A large proportion of people's incomes in Europe nowadays is spent furnishing and equipping homes and offices, but this was not always so. For most of the period 1st to 16th centuries AD, the living and working surroundings of both ordinary and even wealthier people were bare and spartan by our standards. Decorative furnishings especially were uncommon before the Age of Exploration.
Some exceptions were lighting devices, necessary at all times in all three places; objects of personal piety, especially in the Eastern Mediterranean which was Christianised from the 4th century; and objects relating to trade control, like weights and balances.
