The above paragraph forms part of the notice with which the late Dr. Birch, the eminent antiquarian, formerly at the head of this department of the British Museum, has prefaced a catalogue of the antiquities alluded to.  The visitor to the Museum should be careful to procure one of these useful and inexpensive guides to this portion of its contents.

Some illustrations taken from ancient statues and bas reliefs in the British Museum, from copies of wall paintings at Thebes, and other sources, give us a good idea of the furniture of this interesting people.  In one of these will be seen a representation of the wooden head-rest which prevented the disarrangement of the coiffure of an Egyptian lady of rank.  A very similiar head-rest, with a cushion attached for comfort to the neck, is still in common use by the Japanese of the present day.

[Illustration:  Chair with Captives As Supports. (From Papyrus in British Museum.)]

[Illustration:  An Ivory Box.]

[Illustration:  Bacchus and Attendants Visiting Icarus. (Reproduced from a Bas-relief in the British Museum.) Period:  About A.d. 100.]

Greek Furniture.

An early reference to Greek furniture is made by Homer, who describes coverlids of dyed wool, tapestries, carpets, and other accessories, which must therefore have formed part of the contents of a great man’s residence centuries before the period which we recognise as the “meridian” of Greek art.

In the second Vase-room of the British Museum the painting on one of these vases represents two persons sitting on a couch, upon which is a cushion of rich material, while for the comfort of the sitters there is a footstool, probably of ivory.  On the opposite leaf there is an illustration of a has relief in stone, “Bacchus received as a guest by Icarus,” in which the couch has turned legs and the feet are ornamented with carved leaf work.

[Illustration:  Greek bedstead with A table. (From an old Wall Painting.)]

We know, too, from other illustrations of tripods used for sacred purposes, and as supports for braziers, that tables were made of wood, of marble, and of metal; also folding chairs, and couches for sleeping and resting, but not for reclining at meals, as was the fashion at a later period.  In most of the designs for these various articles of furniture there is a similarity of treatment of the head, legs, and feet of lions, leopards, and sphinxes to that which we have noticed in the Assyrian patterns.

[Illustration:  Greek Furniture. (From Antique Bas reliefs.)]