The Project Gutenberg eBook of French and English Furniture, by Esther Singleton

The purpose of this work is to provide all who are interested in French and English furniture since the Renaissance period with a comprehensive and detailed view of the various periods or styles. A chapter is devoted to each period, and the chapters naturally vary in size, in accordance with the importance and length of the different periods. So far as I have been able to discover in my researches, there is no work precisely of the same aim and scope as this one in existence. Many books have been written about furniture as a whole, and the history of furniture,—especially the French styles; but I do not know of one that enables the student to learn with slight expenditure of time and energy all that is necessary to know in order to fit up a room in any given style. Anyone who wants to furnish and decorate a Louis XV. boudoir properly, or a Heppelwhite dining-room, or an Empire bedroom, can find all about it in the following pages. The collector, the student, the cabinet-maker, the upholsterer, and even the viiiarchitect will find ready at hand valuable material gathered from many sources. The ceilings, wall-decorations and chimney-pieces proper to each period are described from contemporary authorities and illustrated from contemporary pictures and prints. The furniture is described from specimens existing in many collections and museums; and frequently in the words of the great makers and designers themselves.

In many instances the collector is forced to buy the survivals of whatever period he fancies, instead of being able to select for reproduction the more artistic specimens that have perished, and his rooms are filled with anachronisms because he cannot find articles to complete his set of furniture. The reproduction of a beautiful model will give more pleasure to a person of taste than a piece of furniture whose only recommendation is that it is an “antique”; and I think many persons will sympathize with me in my desire to see correct reproductions of beautiful models of furniture multiplied, as well as the textiles that accord with them.

In all periods people have given much thought not only to beautifying their homes, but to achieving the correctness of style that contributes elegance and dignity to an establishment, unconsciously following the opinion that Sir Henry Wootton gave about 1600: “Every man’s proper mansion house and home being the Theatre of his Hospitality, the seat of his self-fruition, the Comfortablest part of his own Life, the noblest of his Son’s Inheritance, a kind of Private Princedom—nay, the Possession thereof an Epitome of the whole World, may well deserve by these attributes, according to the degree of the Master, to be delightfully adorned.”

In order to give an even more thorough understanding of the appearance of the rooms, I have included many partial ixinventories of representative homes and many descriptions of separate sumptuous beds and other pieces of furniture typical of the style. Upholstery has received minute attention. Any one can learn here how to drape a bed, or a window; what valances, curtains, lambrequins, cords and tassels are appropriate, and what materials, braids and nails may be used.

The characteristics of the decorative art of each period are set forth with some detail, and the motives of carving of the woodwork are clearly defined in the numerous line drawings and details of the many plates.

I have carefully selected the illustrations from the designs of the recognized representatives and leaders of the styles. Besides going to these fountain-heads, I have not hesitated to adopt the views and translate in many cases the words of the recognized modern authorities on French furniture. These include Alexandre, Jacquemart, Havard, Deville, and others. In the Chippendale, Heppelwhite and Sheraton styles, these writers speak for themselves.

I wish to express my thanks to Mr. Arthur Shadwell Martin for his valuable assistance in my researches for both pictures and text.

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LOUIS XIII. PERIOD	1
Frontispiece and Plates I.–IV.

JACOBEAN PERIOD	35
Plates V.–XI.

LOUIS XIV. PERIOD	63
Plates XII.–XVII.

QUEEN ANNE PERIOD	107
Plates XVIII.–XXIII.

EARLY GEORGIAN PERIOD	133
Plates XXIV.–XXVIII.

LOUIS XV. PERIOD	157
Plates XXIX.–XXXVI.

CHIPPENDALE PERIOD	219
Plates XXXVII.–XLII.

LOUIS XVI. PERIOD	249
Plates XLIII.–XLVIII.

xiiADAM PERIOD	287
Plates XLIX.–LII.

HEPPELWHITE PERIOD	307
Plates LIII.–LVII.

SHERATON PERIOD	329
Plates LVIII.–LXIII.

EMPIRE PERIOD	365
Plates LXIV.–LXVIII.

In decorative art, the form of Renaissance known as Henri II., which owed so much to the taste and influence of Diana of Poitiers, lasted for three quarters of a century. There was practically no change till the regency of Marie de’ Medici, when she invited Rubens to Paris. In 1625, he had completed his Luxembourg works, and the commencement of his visit is generally regarded as the date of the beginning of the pure Louis XIII. style. Flemish influence, therefore, is the keynote of this modified Renaissance style. Marie de’ Medici called many of her own countrymen from Italy to design the new works, and Rubens himself had spent eight years in Mantua, and therefore Italian taste is often apparent in the Louis XIII. style, but is quite secondary to that of Flanders. The great fame that Rubens enjoyed and his splendid reception in Paris gave his work unquestioned authority with the contemporary French decorative artists. His painting 4affected furniture with its luxuriant, robust and somewhat heavy qualities.

A period of magnificence and lavish expenditure by art-lovers had begun. Richelieu at the beginning almost rivalled in luxury Mazarin and Fouquet at the end of this period. The Cardinal employed Simon Vouet and other artists on the decoration of his magnificent Palais Royal and the Castle of Rueil; and his expenditures in art collecting attracted such undesirable public attention that he presented a great part of his treasures to the King in 1636. Among these was a great silver buffet weighing about 1625 pounds.

