According to the history of furniture, people first designed a bench, which was then narrowed down to a stool. Later, a backrest was added to this structure.
The first sofas appeared in the Ottoman Empire. The word “divan” meaning “a sofa” began to be used in Farsi, Turkish, and Arabic. Originally, it meant “sheets of paper with writings” or “lists”. This word later came to mean “books of accounts” and then “council chambers”. Finally, the word became associated with the seating typical of such institutions — long benches with cushioned seats.
Sofas played an important role in the interior design of Russian houses in the early 19th century. Sofa rooms appeared in noble households.
These interior items were rectangular. Their designs were impressive and monumental. Instead of elbow rests, they had sidewalls with carved columns. Such sofas stood on wide rectangular supports or legs in the shape of lion paws. The sofas were made in the shape of a boat or a wide armchair, with carved elbow rests often shaped like swans, lions, or sphinxes. The smooth surfaces of the backs and rests were covered with high-quality mahogany or Karelian birch plywood.
The museum collection features an Art Nouveau-style sofa with a massive, high headboard. The wooden part of the headboard is decorated with carved floral motifs in the Art Nouveau style and a rectangular mirror that has purely decorative value. The sofa and its round elbow rests are upholstered with black leatherette with no pattern or embossed detailing.
The appearance of the furniture piece presented in the exhibition suggests that it was likely made in the early 20th century, possibly in the Russian Empire.
Foreign craftsmen used only mahogany. Russian artisans also employed other valuable types of wood, such as Karelian birch and walnut.
From 1900 to 1917, interiors of noble mansions were dominated by the Russian Art Nouveau style. It shared similarities with traditional European Art Nouveau that emerged in the late 1880s and became the most prominent style in architecture, decorative arts, and design in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Art Nouveau saw a departure from straight lines in favor of rounded, more natural shapes. Craftsmen sought to give everyday objects a new look while ensuring that they fit harmoniously into the overall interior design.
