Box-bed

Last updated
Box-bed in Austria Dietenheim - Museum Kastenbett.jpg
Box-bed in Austria

A box-bed (also known as a closed bed, close bed, or enclosed bed; less commonly, shut-bed [1] ) is an enclosed bed made to look like a cupboard, half-opened or not. The form originates in western European late medieval furniture.

Contents

The box-bed is closed on all sides by panels of wood. One enters it by moving curtains, opening a hinged door or sliding doors on one or two slides. The bed is placed on short legs to prevent moisture due to a dirt floor.

In front of the box-bed is often a large oaken chest, the same length as the bed. This was always the 'seat of honour,' and served also as a step for climbing into the bed. It was also used to store clothing, underwear and bedding the rest of the time. [2]

The closed-bed in Brittany

Closed bed in Finistere (France). Armoire maison cornec.jpg
Closed bed in Finistère (France).

In Brittany, the closed-bed (French: lit-clos) (Breton: gwele-kloz) is a traditional furnishing. In homes with only one room, the box-bed allowed some privacy and helped keep people warm during winter. It was the main furniture of rural houses in Brittany until the 20th century. Often carved and decorated, it was the pride of its owners.

Some closed-beds were built one above the other in a double-decker, two-story arrangement. In these cases, young people would sleep in the top area. [3]

Closed-beds were 1.60 to 1.70 m length, long enough for people of that region who were rather small. And because they slept in an almost sitting position, they leaned on three or four pillows. [4] It was the tradition of the Middle Ages not to sleep lying down, because that is the position of the dead and of effigies.[ citation needed ][ dubious ]

Box-beds were also used to protect people of the home from the domestic animals (pigs, hens) living in the house. [5] In Breton culture, the box-bed was also believed to offer protection against wolves. [6]

Similar types of enclosed bed furniture was once also found in western Britain; Devon, Cornwall, Wales, and particularly in Gower. [7]

Later box-beds fell out of fashion and because they were expensive to make, box-beds were gradually abandoned in the 19th and 20th centuries. Fine pieces were put in museums (Lampaul-Guimiliau, Nantes, Quimper, Rennes, St-Brieuc), while most of them were converted into bookshelves, dressers or TV cabinets. In the 21st century, rental companies offer nights in authentic box-beds. The contemporary Breton designers Erwan and Ronan Bouroullec have reinterpreted the form with their lit-clos, 2000 for Galerie kreo.

The closet-bed in the Netherlands

A Dutch bedstede Etersheim - Etersheimer Braakmolen - bedstede.jpg
A Dutch bedstede

In the Netherlands the closet-bed, or bedstede, was in common use into the 19th century, particularly in farmhouses in the countryside. Closet-beds were closed off with a door or a curtain.

One of the advantages of the closet-bed was that it could be built into the living room and closed off during the day, making a separate bedroom unnecessary. The other main advantage was that, during the winter, the small area of the closet-bed would be warmed by body heat. This meant the stove would not need to be kept stoked at night. The door would not be shut completely, but left open a bit.

During the 16th and 17th century, closet-beds were much smaller. Lying down was associated with death, and therefore sleeping was done in a half-upright position. These closet-beds held two people, and beneath them were often drawers "rolkoetsen" that pulled out and provided beds for the children.[ citation needed ]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Furniture</span> Objects used to support human activities

Furniture refers to objects intended to support various human activities such as seating, eating (tables), storing items, working, and sleeping. Furniture is also used to hold objects at a convenient height for work, or to store things. Furniture can be a product of design and can be considered a form of decorative art. In addition to furniture's functional role, it can serve a symbolic or religious purpose. It can be made from a vast multitude of materials, including metal, plastic, and wood. Furniture can be made using a variety of woodworking joints which often reflects the local culture.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Closet</span> Enclosed space used for storage, particularly that of clothes

A closet is an enclosed space, with a door, used for storage, particularly that of clothes. Fitted closets are built into the walls of the house so that they take up no apparent space in the room. Closets are often built under stairs, thereby using awkward space that would otherwise go unused.

The fall-front desk is a desk with a main working surface that folds up to cover small shelves or drawers stacked in front of the user. As with its cousin the secretary desk, all working papers, documents and other items have to be stored before the desk is closed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Settle (furniture)</span> Item of furniture

A settle is a wooden bench, usually with arms and a high back, long enough to accommodate three or four sitters.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bedroom</span> Private room where people usually sleep for the night or relax during the day

A bedroom or bedchamber is a room situated within a residential or accommodation unit characterised by its usage for sleeping. A typical western bedroom contains as bedroom furniture one or two beds, a clothes closet, and bedside table and dressing table, both of which usually contain drawers. Except in bungalows, ranch style homes, ground floor apartments, or one-storey motels, bedrooms are usually on one of the floors of a dwelling that is above ground level. Beds range from a crib for an infant; a single or twin bed for a toddler, child, teenager or single adult; to bigger sizes like a full, double, queen, king or California king). Beds and bedrooms are often devised to create barriers to insects and vermin, especially mosquitoes, and to dampen or contain light or noise to aid sleep and privacy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bed</span> Piece of furniture used as a place to sleep or relax

