Part 45 (1/2)
From a MS. of _Fais et Gestes du Roi Alexandre_, in the British Museum.]
[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 140. S. Jerome writing.
From an oil painting by Benedetto Bonfigli, in the Church of S. Peter at Perugia.]
I now return to the wheel-desk, of which I have already figured one specimen (fig. 135). A piece of furniture consisting of one or more tables which could be raised or depressed by means of a central screw, was very generally used by scholars in the Middle Ages. I shall present a few of the most common forms.
[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 142. S. Luke writing his Gospel.
From the Dunois _Horae_, a MS. in the possession of H. Y. Thompson, Esq.]
My first specimen is from a ma.n.u.script in the British Museum, written and illuminated in England in the middle of the fifteenth century. It is called _Fais et Gestes du Roi Alexandre_[532]. The picture (fig. 141) represents Alexander as a little child, standing in front of his tutor, who is seated in one of the chairs I described above. On the learned man's right is his book-desk. A circular table with a rim round it to prevent the books falling off, is supported on a central pedestal, which contains the screw. The top of the said screw is concealed by the little Gothic turret in the centre of the table. This turret also supports the book which the reader has in use.
[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 143. A lady seated in her chair reading.
From a MS. written in France, early in the fifteenth century.]
My next example is from a miniature in a volume of Hours known as the Dunois _Horae_, also written in the middle of the fifteenth century. It has been slightly enlarged in order to bring out the details more clearly. The subject is S. Luke writing his Gospel, but the background represents a scholar's room. There is a bookcase of a very modern type, a table with two folio volumes lying upon it, and in the centre a hexagonal book-desk, with a little Gothic turret as in the last example. Round the screw under the table are four cylindrical supports, the use of which I fail to understand, but they occur frequently on desks of this type. The whole piece of furniture rests on a heavy cylindrical base, and that again on a square platform.
I now pa.s.s to a variety of the screw-desk, which has a small book-rest above the table. The whole structure rests upon a prolongation of the solid platform on which the reader's chair is placed, so that it is really exactly in front of the reader. My ill.u.s.tration (fig. 143) is from ”The booke of the n.o.ble ladyes in frensh,” a work by Boccacio; it was written in France early in the fifteenth century[533].
[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 144. Screw-desk.
From a fifteenth century MS. in the Bibliotheque de l'a.r.s.enal, Paris.]
[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 145. Hexagonal desk, with central spike, probably for a candle.
From a French MS. of _Le Miroir Historial_.]
These double desks are exceedingly common, and I might fill a large number of pages with figures and descriptions of the variety which the ingenuity of the cabinet-makers of the fifteenth century managed to impart to combinations of a screw and two or more tables. I will content myself with one more example (fig. 144) which shews the screw exceedingly well, and the two tables above it. The uppermost of these serves as a ledge to rest the books on, as does also the hexagonal block above it which conceals the top of the screw[534].
We meet occasionally with a solid desk, by which I mean one the level of which cannot be altered. In the example here given (fig. 145) from a French MS. of _Le Miroir Historial_, there is a central spike which I suspect to have been intended to carry a candle[535].
In some examples of these book-desks the pedestal is utilized as a book-cupboard (fig. 146). The picture which I have selected as shewing a desk of this peculiarity is singularly beautiful, and finished in the highest style of art available at the end of the fifteenth century in France. It forms half of the frontispiece to a fine ma.n.u.script of Boccacio's _Livre des cas des malheureux n.o.bles hommes et femmes_[536].
The central figure is apparently lecturing on that moving theme, for in front of him, in the other half of the picture, is a crowd of men exhibiting their interest by the violence of their gestures. On his left is the desk I mentioned; it stands on an unusually firm base, and one side of the vertical portion is pierced by an arch, so as to make the central cavity available for putting books in. From the centre of the table rises a tall spike, apparently of iron, to which is attached a horizontal arm, bearing a lighted lantern. On the table, in addition to three books, is an inkstand and pen-case. In front of the lecturer is a carved chest, probably one of those book-coffers which I have already mentioned. The chair and canopy are richly carved, and the back of the seat is partially covered by a piece of tapestry. Further, the lecturer is allowed the unusual luxury of a cus.h.i.+on.
I will next deal with the appliances for reading and writing directly connected with the chairs in which scholars sat, and I will begin with the desk.
[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 146. A lecturer addressing an audience.
From a MS. of _Livre des cas des malheureux n.o.bles hommes et femmes_, written in France at end of fifteenth century.]
[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 148. The author of _The Chronicles of Hainault_ in his study (1446).]
[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 150. A writer with his desk and table.
From a MS. of _Le Livre des Proprietes des Choses_ in the British Museum.]
The simplest form of desk is a plain board, set at a suitable angle by means of a chain or cord extending from one of its corners to the back of the chair, while the opposite corner rests against a peg driven into the arm of the chair. This arrangement, variously modified, occurs very frequently; sometimes there are two pegs and two chains, but what I may term the normal form is shewn in my ill.u.s.tration (fig. 147)[537]. It is difficult to understand how the desk was kept steady.
[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 147. S. Mark writing his Gospel.
From a MS. _Hours_ written in France in the fifteenth century.]