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When it's part of a nef, which was often shaped like a boat.
They were originally used to dresser - set out - plate for display.
In the fifteenth century, three, when she was displaying plate during her lying-in.
Porcelain, at least in China. |
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CHEZ
JIM
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The Well-Set Table in France Furniture and Settings for MealsFrom the Gauls to the Eighteenth Century
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When it's part of a nef, which was often shaped like a boat.
They were originally used to dresser - set out - plate for display.
In the fifteenth century, three, when she was displaying plate during her lying-in.
Porcelain, at least in China. |
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"Having reviewed food and drink in the previous chapters, Le Grand begins in the middle of his third volume to explore the furniture, utensils and other objects used to serve these. In the process, he not only itemizes the different objects and materials involved in food service, but provides histories of several of France's more important industries.
He begins with the Gauls, who were variously said to sit on hay or dog skins. The Romans introduced lying on couches, but the Franks preferred sitting upright on stools and benches. Still, hay did not disappear; like grass, it was later strewn about rooms. A long section on table linen follows this, with a glimpse of the curious habit of “slicing the tablecloth” and a look at the production of linen in France. Le Grand then reviews lighting from hand-held to artificial, oil-powered candles, before briefly discussing utensils. Curiously, though the fork is generally considered to have come to France in the seventeenth century, one fourteenth century king had a number of them in his treasury. Drinking vessels evolved from horns and – by some reports – human skulls to more elegant ware. Though Le Grand does not discuss this until later, earthenware would also have been used (as well as wooden goblets, which he does not discuss)....."
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Table seatingPossidonius writes that the Celts took their meals seated on the ground on hay, having before them very low tables. According to Strabo, the Belgians ate, for the most part, laid out on sorts of beds. Finally, if one is to believe Diodorus of Sicily, the Gauls used, as seats, dog or wolf skins. These testimonies of ancient Authors do not agree any more than many others, already previously cited. To reconcile them, it must be said that they concern different parts of Gaul. Nonetheless, if one must choose between the three Writers, I would most willingly trust Possidonius, who, having traveled among the Gauls, could have seen with his own eyes the custom in question. His testimony further agrees with that of Caesar who says that, in the army, the Gauls normally sat on hay. Table bedsSuch were, from the start, the Nation's first seats. Soon the Romans, established among them, taught them about the sort of beds which they used for their meals. In some regions, they might have adopted this custom; and in fact I find still some examples of this in the Fables of the XIIIth century, when they want to show us certain little pleasure parties. One also reads in the Monk of St. Gall, the story of a magnificent meal which a Bishop gave to two Great-Officers of Charlemagne, whose favor he wanted to gain; and in which the Prelate was seated on feather cushions. But these examples are rare. From the start, the Gauls felt the inconvenience of a fashion as awkward as it was uncomfortable; they substituted, for beds, wooden seats and stools, on which they ate seated, and which they covered with a rug to make them softer.... Greenery in festive places, in apartments and churchesAs in winter, people tried to keep warm with straw, in summer they tried to keep cool with grass and leaves. The walls and fireplaces of apartments were also decorated with green boughs. The Count of Foix, says Froissart, entered his bedroom which he found all bestrewn, and full of new and fresh greenery, and the surrounding walls all covered with green branches to make the place cool and sweet-smelling; because the weather and the air outside was marvelously hot. Brantôme recounts how Bonnivet lying, a certain night, with one of the Mistresses of François I, suddenly the King, who was not expected, came knocking at the door and alarmed our two lovers. Then, the question was where the gallant could hide most safely. As it happened, it was the summer, branches and leaves had been put in the fireplace, as is done in France. By which the Lady advised him to jump into the fireplace, and hide in these leaves all in his nightshirt. |
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Some samples from the
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All text and translations
copyright 2013 Jim Chevallier.
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UPDATED: September 23. 2024
When is a salt cellar like a boat?