Vouet, during this period, occupied a somewhat similar position to that held by Le Brun during the Louis XIV. period. It is interesting to note the importance now held by goldsmiths in decorative art. A great deal of the furniture of the day was designed by them. Architects also regarded furniture as an integral part of the interior decoration of their apartments, and therefore designed the important pieces. For instance, Crispin de Passe (1570–1642) shows, besides his chimney-pieces (which being the most important architectural feature in the room, always received careful artistic treatment from the architects), chairs and bedstead. The latter still retains a good deal of Renaissance feeling, with carved posts, open-carved colonnade in the high foot-board and bulb feet. It is somewhat reminiscent of Du Cerceau’s design.

Besides the names already mentioned, the goldsmiths, Gideon Legare and Carteron, the armorial designer, Jacquard, and particularly Abraham Bosse, Picart, Stella, and Lepautre’s master Adam Philippon have left stamps 5or engravings that how the Louis XIII. style in all its details and characteristics. The goldsmiths, engravers and designers of this period were Audran, Barbet, Berton, Betin, Betou, Biard, Bignon, Blosset, Bouquet, Boutemie, Boyceau, Brebiette, Brosse, Caillard, Callot, Carterson, Chrestollien, Collot, Cotelle, Daubigny, David, De la Barre, Dorigny, Faber, Firens, Francard, Fornazoris, Gandin, Gautrel, Hedouyns, Heince, Hennequin, Huret, Hurtu, Jacquard, Jardin, Jousse, La Fleur, La Houe, Langlois, Le Clerc, Lefebvre, Le Mercier, Le Rou, Le Roy, Levesville, Lionnais, Loriot, Lorris, Marchant, Mellan, Menessier, Messager, Millot, Montcornet, Moriet, Mortin, Nolin, Picart, Pierretz, Piquot, Pompeus, Rabel, Rivart, Roussel, Sordot, Tavernier, Testelin, Thomassin, Torner, Tortebat, Toutin, Vignon, Vivot, Vouet and Vovert. Rabel’s ornaments are formed by a species of rinceaux of quite a particular kind, which look like the curves of an ear. Many artists of this period were certainly inspired by this part of the human body. It is impossible to imagine more strange productions; the genre (auricular style) lasted only a short time in France, and was carried to its apogee by the Germans and Flemings.

The age of Louis XIII. saw the transformation of Paris, and the application of the decorative arts to private life. The new manners in this period finally break with the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. It is a transitory, but decisive, period with its own originality; a period which announces the splendours of the age of Louis XIV.

Paris was so embellished, and so many houses were rebuilt and new finer ones built, that rents rose greatly, and 6the authorities published five abortive ordinances regulating the excessive rents between 1622 and 1649. The new luxury had to be paid for. Under Marie de’ Medici and Richelieu, a new city with characteristics of utility, beauty and magnificence arose. Corneille’s le Menteur (1642) notes the wonderful change:

So Corneille tells us that the striking change in Paris was one to pomp and grandeur.

Even more than the magnificence of the dwellings, the change to comfort is to be observed. Far from increasing during the reigns of the Valois kings, comfort had suffered. Viollet le Duc says: “The excessively laboured refinement of the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries and the internal luxury of the apartments of the beginning of the Sixteenth had been lost or laid aside during the long religious wars of the close of the Sixteenth Century, and the furniture of a great lord under Louis XIII. would have appeared barbarous and coarse to one of Charles VII.’s vassals. Perhaps it was better to live under the reign of Louis XIV. than under that of Charles V.; but certainly Charles V. and the nobles and middle classes of his time had better lodgings and were 7more comfortably furnished than the lords and common people were under the reign of the Great King.”

However barbarous an interior of the Louis XIII. period might have been in comparison with one of the age of Charles VII., it certainly was changing for the better. Convenience was being sacrificed less for magnificence. There was an attempt to combine usefulness with elegance. Mme. de Rambouillet was one of the heads of this movement; and, according to Tallement des Réaux, was the originator of it. She established her salon as early as 1608. Tallement says that she was the first to arrange suites of rooms through which guests could move easily. “Being dissatisfied with the plans submitted to her (it was in the Maréchal d’Ancre’s time) for at that time they only knew how to make a hall on one side, a chamber on the other, and a staircase in the middle, one day, after long reflection, she cried: ‘Quick! some paper! I have found how to do what I wanted.’ She drew the plan, and it was followed exactly.... She it was who taught people how to put the staircases to one side, so as to have a large suite of rooms, to make high windows from the floor up and to make high and broad doorways opposite one another.”

The decorative motives and accessories characteristic of this style are clearly defined. An analogy has been traced between the general lines of the furniture and the contemporary costume. In the latter, as shown in Abraham Bosse’s engravings, the waist line is set unusually high, giving an appearance of a short bust. This division of the figure into two unequal parts, the upper one being disproportionately short, is carried into the furniture. 8The characteristic chair of the period (see Plate I.) is short in the back. The larger pieces of furniture follow the same general form, being divided into two bodies by a horizontal cornice, shelf, or other line at above half the total height of the piece of furniture. The cabinets, architectural in form, have greater width than height, and rest on a frame or table with legs turned spirally and connected. This style of cabinet was introduced early in the period.

