Arquibanc

What is

Bench-chest: long bench, with or without backrest, with one or several boxes underneath; the seat is the cover (DCVB). Key furniture of the medieval Majorcan house: seat, storage and sometimes bed frame.

How is

• Long bench with one, two or three caixes under the seat, each with its lid.
• With or without respatler (backup).
• Pine or fir: «Hun artibanch de pi» (1409), «de avet» (1363) (DCVB).
• In front of or around the bed: «llit encaxat ab son artibanch devant e detràs» (inventory of 1491).

How is fa

• Work of fuster or caixer: boxes of dovetailed or nailed boards, seat-lid with iron hinges.
• Fixed furniture: often made to measure for the room or bed.

Com s'usa

• Seat in the living room, kitchen and next to the bed.
• Inside: clothes, grain, bread and dishes. In 1491, an arquibanc in the possession of Gabriel Cerdà kept bread and nine pairs of escudelles from Màlica (BSAL 2017).
• In the rebost: «arquibanchs e caixes del rebost» (1309, DCVB).

Vocabulary

• arquibanc / artibanc: bank with chests.
• caixa: chest of the arquibanc.
• respatler: backup.
• llit encaxat: bed wedged between archibanks.
• rebost: pantry (room).

History

-c . 1307: "sis archas, an archibanch" (DCVB).

• 1309: «arquibanchs e caixes del rebost», BSAL document (DCVB).
• 1363 / 1409: fir and pine archibanks (DCVB).
• 1491: inventory of the possession of Gabriel Cerdà (Santa Margalida): archibanks with two or three caixes in several rooms (Barceló Crespí and Cassanyes, BSAL 73, 2017).
• 17th-18th centuries: drawer furniture moves chests and archibanks (Creus, Última Hora 2014).

On veure'n

• Museum of Mallorca, Etnològica Section (Wall) (to verify piece).
• Possession houses that can be visited: Els Calderers, La Granja d'Esporles (to be verified).

Why is it design

• Two functions, one volume: sit and store in the same place.
• Furniture that structures the house: delimits the bed and the living room.
• Modular: grows by boxes.

For the project

• Piece: contemporary arquibanc for small houses (hall bench with storage) in local pine.
• Research: map of the arquibanc in Mallorcan inventories (BSAL).
• Trades: fusteria-mallorquina · ebenisteria-i-moble-mallorqui . Files: cadira-de-boga-i-banc , caixa-de-nuvia , esco , mobiliari-de-possessio-poble-i-casal .

Sources

• dcvb.iec.cat/results.asp?Word=arquibanc
• ibdigital.uib.es/greenstone/sites/localsite/collect/bolletiSocietatLulliana/inde
• dcvb.iec.cat/results.asp?Word=rebost

Working text from the Disseny Indígena knowledge base, machine-translated from Spanish.

Open it in the atlas →