We may receive a commission when you use our affiliate links. However, this does not impact our recommendations.
There are a couple different configurations of period joined stools and formes. The forme I made recently features a lower stretcher that connects the legs. This is a standard English style. Formes with a central stretcher are also known. In this case, the stretcher is in the middle of the forme, directly under the seat and ties to the end stretchers.
Period formes are often a bit taller than I made mine (my log was only 35″ long, just tall enough to get two legs out of each riven piece). People put their feet on the lower stretchers to keep them off of the cold floor, which may have been earthen or stone in the 17th c, but likely cold in any time.
In use, I find the stretcher connecting the legs a bit problematic. You can’t get your feet very close to the table when serving. This is a problem period servers didn’t have. Dining in the 17th c often looked a bit like the famous painting of the Last Supper, with Christ and his disciples all seated on one side of a long table. I always thought this was artistic license, allowing Da Vinci the ability clearly show each disciples face. But in fact, this is the way many people of that time (Da Vinci’s time, not Christ’s) ate. They were seated on one side of a table and served from the other.
Attitudes about dining and servitude changed (thankfully) and people began eating at more egalitarian oval tables. They were served plates of food or elegant serving dishes that allowed them to serve themselves.
As we design and build period furniture, it can be helpful to learn the context in which the originals were used. I was supposed to build two or three of these formes, at least one long forme and possibly two shorter. I’ve only finished the one thus far. I’ll move that one to the far side of the table against the wall so I can better serve my disciples their chicken nuggets and mac and cheese.