One of the important decorative details and ornaments is the cartouche which also follows the prevailing taste: it is wider than it is high, and its field has always a somewhat exaggerated convex curve. The rounded form also predominates in the cut-work fringing the frame, and protuberance is also a noticeable feature of the balusters that are made use of in the various parts of furniture that require columns or supports. The vases also are very corpulent in form, which effect is exaggerated by their very small bases. The faces of the mascarons are very chubby, and are unusually lacking in expression. The decorative garlands, which are composed almost exclusively of leaves and fruits, very seldom of flowers, are arranged in heavy swags, almost always disposed in a semi-circle. Pears, and more especially apples, are the fruits most frequently met with. They are usually accompanied with short leaves without serrated edges. The garlands are of uniform thickness throughout; they are quite heavy. Cornucopias symmetrically disposed are often found on the frontons. It is a peculiarity of these cornucopias that notwithstanding the considerable size and quantity of the fruits overflowing 9their mouths, they are so slender that they might almost be taken for curved trumpets. Though rich and very abundant in detail, this ornamentation does not show much relief, because the composition, as a rule, does not present any important or dominant motive. In the decoration it is seldom that the living form plays more than an entirely accessory part. The bold round mouldings now dispense with the ornaments and details of preceding styles. In many cases, these mouldings frame panels in which the square form predominates. When the square is extended into a rectangle, its dimensions are always greater horizontally than vertically. The hexagon, so much employed in the Henri II. style, is now supplanted by the octagon, which is frequently to be noticed.

Having now gone over the general characteristics and decorative features of this period, we may proceed to describe the separate pieces of furniture that are appropriate for a room of the Louis XIII. style.

First let it be said, however, that it is a mistake to suppose that a Louis XIII. room need be in any sense bare, cheerless, or lacking in comfort or convenience. The impression gained from the charming engravings of Abraham Bosse is one of cosiness as well as elegance.

The only sense of severity of this period in the interiors is produced by the massive chimney-pieces and the somewhat monumental forms of wardrobes, presses, cabinets, armoires, etc. These are usually in two tiers, the lower one usually being solid, as on Plate II., No. 4. The frame, or open lower part, however, was winning its way into favour. A good example of the latter appears 10on Plate III., No. 1, and the more curious and ornate transitional form in No. 4 of the same plate. Another example of the armoire of this period, having drawers between two compartments of doors is shown on Plate IV., No. 4, the details of which are purely characteristic of this period. The full drawing on the same plate shows a smaller cabinet with drawers beneath the two doors. This is a very handsome example of marquetry work. The patterns of the inlaid wood under the cornice are very effective. It will be noticed that panelling plays a most important part in the decoration of these pieces of furniture. Many of them had pediments of an architectural character. These pediments were frequently broken, and in the centre on a pedestal stood an allegorical figure, or similar ornament, such as that of Justice shown in Plate II., No. 2. The panels were frequently richly carved with characteristic Louis XIII. ornaments, or with Biblical, allegorical or mythological subjects, such as Juno and the peacock, Judith with the head of Holofernes (Plate IV., Nos. 2 and 1), and Paris with the golden apple (Plate II., No. 3). The important part played by pillars, whether straight or twisted, in the decorative scheme is readily seen by a glance at the pieces of furniture on Plates III. and IV. No. 4 (Plate III.), called a credence, has three varieties of columns on the same tier. The flat bulb foot, plain or carved, so typical of this period, is also shown on Plates II., III. and IV. The buffet credence (Plate IV., No. 4) shows a peculiar combination of straight and twisted column. The shield in its broken pediment is flanked by the peculiar ear decoration characteristic of this period 11which has already been referred to (page 5). The winged cherub, which is so often found as a decorative accessory, appears to splendid effect on the mirror on Plate II., under the cornice of No. 4 on the same plate and on Plate III., No. 4. Several varieties of mascarons also appear on Plates II. and III.

The woods of which these massive cabinets, chests-of-drawers, etc., were made were oak, walnut, chestnut and sometimes ebony. The Dutch were bringing great quantities of new exotic woods from the Far East, and the Spaniards were also introducing beautiful woods from the Central and South American forests and the West Indies. Mahogany, however, was scarcely known as yet in France, and was not generally used till a century later. The French, Germans, and especially Netherland cabinet-makers, however, were making full use of the advantages offered by the beautiful grains and tints of the new imported woods for the purposes of marquetry. Ebony, of course, was also extensively used for inlay and in the cheaper work blacked pear-wood was substituted. Ebony was too costly except for the richest kind of work. France was procuring it from Madagascar; the most highly-prized varieties, however, came from Ceylon, from which island green and yellow varieties were brought as well as the black. The workers of ebony gave their name to the whole craft of cabinet-making; the word ébéniste becomes generally used about this time.

In many of the larger pieces of furniture, the severe, rectangular and geometric character, the antique columns, pediments, broken pediments, garlands, pagan 12gods and goddesses, heroes, caryatides, grotesque figures, arabesques, vegetable and animal forms, imaginary beings half animal and half vegetable issuing from foliage, terms, and heads are ornaments and characteristics of the preceding reigns which have been carried over into the Louis XIII. period. The importation of Florentine and other Italian artists and workmen by Marie de Medici is clearly discernible in the great cabinets of this period. Not only were they inlaid with exotic woods, but also incrusted with precious metals and semi-precious stones. A cabinet of the Louis XIII. period made by a Florentine artist frequently exhibits the most astonishing prodigality of material as well as workmanship. One of more than usual sumptuousness is described as being composed of three tiers and being entirely covered with shell, inside and outside. An aspect of extraordinary richness is produced by pilasters of lapis-lazuli, cornaline ornaments, plates of embossed silver, paintings and miniatures, framings of delicately repoussé and gilded copper and a top enriched with stones and silver figurines. Such a cabinet by its elaborate workmanship required the services of many craftsmen,—the cabinet-maker, the smith, the engraver, the lapidary, the mosaic-worker, the miniaturist, the sculptor and the ivory-worker.

