A history of furniture. John Morely documents the aesthetics of furniture, its social and cultural context, the sequence of styles - from Ancient Egyptian, Greek and Roman through Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque and onwards - and the individual touches of craftsmen or designers used to give it character. The story is shaped by the conflict between "Classical" and "anti-Classical", order and fantasy, and includes exotic styles from China and Japan, India and Africa. Furniture finds a huge variety of forms, depending on comfort and convenience but also changing fashions in interiors, as well as the influence of politics, religion, architecture and the fine arts. Works by famous designers - Boulle, Chippendale, Riesener, Mackintosh, Eames - appear in the context of the stylistic ideals of their times, and more than 600 illustrations are closely integrated to the text.