A bed is an item of furniture that is used as a place to sleep, rest, and relax.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Commode</span> Type of furniture (or toilet)

A commode is any of many pieces of furniture. The Oxford English Dictionary has multiple meanings of "commode". The first relevant definition reads: "A piece of furniture with drawers and shelves; in the bedroom, a sort of elaborate chest of drawers ; in the drawing room, a large kind of chiffonier." The drawing room is itself a term for a formal reception room, and a chiffonier is, in this sense, a small sideboard dating from the early 19th century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bookcase</span> Furniture used to store books

A bookcase, or bookshelf, is a piece of furniture with horizontal shelves, often in a cabinet, used to store books or other printed materials. Bookcases are used in private homes, public and university libraries, offices, schools, and bookstores. Bookcases range from small, low models the height of a table to high models reaching up to ceiling height. Shelves may be fixed or adjustable to different positions in the case. In rooms entirely devoted to the storage of books, such as libraries, they may be permanently fixed to the walls and/or floor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Murphy bed</span> Bed that is hinged at one end to store vertically against the wall

A Murphy bed is a bed that is hinged at one end to store vertically against the wall, or inside a closet or cabinet. Since they often can be used as both a bed or a closet, Murphy beds are multifunctional furniture.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chest of drawers</span> Piece of cabinet furniture

A chest of drawers, also called a dresser or a bureau, is a type of cabinet that has multiple parallel, horizontal drawers generally stacked one above another.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oakwell Hall</span> Manor house in West Yorkshire, England

Oakwell Hall is an Elizabethan manor house in Birstall, West Yorkshire, England. The Grade I listed hall is set in period gardens surrounded by 110 acres (0.45 km2) of country park.

<i>Tansu</i> Traditional Japanese mobile storage cabinets

Tansu are traditional Japanese mobile storage cabinets. Tansu are commonly used for the storage of clothing, particularly kimono.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Canopy bed</span> Decorative bed somewhat similar to a four-poster bed

A canopy bed is a bed with a canopy, which is usually hung with bed curtains. Functionally, the canopy and curtains keep the bed warmer, and screen it from light and sight. On more expensive beds, they may also be elaborately ornamental.

A wardrobe, also called armoire or almirah, is a standing closet used for storing clothes. The earliest wardrobe was a chest, and it was not until some degree of luxury was attained in regal palaces and the castles of powerful nobles that separate accommodation was provided for the apparel of the great. The name of wardrobe was then given to a room in which the wall-space was filled with closets and lockers, the drawer being a comparatively modern invention. From these cupboards and lockers the modern wardrobe, with its hanging spaces, sliding shelves and drawers, evolved slowly.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Room</span> Distinguishable space within a building or other structure

In a building or ship, a room is any enclosed space within a number of walls to which entry is possible only via a door or other dividing structure. The entrance connects it to either a passageway, another room, or the outdoors. The space is typically large enough for several people to move about. The size, fixtures, furnishings, and sometimes placement of the room within the building or ship support the activity to be conducted in it.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Volkswagen California</span> 2003 model of campervan

The Volkswagen California is a campervan based on the mid-sized Transporter panel van, developed by Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles (VWCV) and sold since 2003. It is the first campervan designed and built in-house by VWCV Special Business Unit, a subsidiary of Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bed base</span> Component of a bed that supports the mattress

A bed base, sometimes called a foundation, is the part of a bed that supports the mattress. The bed base can itself be held in place and framed by the bedstead. In the United States, box-spring bed bases are very common. In Europe, sprung slats are much more common.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ancient furniture</span> Furniture in the ancient world

Ancient furniture was made from many different materials, including reeds, wood, stone, metals, straws, and ivory. It could also be decorated in many different ways. Sometimes furniture would be covered with upholstery, upholstery being padding, springs, webbing, and leather. Features which would mark the top of furniture, called finials, were common. To decorate furniture, contrasting pieces would be inserted into depressions in the furniture. This practice is called inlaying.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cabinetry</span> Box-shaped piece of furniture with doors

A cabinet is a case or cupboard with shelves and/or drawers for storing or displaying items. Some cabinets are stand alone while others are built in to a wall or are attached to it like a medicine cabinet. Cabinets are typically made of wood, coated steel, or synthetic materials. Commercial grade cabinets usually have a melamine-particleboard substrate and are covered in a high-pressure decorative laminate, commonly referred to as Wilsonart or Formica.

References

  1. Morris, William (1889). The Roots of the Mountains. pp. 8, 15, 41, 45, and others via Project Gutenberg.
  2. "Box beds in Brittany". oldandinteresting.com. 12 August 2007. Archived from the original on 25 June 2023.
  3. Thomas and Frances Trollope, A Summer in Brittany, 1840.
  4. (in French) Ils sont fous ces Bretons#Coop Breizh|Erwan Vallerie, p. 104
  5. "Le lit clos breton". Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 25 October 2010.
  6. "Confinement à la bretonne…" [Breton-style confinement…] (in French). 21 March 2020. Retrieved 22 January 2024.
  7. "Kennixton farmhouse interior, Museum of Welsh Life :: Gathering the Jewels". Archived from the original on 11 December 2013. Retrieved 8 December 2013.