We should naturally expect to find fine examples of Italian-made Louis XIII. cabinets among the possessions of the magnificent Cardinal Mazarin. In fact, the inventory of his goods mentions many such. One is thus described: “An ebony cabinet having a little moulding on the sides, quite plain outside, the front being divided 13into three arcades, in the middle of which are six niches, in four of which, in the lower row, are four virgins of ebony bearing bouquets of silver, the said doors being ornamented with eight columns of veined lapis-lazuli, the bases and capitals of composite order in silver, the fronts of the doors and the rest of the cabinet being ornamented with various pieces, viz., cornalines, agate and jasper, set with silver; and above the arcades are three masks in jasper and twelve roses of the same mixed with six oval cornalines; the remainder is ornamented with silver let into the ebony in cartouche and leaf-work.”

Another cabinet owned by Cardinal Mazarin was of ebony, the cornice ornamented with copper gilt, resting on four copper lions silver gilt, the base of lapis-lazuli with a dome between two pilasters ornamented with ten miniatures. In the centre on the door, Apollo was represented; on the front of the drawers, the Nine Muses; and, on the four corners of each drawer, a medal showing portraits of two ancient and two modern poets. These were covered with Venetian crystal and enclosed in a little cornice with festoons of copper, silver gilt. The cabinet was of two sections and stood on eight columns of pear-wood stained black. It was 3 feet, 1 inch high; 3 feet wide; and 1 foot, 2 inches deep.

Two other ebony cabinets, both known by the name of “Cabinet de la Paix,” also belonged to the Cardinal. One of these was made by Dominico Cussey. This was of ebony inlaid with metal and was almost entirely covered with jasper, lapis-lazuli and agates. In front, it was enriched by four figures representing heroes, of bronze gilt on a background of lapis-lazuli. In the centre, there was 14a portico supported by two columns of lapis-lazuli with base and capitals of gilt bronze, having on the frontispiece the arms of France crowned and supported by two angels,—all in gilt bronze on a background of lapis-lazuli. In the depth of the portico, there was a statue of Louis XIII. seated and holding in his left hand a shield with the device of His Majesty. Beneath his feet, there were a carpet and a cushion,—all in gilt bronze. In the top part of the cabinet there was a little niche which contained the figure of Peace that gave the cabinet its name. The cabinet stood upon a gilded wooden base supported in front by two pilasters on an azure background, and four figures representing “the four principal rivers of the world.” The whole was 8 feet high; 5 feet, 3 inches wide; and 19 inches deep.

The companion cabinet of the same dimensions and proportions was likewise in two parts (à double corps); and likewise incrusted with jasper, lapis-lazuli and agates. In the large portico, the figure was that of Queen Marie Thérèse of Austria dressed as Pallas, and above were the arms of France and Spain supported by two angels. On the sides were four figures of the Virtues in relief, standing on a base of sculptured and gilded wood, which, instead of rivers, as in the companion piece, represented the four geographical divisions of the world.

Another of Mazarin’s cabinets that had formerly belonged to his great predecessor, Richelieu, is described as being decorated with wavy mouldings (guilloches) and compartments ornamented with various flowers, masques and half figures, the frieze bearing marine monsters and the middle of the doors having an octagonal 15panel in which is an Amphion on a dolphin. It rested on a base of four ebony columns united in front, and four pear-wood pilasters behind; and between the columns was a cartouche bearing the arms of the deceased Cardinal Richelieu. This cabinet was 5 feet in length; 1 foot, 7 inches in depth; and 5 feet, 10 inches in height. This was evidently an excellent typical specimen of pure Louis XIII. work, since it was made for Richelieu.

These rare cabinets were undoubtedly the origin of the Boulle furniture of the next reign, and they existed in great numbers until destroyed during the Revolution. The few that survived the ravages of the mob are preserved in museums and private collections.

The cabinets à porte (cabinets with doors) were, as a rule, more severe than the sumptuous articles just described. They depend far more upon the architectural form and talent displayed by the cabinet-maker and designer than upon the skill and art of the decorator. The first cabinets à porte date from the Renaissance, and received their name at the moment when one kind of bahut, placed on four feet, contested popularity with another kind that stood on a base with doors, and foreshadowed the form of those pieces of furniture called à deux corps. The construction of these pieces, no matter how fine the execution of their mouldings, panels, and doors, was as a rule massive, and was the work of the joiners and carvers instead of the ébénistes and marqueteurs.

One of these double cabinets is shown on Plates II. and IV., the upper part appearing in No. 2 on Plate II., and the lower in No. 2 on Plate IV. A carved oak 16bahut is shown on Plate IV., No. 1. Another walnut double cabinet is shown on Plate II., No. 4. A cabinet of another variety appears on Plate III., No. 1. This is made of oak and cedar inlaid with rosewood, and has two doors in front with projecting panels, and an oval moulding in the centre and one outside drawer with brass drop handles.

