In his Dictionnaire de l’ameublement et de la décoration: depuis le XIIIe siècle jusqu’à nos jours (Dictionary of Furnishing and Decoration: From the Thirteenth Century to the Present Day), Henry Havard discusses not only the mattress used on a bed, but also mattresses made for other pieces of furniture.
So far, we have discussed only mattresses intended for beds.
In the previous century, mattresses were made for many other kinds of furniture: « II y a des matelas pour les fauteuils, pour les carrosses et pour les lits, et la mollesse est assez ingénieuse pour se procurer les meilleurs, sans qu’il soit besoin de les indiquer », wrote an author of the period. (English: “There are mattresses for armchairs, carriages, and beds, and indolence is resourceful enough to obtain the best without any need to point them out.”) (Dictionnaire critique (Critical Dictionary), picturesque, etc.; Lyon, 1768.)
Needless to say, mattresses for bergère chairs, sofas, and settees differed considerably from those used as bedding.
To begin with, they were only very rarely filled with wool, and then only when the seat they fitted was likely to be used as a bed.
They were often filled with feathers, however, and sometimes with horsehair.
They were not tufted, and could be shaken and turned like straw mattresses and feather beds.
Finally, one face and one edge were generally covered in fabric matching the backrest, while the other face and three remaining edges were covered in a fairly coarse cloth of varying weight.
The appearance of these mattresses in household furniture coincided precisely with the arrival of the settee or sofa. The earliest example we find appears in the Inventaire du maréchal d’Humières (Inventory of the Marshal d’Humières) (Lille, 1694): « Un canapé, le bois garni de matelas, et un matelat de laine et traversin de plumes au-dessus, couvert de damas caffart. » (English: “A settee, the wooden frame fitted with mattresses, with a wool mattress and feather bolster above, covered in caffart damask.”)
By the eighteenth century, they appeared in abundance.
The following examples are recorded:
« Un canapé de six pieds de long à joues reculées, couvert en plein de gros de Tours à ramages, enrichi d’ornemens de différents taffetas… avec son matelas couvert de deux côtés du même gros de Tours, et garny d’un côté seulement des dits ornemens. » (English: “A six-foot settee with recessed sides, fully covered in patterned gros de Tours and embellished with ornaments in various taffetas… with its mattress covered on both sides in the same gros de Tours and adorned on one side only with the said ornaments.”) (Invent. général des meubles de la Couronne (General Inventory of the Crown Furniture), 1732.)
« Plus un canapé, avec son matelas et son coussin couvert de damas à fleurs, doré, estimé trante-six livres. » (English: “Also a settee, with its mattress and cushion covered in gilded floral damask, valued at thirty-six livres.”) (Invent. des meubles de messire Nicolas-Alexandre de Ségur (Inventory of the Furniture of Messire Nicolas-Alexandre de Ségur); Bordeaux, 1755.)
« Un canapé à deux dossiers, garni de peluche et de tapisserie à petits points, deux traversiers, deux matelas; le premier garni comme te canapé, le second garni sur les bords de plûche (sic), le milieu de toile à matelas, le tout estimé trente livres. » (English: “A settee with two backrests, upholstered in plush and petit-point tapestry, two bolsters, and two mattresses; the first upholstered like the settee, the second edged in plush (sic) with mattress cloth in the center, the whole valued at thirty livres.”) (Invent. du château d’Amilly (Inventory of the Château d’Amilly), 1765.)
« Une Bergère à pieds de biche, peinte en gris, garnie et Couverte de satinadè, avec son matelas.de même étoffe, et le coussin de même garni de crin. » (English: “A gray-painted bergère chair with cabriole legs, upholstered and covered in satinade, with its mattress in the same fabric and a matching horsehair-filled cushion.”) (Invent. de Jean Salva (Inventory of Jean Salva); Marseille, 1790.)
We end with a piece of furniture that was both magnificent and bound to a tragic chapter of history: the « grand canapé avec son matelas, 2 rondins et 2 carreaux, couverts de brocart, galons et broderies… avec cordons en or, le bois sculpté et doré » (English: “large settee with its mattress, two cylindrical bolsters and two cushions, covered in brocade, braid, and embroidery… with gold cords, the wood carved and gilded”), listed in the Inventaire des meubles de la famille royale (Inventory of the Royal Family’s Furniture) compiled in 1792.
Valued at 10,600 livres, this piece adorned Marie-Antoinette’s bedroom at Versailles.
Today, sprung upholstery has successfully replaced the mattresses once used on bergère chairs and settees, which have probably disappeared for good.
« Matelasser, v. a, — Rembourrer, garnir de laine, de façon que la surface matelassée, soit aussi élastique qu’un matelas. » (English: “To pad, transitive verb—to upholster or fill with wool so that the padded surface is as resilient as a mattress.”) Furniture was padded so that children or sick people would not hurt themselves if they struck it. Among the upholstery supplied for the young Dauphin, son of Louis XV, the following item appears: « Avoir garni le berceau, de 4 pieds 8 pouces de long sur 28 pouces de large, te dedans matelassé de laine, l’arche et le dossier matelassé idem, couvert de damas vert orné de galon d’or à clouer, et doux dorés. » (English: “For upholstering the cradle, four feet eight inches long by twenty-eight inches wide, the inside padded with wool, the arch and back similarly padded, covered in green damask decorated with nailed gold braid and gilded studs.”) (Inventaire général des meubles de la Couronne (General Inventory of the Crown Furniture).) The walls of rooms and apartments were also padded. Madame de Genlis recounts in her Mémoires (Memoirs) (vol. IX, p. 318) that the Duke of Montpensier was so frail that at four years old he was still nursing and had never walked without being held by leading strings: « Ce qui me paraît d’autant plus singulier, ajoute cette dame, qu’il est dans un appartement matelassé, où il pourrait se heurter et tomber sans se faire le moindre mal. » (English: “This strikes me as all the more peculiar, the lady adds, because he lives in a padded apartment where he could bump into things and fall without doing himself the slightest harm.”) According to Dufort de Cheverny, the arrangement described by Madame de Genlis was commonly adopted for young princes. His Mémoires (Memoirs) (vol. I, p. 309) state: « Jusqu’à ce que les enfans de la famille Royale aient atteint douze ans, les pièces qu’ils habitent, telles que la chambre à coucher, le cabinet de travail et le salon, sont étayées. Les étais et les boiseries tout autour sont matelassées à hauteur d’homme, afin qu’en jouant ils ne puissent se blesser. Ces appartements, garnis de tapis de la Savonnerie ou des Gobelins, très épais, les préservent de tout danger de ce côté-là. » (English: “Until the children of the Royal Family reach the age of twelve, the rooms they occupy, including the bedroom, study, and drawing room, are braced. The braces and surrounding woodwork are padded to adult height so that the children cannot injure themselves while playing. Very thick Savonnerie or Gobelins carpets protect them from any danger on that side as well.”)
By Havard’s day, padding was used mainly on shutters to keep street noise from entering apartments. The practice probably dated from the middle of the previous century, since an estate sale held on March 18, 1765, lists « des contrevents brisés et matelassés pour 5 croisées » (English: “folding padded shutters for five windows”).