The ancestor of seating stool

Stools are traditional seating items with a long history of use. The ancestor of stools originally referred to stepping stones used to get on the bed. In the Shi Ming, the explanation of bed curtains says: "The stepping stone is placed on the small couch in front of the big bed, so it is used to get on the bed."
There is no word for "stool", which is equivalent to the footrest in later generations and can also be used as a seat. Even in the Qing Dynasty, which is not far away from now, there are still similarities between stools and footrests. The "bench" we use today may be derived from the "footrest".
The earliest stools were the drum-shaped round stools on the murals of the Han Dynasty tombs and the square stools on the murals of Dunhuang in the Northern Wei Dynasty. After more than a thousand years of development, by the Ming Dynasty, there were many styles of stools and the shapes were more beautiful.

Stools are called "杌凳" in folk culture. They were originally used to step on when getting on a horse or a sedan chair, so they are also called horse stools and sedan chair stools. Among the common names, there is also a "martial arts stool" because martial artists sit like a bell and do not need to lean on anything, hence the name.
Among the seats, the Ma Zha was the earliest to appear, and it was the predecessor of the stool. Adding a backrest to the stool turned it into a chair. The Song and Yuan dynasties were a period of continuity and progress in the development of the furniture industry. With the widespread use of high-legged furniture during this period, the shape of the stool also developed towards art and rationality. The stool at this time was very close to the shape of the stool we use today.
In the Ming and Qing dynasties, the shapes and styles of stools were much more beautiful than those of previous dynasties. The stools in the Ming Dynasty were divided into several categories, including rectangular, square and round, with simple shapes and no carvings; while the stools in the Qing Dynasty furniture were of various types and shapes, including square, round, peach, plum blossom and crabapple shapes, and the decorative techniques also generally adopted various methods such as relief, hollowing, inlay and painting.
In terms of production methods, there are two types of stools: waisted and non-waisted. Most waisted stools are made of square materials, and rarely of round materials, while non-waisted stools use both square and round materials. For example, the low-profile square stool with curved legs and the square stool with wrapped legs and split materials. The waisted ones can use curved legs, such as the square stool with bulging legs and three-bend legs, while the non-waisted ones all use straight legs. The foot ends of the waisted ones are made into inward or outward horseshoes, while the foot ends of the non-waisted ones are rarely decorated, whether the legs and feet are square or round.

There are two types of benches: rectangular and strip. A strip bench is a bench with a strip seat, and the four legs are slanted outwards to form an eight-shaped shape, commonly known as "four legs and eight forks". Similar to the strip bench are spring benches and wooden benches. The spring bench is also a strip seat, but the seat is wider than the strip bench. The spring bench is mainly made of hard miscellaneous wood in its original color or painted with oil, with teeth and hanging heads on the four sides. The seat is a drop-down style, with different treatments such as hardwood or rattan. The wooden bench is also a strip seat, but it is simpler and more rustic. Generally, it is a rough bench made of miscellaneous wood with a hard board seat.

The round stool of the Ming Dynasty is slightly sturdy in shape. The difference between it and the square stool is that the square stool has four legs due to the angle limit, while the round stool is not limited by the angle, with at least three legs and up to eight legs. Generally, it is larger in shape, with arc-shaped legs and feet, the tooth plate bulges with the legs and feet, the foot end is cut into a horse hoof, and there is a circular mud pad underneath to make it solid and firm.
Maza, also known as Huchuang or Jiaochuang, is a folding stool. It is the Huchuang that was introduced from the Western Regions during the Western Han Dynasty. Since its image was seen in the "Book Editing Picture" of the Northern Qi Dynasty and the Dunhuang murals, it has not changed much over the years. It is still made of eight wooden sticks connected together. Maza has rope seat and leather seat.

There are two styles of footstools with two different functions. One is a stool with a rolling wood device on the stool surface, which rolls back and forth on the footrest, rubbing the Yongquan acupoint on the sole of the foot, playing a massage and health care role, which can be called a health care stool. The other is designed for stepping on and supporting the foot, also known as a footrest, foot support, or footrest.
In fact, in the Ming and Qing dynasties, stools were not only used as seats, but also had a wider range of uses. They were placed on both sides of the bed as footstools; they were placed next to the cabinets and also served as flower tables for placing potted flowers and bonsai. They were placed next to tall cabinets at home to help people get things from high places. In temples, they were used as seats for meditation, so the seats of the stools here were generally wide and short, and the shapes were simple and elegant. The stools used by farmers were rough and simple, with thick legs that looked simple and sturdy.

Nowadays, stools have evolved into a myriad of different types of seating, making it hard to keep up with the sight. But stools are always their ancestors.
A simple stool in a luxurious modern space gives people a sense of returning to nature...

Source: Text selected from the magazine "Redwood Classical Furniture"
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