The cabinet-makers of Southern Germany also excelled in their art, and their Kunstschranken were sought for presents to princes. The most famous piece of furniture of this class is known as the “Pomeranian Art Cabinet,” now in the Chamber of Arts in Berlin. It was made between 1611 and 1617 for Philip II., Duke of Pomerania. Philip Heinhofer of Augsburg designed it and it was made in that town by Baumgartner. The elaborateness of this cabinet may be appreciated from the great number of workmen employed in its construction. These included three painters, one sculptor, one painter in enamel, six goldsmiths, two clock-makers, an organ-maker, a mechanician, a modeller in wax, a cabinet-maker, an engraver upon metal, an engraver of precious stones, a turner, two locksmiths, a binder and two sheath-makers. This cabinet is 4 feet, 10 inches high, 3 feet, 4 inches wide, and 2 feet, 10 inches deep. It is made of ebony with sandal-wood drawers lined with red morocco, and mounted with silver and pietra dura work. It is supported on four griffins with heads and manes of silver gilt but the real weight is borne upon a large scroll. The base is inlaid with small panels of lapis-lazuli, jasper, cornelian and agate, with plates of chased silver between 17them. The upper and lower friezes are composed of fruit, and other ornaments consist of female figures and boys playing musical instruments. There are also medallions of silver and Limoges enamel.

A fine example of a cabinet of the Seventeenth Century was owned by Horace Walpole at Strawberry Hill. This was 5 feet high and 3 feet wide, composed of ebony, rosso antico columns, lapis-lazuli and bloodstone panels, with settings of or moulu and precious stones. Neptune was represented in the central niche and on either side Tritons and sea nymphs sported. Beneath these were serpents and shells, horses, griffins, lions, bulls and dogs. In the panels above children were fishing with nets and rods. The whole was supported on four ebony legs ornamented with gold. Tables of the period were also most ornate.

Vasari speaks of a “splendid library” table made by Bernardo Buontalenti, at the order of Francesco de’ Medici. It was “of ebony veneered with ebony divided into compartments by columns of heliotrope, oriental jasper, and lapis-lazuli, which have the vases and capitals of chased silver. The work is furthermore enriched with jewels, beautiful ornaments of silver, and exquisite little figures interspersed with miniatures and terminal figures of silver and gold in full relief united in pairs. There are besides other compartments formed of jasper, agates, heliotropes, sardonyxes, carnelians, and other precious stones.”

The armoire did not lose its importance until the end of the Seventeenth Century, when it was relegated to the Garde-Robes; but the armoires, called placards, hidden 18under the panels of the room, remained. Mazarin had an armoire in his Garde-Robe 7 feet high and 5 feet 3 inches wide.

In the inventory of Madame de Mercœur, the garde-robe contains armoires, a bed and seats, and gives a hint of the dressing-table by “a table with drawer, having a housse of red serge d’Aumalle.”

The feature of a Louis XIII. room that formed one of its chief attractions was its tapestries and other hangings. Wherever the furniture would admit of it, a gay cloth was spread or hung. The parquet, boarded, or tiled floor also was partly covered with rugs from the Levant.

It is an age of rich textiles: not only do we find tapestry with its mythological, Biblical, allegorical, historical and floral pictures, but damasks, silks, velvets, brocades, serges and Oriental goods occur in bewildering variety. Their designs have never been surpassed in effect and elegance. When the materials were of one solid colour, they were usually ornamented with embroidery, braids, passementerie and gold and silver lace in addition to fringes. The latter existed in great number. They were of various widths and materials as well as designs. Sometimes fringes of two widths were used on the same drapery, and it was not infrequent that a fringe of gold was placed directly above one of silver, or the reverse. One of the most popular fringes was the crespine, a very narrow fringe composed of slender threads placed close together and sometimes tufted. This was used for trimming the bed-curtains, tablecloths and chairs (see Frontispiece). Another favourite fringe was the Milanaise or Napolitaine, composed of two 19kinds of threads, frequently silver and a coloured silk rolled together in the form of a spiral.

The window curtains and portières were also trimmed with braid and fringe. They hung from cornices of oak or walnut, carved to accord with the rest of the furniture. The centre of the cornice was decorated with a cartouche; or a figure of some kind, very frequently a mascaron, and beneath this hung the curtain or the lambrequin. The curtains were of tapestry, brocade, brocatelle, lampas (a kind of brocade), Genoa velvet or damask lined with silk or serge and bordered with braid, lace and fringe of gold, silver or silk, or worsted. The lambrequin used toward the end of the period consisted of a series of denticulated scallops or square flaps, shaped like those that bordered the tops of tents and pavilions, or in the form of the housings on which the knights’ arms were emblazoned.

The bed is highly decorative. It is almost solely dependent upon its furniture for its effect, as the wood is seldom, or never, visible. The typical bed of the period is known as the lit en housse. It is the one that appears in Abraham Bosse’s engravings. We may note in passing that the word housse has the some origin as the housse or housings applied to the coverings of the horses in the Middle Ages.

The wooden framework is of comparatively little importance, after the correct proportions have been assured. The ciel, or canopy, which is supported by four posts must never quite touch the ceiling of the room. The posts are covered with the same material as the curtains, or painted in harmony, and occasionally they are left 20plain. Iron rods surround the canopy beneath the valance for the support of the curtains, which may be drawn up or down by means of cords and pullies. When closed, the lit en housse has the appearance of a square box. The lit en housse consists therefore of the four posts, the canopy or ciel, the headboard and the base around which the lower valance is fastened. The canopy is always lined and surrounded by a valance, which is repeated around the base. The straight curtains that hang from the canopy in rigid lines behind the headboard (or bolster if there is no headboard) are known as bonnes grâces. From the canopy and underneath the valance hang the three outside curtains. The counterpane, called courtepointe, or couverture de parade, is generally of the same material as the curtains or their linings. The bolster is always long and round. Pillows never occur.

