Few pieces of furniture are imbued with as great a sense of luxury as the four-poster bed. Today’s designs are undoubtedly modest in comparison to the magnificent ‘grand beds’ conserved in historic homes across Britain, yet the attraction of sleeping in a canopied bed continues to entice, offering an enduring sense of aspiration and also of romance.
Created in the medieval period to fulfil the important requirements for warmth and privacy for the master or mistress of the household, an enclosed bed gave not only greater comfort but also hierarchical separation from servants living and sleeping within the same hall.
Early enclosed beds were formed by suspending drapery directly from beamed ceilings, but with the introduction of carved wooden bed frames, the curtaining could be hung in
