four poster, tester and canopy - beds

Until late Victorian times, the four-poster or canopy bed was regarded as an essential possession for any family of substance and was frequently the most expensive piece of household furniture. Elizabethan and Jacobean beds have heavily carved and turned foot posts, often with melon or cup-and-cover turnings, with the canopy or tester constructed of wood. During the Georgian and Regency periods, the timber posts became much more slender and finely turned, although the draperies were often quite lavish and fantastic. Turnings on Victorian beds, in line with overall trends, were much heavier and more baluster shaped. In general, the foot posts were more ornate than the head posts, and the curtain rails may be square, arched or sometimes domed.The heads of many of the beds were of unpolished timber, intended to be covered by curtaining. Therefore any four poster beds with a polished headboard should be carefully examined.

Many Australian four-poster beds of the period survive, both in cedar and rosewood, often featuring rope twist turnings on the foot posts. The headboards were often serpentine shaped or scalloped, and the typical colonial bed features a 'rolling pin' turning on the raised central section of the headboard.

Unlike the 'standard', 'queen' and 'king' sizes of modern beds, there was no standard width for antique beds, as mattresses were individually made. The length and/or width of many antique beds has been changed to accommodate modern mattress sizes.

During the second half of the 19th century, the timber four-poster beds tended to be displaced by the brass and iron beds which were very much cheaper and rather more of a novelty. In the present century, however, fears that the bed curtains harboured disease, as well no doubt the change in fashion, led to many people cutting down the high posts of the traditional bedsteads.