The lit en housse is particularly easy to reproduce. It is merely necessary to be sure of the correct proportions and the appropriate materials. As we have already remarked in the days of Louis XIII., there was a great variety of rich textiles. A lit en housse was covered with any material from tapestry, brocade, damask, silk and velvet, to serge, or cloth, or even linen, or East Indian goods. The fringe, galloons, braids, laces, tassels, etc., for the ornamentation of the curtains and counterpanes are legion. When tapestry or striped goods were not employed, the silk, velvet, serge, or damask, etc., was usually decorated with handsome braid put on in the form of stripes, or squares, as shown in our Frontispiece and on Plate III., No. 3. The linings of the bed-curtains were, as a rule, of different material, and frequently of 21different hue from the curtains. The valance was of the same material as the curtains; but the lining of the canopy, the covering of the headboard (if there was one) and the bonne grâces matched the linings of the outside curtains. The braids preferably were gold or silver lace with gold or silver fringe to edge the curtains, the upper and lower valances and the rich counterpane. The valance and curtains may be arranged as shown on Plate III., No. 3, or as in the Frontispiece; but, in all cases, the four corners must be decorated with a bunch of plumes or panache, a “bouquet,” of silk ornaments, or a carved or turned wooden knob, the “pomme.” The courtepointe, or counterpane, must cover the entire mattress and fall to the floor on the three sides. The beds, to which we have just referred, also show the peculiar square and rigid shape of the bed when made and the long round bolster that always adorns the head of the lit en housse. The bed may stand lengthwise or “vu de pied.” A lit en housse of later date appears as a full drawing on Plate III. This is represented “vu de pied” and is furnished with a headboard. The latter is upholstered.

For the sake of suggestions for those who might wish to reproduce a lit en housse, we give a few descriptions of beds taken from some French inventories of the day. One of Cardinal Mazarin’s beds is described as a “green taffeta bed” and fortunately the dimensions are given. It was 6½ feet long and equally wide, so that it was a perfect square. It was 7 feet, 3 inches high. The housse was furnished with three curtains of cloth of Holland green lined with taffeta and garnished at the base with gold and silver fringe. A smaller fringe ornamented 22the sides. The head-board and the cases for the bed-posts were of cloth of silver lined with green. The four knobs decorating the tops of the bed-posts were covered with velvet and trimmed with lace, and each of these was surmounted by a “bouquet” of gold and silk on wire.

Another bed of the period is exquisite. It was of old rose velvet embroidered with grotesque figures of animals, festoons and cartouches. On the ciel underneath the “dais” were five oval medallions,—one at each corner and one in the centre. In these the story of David and Saul was embroidered in silk illuminated with gold threads.

The Château de Turenne in 1615 contained two green velvet beds, one of which had its posts covered with green velvet; the other had a double valance of green velvet trimmed with gold and silver lace, a fringe of green silk and a fringe of gold and silver. The head was ornamented with a fringe of green silk mixed with gold and silver and a fringe of violet silk mixed with gold and silver.

The Château de Chenonceau contained a number of beds of this kind. One was a bed of green damask, en housse, the bottom and the headboard trimmed with a narrow fringe of green silk, while a deep fringe surrounded the valance. The curtains were fastened at the corners with shank buttons of green silk. Another was of green Carize, or kersey, ornamented with green silk lace and trimmed with a narrow fringe of green silk. A third was of violet Carize trimmed with a narrow fringe of violet silk; and a fourth of dun-coloured Carize 23trimmed with a fringe of dun-coloured silk. Then there were four beds of black and white drugget, trimmed with a fringe of black and white worsted. There were also many hangings for beds en housse. One was of needlework of many colours ornamented with a fringe of red, yellow and green worsted. Two hangings of tapestry, representing trees and flowers, were trimmed with a deep fringe of red and yellow worsted.

Another tapestry for bed-hangings represented all sorts of flowers. The fringe that ornamented it was of red, green and yellow worsted. Another tapestry, representing fountains and savages, had a deep fringe of green and red worsted. Another depicted foliage, roses, grapes and wild beasts, and was ornamented by a deep fringe of green, red and yellow worsted. Another had a greenish-brown background on which all kinds of flowers were thrown, and it was ornamented with red, white and green fringes. Another was of blue tapestry sown with yellow fleur-de-lis. One of needlework was composed of squares of blue, white and flesh colour; the headboard and bottom valance were also like the curtains. The worsted fringes were yellow, white, blue and red.

A very handsome bed was entirely made of crimson velvet lined with crimson taffeta. The canopy was also of crimson velvet lined with crimson taffeta, and so were the curtains, which were fastened down the sides by forty-two buttons and buttonholes. The hangings, the valance, the headboard, and the curtains were all ornamented with gold and silver lace applied in the conventional stripes. Deep and narrow fringes of crimson 24silk, crespines of gold and silver, and small fringes of gold and silver contributed further decoration. The fringe was put on double, that is to say, the crimson silk fringe was covered by the smaller fringes of gold and silver. The ornamental counterpane was of crimson velvet lined with taffeta, and ornamented with a crespine of gold and silver. It was fastened tightly to the base of the bed by means of forty-four shank buttons and buttonholes, and the whole length of the buttons there was a little fringe of crimson silk covered with a fringe of gold. Each curtain required five lengths of velvet.

