Furniture, the term commonly used to define a large collection of items that are permanently set into one place, or room, is a movable object designed to support various human actions for the purpose of seating, eating, and/or sleeping. Furniture generally includes a chair, a table, a dresser, a nightstand, and other furnishings. Furniture is often stored when not in use, usually in a closet, but may also be left out in the open where people can look at it and touch it. The variety of furniture that comprises a home can be almost anything that people wish to add to their rooms or homes. When people wish to change the look of their rooms, it is usually very easy to change the furniture within the current furniture set-up.
There are many pieces of furniture that date back to ancient times, with many of the examples having been discovered in excavations carried out by archeologists in various parts of the world. One of the earliest known examples of furniture that was made for supporting either eating or sleeping activities came from the artifacts found in the Great Wall of China. The Great Wall of China was a vast construction project, consisting of thousands of mile long walls that united the various states of China into different political entities. At the time, many of the items of furniture were made from wood. Some examples of wood used in early Chinese furniture include the cleaver table (also called the chopstick table), long narrow tables (called the chi mu pian), and even the famed five-poster bed, which was an extremely popular piece of furniture in China during the Song Dynasty.
Neoclassicism is sometimes called “the school of infinity,” as its main focus was to continually combine the basic elements of all styles of furniture, thus resulting in furniture that was unique and entirely its own. Some of the most important Neoclassicism pieces include the oval mirror (called a mondeau in French), the cylinder desk (or simply the calculator desk), the tambour desk, the tambour chair, the symmetrical console table, and the octagon bar stool. In addition, there are numerous reproductions of famous pieces of Neoclassicism furniture that can be found for sale today. The styles of Neoclassicism furniture are highly varied, ranging from extremely ornate to very simple, and everything in between.