Historical furniture was made of wood, so during wars it was often used as firewood. Wars, raids, robberies. Very often, the furniture was replaced and changed with fashions. The largest number of Gothic equipment has been preserved in churches.
When in 1322, the mechanical saw was invented in Augsburg, furniture elements changed and smaller thickness appeared in place of roughly hewn elements characteristic of the Romanesque period. In the Gothic period, the hardwood , which enabled convex craving – the so-called “Flachschnitt”, was decorated with elements such as: woodcarving and polychrome. In Poland, the influence of German ornamentation is visible, such as plant weaves or coats of arms incorporated into the decorations.
Kraków, which had its own guild since 1489, was one of the main centers of artistic carpentry. In the late Middle Ages, in addition to Kraków and Biecz, centers such as Lublin, Lviv, Warsaw and Gdańsk were also active.
In the 16th century, new Renaissance furniture, brought from Italy, appeared at the royal court in Wawel, but the general public continued to use Gothic furniture. Covering furniture with colorful polychrome or painting it to look like marble (marbleization) was characteristic of Polish furniture of that period, unlike Italian furniture, which was most often waxed. A Polish piece of furniture with a strictly native character was the sideboard called “service”. It was a type of furniture that, unlike a wardrobe, had an open top in order to display silverware. German influences were also strong in Polish furniture of the Renaissance period, influencing not only the types of furniture, but also the decoration. Intarsia, fashionable at the time, was often used.
Dutch influences covered primarily the northern areas of Poland. In Gdańsk, a significant part played the furniture that was imported. It became the model for local carpenters to follow. But not only did they imitate the types of furniture, but also the upholstery of seating furniture, mainly the so-called cordovans, i.e. embossed, painted and often gilded leather, which was imported in large quantities.
The fame of Gdańsk furniture, as it was generally called, spread throughout Poland and found supporters among many magnate families. For example the Radziwiłłs noble family employed Gdańsk carpenters in their Nieśwież, Biała, Łachwa, and many other residencies. This furniture reached large magnate residences, houses of the nobility, wealthy merchants, and even craftsmen. Among the examples of Renaissance furniture from Gdańsk, one can notice the use of marquetry and inlays (tortoiseshell, mother-of-pearl, ivory).
In the early Baroque period, mainly oak facing was used, sometimes with ebony inserts. In the developed Baroque, walnut, elm and even yew began to be used. In the 18th century, exotic materials also appeared. The most popular piece of furniture in Gdańsk was the wardrobe. The Gdańsk type of wardrobe was double-leafed, sometimes single-leafed, supported on spherical legs, with a richly developed finial, with exuberant carved ornamentation.
The times of Jan III Sobieski (polish king 1674–1696) were favorable to French fashion. In furniture, as well as in numerous castles and palaces, especially close to the capital city (Wilanów, Łańcut, Nieborów), decoration was tortoiseshell, silver or ivory. The 18th century was a time of flourishing of furniture making in Poland. The beginnings were not easy due to the Sarmatian trend, which condemned foreign taste. Resistance to foreign fashion was motivated by the defense of national characteristics. As a result, on the one hand, the production of traditional polychrome furniture has developed while on the other the production of baroque furniture, the so-called Gdańsk furniture, has continued.
During the reign of Stanisław August Poniatowski, Rococo begins to give way to the early classicist style. At that time, an architect, Victor Louis, comes to Warsaw to design and furnish royal interiors in accordance with French fashion. Poniatowski orders furniture from the most famous European ébénistes. Jean Henri Riessner (1731-1806), Louis Delanois (1731-1792).
The novelty of the 18th century was the furniture warehouses and shops – Jaszewicz, Nofok, Tepper, Resler, Simmler (Zymler) and Niemann Gottfried. At that time, furniture making was divided into the so-called menuiserie, which is frame furniture (chairs, beds, screens) and ébénisterie, which is case carpentry (desks, chests of drawers, wardrobes), which gave a wide field for artistic surface treatment using intarsia, inlays or marketerie. The paneled furniture showed the skill of carpentry. The royal workshops provided magnificent examples of inlaid furniture, decorated with bronzes or polychrome plaques on the French model, but most often made on cardboard covered with oil paints and special enamel. In France, such plaques were made of porcelain or faience.
Janina Gostwicka calls Kolbuszowa furniture the most native Polish furniture. In archival inventories, Kolbuszowa furniture is distinguished from other furniture and is listed at the beginning among the best items. An important feature of Kolbuszowa furniture was intarsia. The principle of dividing fields using an ornament in the form of a frame and stripes was adopted. Other geometric motifs were also used, such as circles, ovals, or a diagonal or rhomboidal checkerboard, as well as floral motifs. The material used for intarsia was very diverse: light walnut, ash, maple, black oak, cherry, pear, poplar and birch burl. All furniture was polished with wax after previous smoothing with the so-called “trypla” (fine sand with clay).
Sources:
Gostwicka Janina, Dawne meble polskie, Warszawa 1965
Sienicki Stefan, Meble kolbuszowskie, Warszawa 1936