Another bed with its valance on three sides, its valance around the base and its bonnes grâces was of cloth-of-gold mingled with blue, decorated with squares formed of raised crimson velvet, and bordered with black velvet ornamented with gold and silver and tinsel. The valance was lined with white taffeta garnished with fringes of blue silk with a gold crespine; the curtains were lined with crimson taffeta and edged with little fringes of gold and blue silk; and the lower valance was ornamented with fringes of gold and blue silk. The ornamental counterpane was made of squares of crimson silk, trimmed with gold braid, ornamented with a deep fringe of crimson silk, and headed by a gold crespine. The outside curtains of crimson silk, each three lengths and a half, were ornamented with gold braid and a narrow fringe of crimson silk and gold.

The valances and curtains of another were of green and gold velvet with bars of crimson satin bordered with gold. The valances were lined with white satin, trimmed with a fringe of crimson silk and a gold crespine. The 25bonnes grâces were of crimson taffeta with narrow fringes of gold and crimson silk. The lower valance was garnished with fringes of gold and silk.

Another, was of cloth-of-silver of Milan, damasked with flesh-coloured silk, and trimmed with silver tinsel, flesh-coloured silk, and a crespine of gold and silver. The bed-posts were covered with the same. The curtains and valances were of flesh-coloured and white damask, trimmed on the seams with a fringe of flesh-coloured silk, covered by a narrow fringe of silver.

Another, was formed of squares of cloth-of-gold (old gold) and squares of cloth-of-gold and cloth-of-silver and violet, separated by strips of crimson velvet covered with a braid of gold and silver, and trimmed with a small fringe of gold and white silk. The valances were lined with white taffeta, garnished with a deep fringe of white silk and a crespine of gold. The lining of the canopy and curtains was of cloth-of-silver bordered with cloth-of-gold; the headboard was covered with cloth-of-gold and silver damasked with black. The three curtains and the bonnes grâces of white damask were ornamented down the seams with gold braid, but had no fringe. The bed-posts were covered with cloth-of-gold (old gold) ornamented with narrow gold and silver braid. A tasteful bed was of violet velvet and violet damask, the latter being used to cover the head-board and for the bonnes grâces. The fringes were violet silk, and the braid and crespines of violet silk also. The curtains were of violet damask, each four lengths, trimmed horizontally with violet silk lace and a narrow violet silk fringe.

26A bed of dun-coloured serge was trimmed with silk fringe of the same hue, its bonnes grâces being dun-coloured taffeta. The counterpane was of dun-coloured serge trimmed horizontally with a deep fringe of dun-coloured silk and forty-eight silk buttons and buttonholes. The four posts were covered with serge ornamented with silk braid, and the four “pommes” were also covered with serge ornamented with silk braid.

Another bed was of scarlet lined with red taffeta and trimmed with gold braid and a deep fringe of common silk covered with crespines of gold. The curtains were decorated with gold braid and a narrow fringe of gold. The four posts were covered with scarlet ornamented with gold braid.

Another bed was of flesh-coloured satin with squares of cloth-of-gold-and-silver. The ornamental fringe was red.

Another, was of green satin embroidered in gold and silver. The fringes were of green and white silk, both deep and narrow. The curtains were of green damask.

Another, of violet velvet embroidered in gold and silver flames, bordered with cloth of silver, was lined with violet taffeta. The fringes were of violet silk.

Another, was of green velvet ornamented with gold and silver lace and fringes of green silk covered with crespines of gold and silver; the headboard was of cloth-of-gold-and-silver ornamented with green silk fringe; the lower valance was trimmed with gold and silver braid and a fringe of violet silk covered with a fringe of gold and silver. The curtains were green damask trimmed with gold and silver braid and silk fringe, and 27the ornamental counterpane of green taffeta trimmed with fringes of silk and gold.

Another bed was of cloth-of-gold striped with black and crimson satin; the curtains were flesh-coloured taffeta ornamented with crimson fringe.

The bed-posts, as we have noted, are always surmounted by ornaments, known, no matter what their form may be, as “pommes de lit.” The following kinds are mentioned in the inventory of the Château de Turenne in 1615:

“Four pommes de lit of wood covered with crimson velvet ornamented with gold and silver braid and garnished with bouquets of gold and silver and varied coloured silks and little egrettes of gold and silver; four wooden pommes de lit covered with cloth-of-silver and green trimmed with gold lace, belonging to the bed of green velvet on a gold background; four pommes de lit covered with crimson velvet trimmed with gold and silver lace and three grey plumes, belonging to the crimson velvet bed; four pommes de lit of wood painted violet and gold, belonging to the violet velvet bed; twenty-eight pommes de lit of gilded wood belonging to various beds, and twelve pommes de lit.”

Another bed that is characteristic of this period was the lit de baldaquin. This is a bed with daïs of three sides. Its framework was of natural wood, or wood carved and gilded, or covered with some rich material. This bed that dismisses the columns or posts, was introduced during this reign and carried into the next one. The baldaquin, which replaces the canopy supported by posts, must be slightly smaller than the bed it overshadows. Sometimes 28it is equipped with an arch that is covered with the same material as the general drapery of the bed, and this arch, which may be found in the old designs, following the curved movement of the baldaquin is sometimes surmounted with a bunch of feathers. When this arch contains a dome that surmounts the baldaquin, it is called the “Lit Impérial.”

