesuviana, 2) by Stephan T. A. M. Mols. Publisher: J. C. Gieben (April 1999)

ISBN-10: 905063317X
ISBN-13: 978-9050633178

Thanks everyone.

Unfortunately I have found most of those. They are long on description, and as usual, give you no idea how to procede.

#Didn't Cezary's site have a link about furniture? In marketpalce.
Either his or Andreas' threads..... :?

I have a copy of Croom's Roman Furniture and would say it is a good general overview, covering a lot of ground and using art & litarary sources from a range of periods, not just Herculaneum - annoyingly, some of the structural details like jointing has often been obscured by the conservation techniques. :?

Anything in particular I can look up for you/ give you a quick overview of the contents? Apologies, if this is one you have found unedifying already.

I had furniture on my list of things to photograph on my last trip. I have photos of furniture, reconstructed furniture, paintings of furniture and sculpture of furniture.

I also took photos of woodworking tools.

Actual how to? Nope, didn't get any. Well, actually
some video of a Roman saw and some pictures of bow drilling.

Moved the topic to Ancient Civilian talk as requested.

Quote: Wooden Furniture in Herculaneum: Form, Technique and Function

Croom quotes Mols quite a bit: I was looking for it and it's $130US at least. But Croom does have great observations, like the use of trestle/saw horse tables, the use of veneer, wicker furniture and huge use of cushions on everything, from the masonry beds in Pompeii to folding chairs. This will make recreations a lot easier for us. The saw horse/trestles looked like mortise/tenon joints rather than nails.

Maybe this site might help as well though it's in German only

http://www.antike-tischkultur.de/

And here's some nice reconstructed furniture from the vicus in Schwarzenacker (near Homburg/Saar) in the Saarland.

Quote:I see their beds looked, really,really, comforable... NOT!

That was just a frame in the display case, just like similar frames today: a mattress would go over that. Same with the masonry triclinia in Pompeii, and the masonry beds in the brothels. Frames could also be web roped as well as wooden slats, but such stuff only survives in Herculaneum.

Peter Connolly did a book,Pompeii (Roman World) available in paperback from Amazon.com in the US for $11.86 shipping. It was also available in hardback form at one time. This book has extensive details on the furniture in Pompeii. I also have his book, The Ancient City: Life in Classical Athens and Rome with Hazel Dodge which also contains many of the same pictures and descriptions but has some new ones as well.

Quote:I also took photos of woodworking tools... some video of a Roman saw and some pictures of bow drilling.

Ooh, now I'm intrigued, I'm always on the hunt for pics of period tools!

Now I think of it, I haven't uploaded my pics of the Museum of London's tool collection yet - would that be of interest too?