of the “little chamber in the wall,” when Elisha visited the Shunamite, about B.C. 895; and we are told of the preparations for the reception of the prophet:  “And let us set for him there a bed and a table and a stool and a candlestick.”  The other incident is some 420 years later, when, in the allusion to the grandeur of the palace of Ahashuerus, we catch a glimpse of Eastern magnificence in the description of the drapery which furnished the apartment:  “Where were white, green, and blue hangings, fastened with cords of fine linen and purple, to silver rings and pillars of marble; the beds were of gold and silver, upon a pavement of red and blue and white and black marble.”  (Esther i. 6.)

There are, unfortunately, no trustworthy descriptions of ancient Hebrew furniture.  The illustrations in Kitto’s Bible.  Mr. Henry Soltan’s “The Tabernacle, the Priesthood, and the Offerings,” and other similar books, are apparently drawn from imagination, founded on descriptions in the Old Testament.  In these, the “table for shew-bread” is generally represented as having legs partly turned, with the upper portions square, to which rings were attached for the poles by which it was carried.  As a nomadic people, their furniture would be but primitive, and we may take it that as the Jews and Assyrians came from the same stock, and spoke the same language, such ornamental furniture as there was would, with the exception of the representations of figures of men or animals, be of a similar character.

Assyrian Furniture.

[Illustration:  Part of Assyrian Bronze Throne and Footstool, about B.C. 880, Reign of Asshurnazirpat. (From a photo by Mansell & Co. of the original in the British Museum.)]

The discoveries which have been made in the oldest seat of monarchical government in the world, by such enterprising travellers as Sir Austin Layard, Mr. George Smith, and others, who have thrown so much light upon domestic life in Nineveh, are full of interest in connection with this branch of the subject.  We learn from these authorities that the furniture was ornamented with the heads of lions, bulls, and rams; tables, thrones, and couches were made of metal and wood, and probably inlaid with ivory; the earliest chair, according to Sir Austin Layard, having been made without a back, and the legs terminating in lion’s feet or bull’s hoofs.  Some were of gold, others of silver and bronze.  On the monuments of Khorsabad, representations have been discovered of chairs supported by animals, and by human figures, probably those of prisoners.  In the British Museum is a bronze throne found by Sir A. Layard amidst the rains of Nirnrod’s palace, which shews ability of high order for skilled metal work.