Four-poster bed

Four-poster bed

Ornate Elizabethan four-poster bed

A four-poster bed is a bed with four vertical columns, one in each corner, that support a tester, or upper (usually rectangular) panel. This tester or panel will often have rails to allow curtains to be pulled around the bed. There are a number of antique four-poster beds extant dating to the 16th century and earlier; many of these early beds are highly ornate and are made from oak. An example of such an early 16th-century four-poster resides in Crathes Castle, which was made for the original castle owners in the Burnett of Leys family.

In popular culture

• The opening line of "Every Morning" by Sugar Ray is "Every morning there's a halo hanging from the corner of my girlfriend's four-post bed."
• The dormitories in the Harry Potter series have four-poster beds in them.

See also

• Canopy bed