A lit à impériale of the period was one of green velvet and gold and silver, trimmed with a gold and silver crespine and a little green silk fringe covered with a gold and silver fringe. The curtains were of green damask trimmed with gold and silver braid. Another was of cloth of gold and yellow damask in squares with bands of white damask and a deep fringe of white and blue. The valance was composed of squares, but the head-board was in lengths.

This probably differed but slightly from the “pavillon” bed, of which there are many descriptions in the old inventories. Mazarin, for example, had two “pavillon” beds in red serge. In the Château de Turenne there was a pavilion of crimson damask ornamented on the seams with a wide braid of gold and silver. A braid of gold and silver also surrounded the base, as well as a narrow fringe of crimson silk covered with a fringe of gold and silver. The chapiteau was of crimson velvet ornamented with the same braid on every seam and also upon the bottom with a deep fringe of crimson silk covered with a deep crespine of gold and silver. The chapiteau was an ell in circumference. Upon the top was a “pomme” painted red and silvered, to which was attached a silk cord of red, yellow and white.

29Another was of white gauze, upon the seams of which little tufts, or tassels, of various colours were sewn. The “pomme” painted in various colours, had attached to it a green silk cord; another was of crimson and gold; and another of violet velvet trimmed with silk fringe of the same hue. The “pomme” of the latter was painted violet and silver, and the cord was of violet silk.

A glance at Plate I. will show that the general outlines of the chairs are square. The usual set of seats comprised fauteuils, or arm-chairs; chairs with backs; folding-stools (pliants); and a lit de repos. In the ancient inventories the term “chaises meublantes” is given to chairs with covered backs, while the chairs with wooden and open backs are called “chaises cacquetoires” and “chaises perroquets.” The most characteristic chair of the period is the short, square and rather squat, yet well-proportioned chair that appears in nearly every one of Abraham Bosse’s drawings, and which in England is known as “the low leather,” or “Cromwell chair.” This chair is shown in the Frontispiece and also on Plate V., while variants appear on Plate I. as No. 3 and as a full drawing. This chair may be covered with leather, serge, silk, damask, brocade, velvet, tapestry, or needlework; but in every case the material is fastened to the woodwork by means of large brass, gold, or silver-headed nails, and the back and seat are both usually ornamented with a short fringe, as is shown in the Frontispiece. No. 2 and No. 5 on Plate I. are fauteuils of the period, No. 5 being an Italian chair decorated with a fringe. Many of the fauteuils of the day were “in the Italian taste,” that is to say entirely covered with velvet and trimmed 30with lace or fringe. The framework of the arm-chair was sometimes visible, as shown on Plate I., No. 2. It was of pear-wood stained to resemble ebony, walnut, oak, or it was painted in a colour to harmonize with the covering. Among Cardinal Mazarin’s many chairs were two fauteuils and two chairs with backs, entirely covered with velvet nailed on the wood. These were ornamented with a braid of medium width, as were also the folding-stools, or pliants. The wood of the latter was painted red. We also hear of two fauteuils trimmed with lace and fringe of medium width, the wood being entirely covered with the velvet; at the bottom of the back there was a double row of the crespine. The six folding-stools that went with these arm-chairs were also garnished with lace and fringe, but their frames were painted green and picked out with gold. The seats were covered with green serge. Another set of furniture consisted of six fauteuils, six chairs with backs, six pliants and a lit de repos. These were covered with needlework ornamented with a silk fringe of many colours. The frames were of pear-wood stained black, and they were decorated with twisted columns.

The twisted column shown in the side-supports and straining-rails of the chair in the lower right-hand corner on Plate I., and also in No. 2 and No. 3 on the same plate, is derived from Italy. It is a favourite ornamentation of the day and occurs in bed-posts and wherever pillars are used. Another form of the spiral leg is shown on Plate III., No. 6. Still another form is shown in the arm-chair with twisted and baluster arms that appears as No. 5 on Plate III. A favourite shape for the leg of 31a chair was also the X that so often appears in the pictures of the Dutch masters. These chairs were of Flemish and Italian origin. (See Plate VII., lower right-hand corner.) This X is also present in the pliant or folding-stool, an example of which is shown under the window in the Frontispiece.

The coverings for the fauteuils, folding-seats, etc. were, as we have said, of damask, brocade, silk, serge, tapestry, or needlework, but we must add that Genoa and Venetian velvets with floral designs in high relief were extremely popular.

Two other typical chairs are shown on Plate I. No. 1 is a handsome fauteuil of noble proportions. Its back and seat are covered with two squares of material fastened in the correct way with large nails. No. 4 is a very fine specimen indeed with a carved back panel of wood. The favourite mascaron decorates the top rail.

On Plate I. is shown a typical chair of the period with an open back of turned spindles. Deville says this was the “chaise caquetoire” or “chaise perroquet,” a name that was given to all kinds of chairs with open backs, whether carved or turned, or simply of two, three, four or five horizontal rails. If this was so, the chaise perroquet meant a different kind of chair later in the century, for Saint-Simon says: “Monseigneur himself and all who were at the table had seats with backs of black leather which could be folded up for carriage use and which were called perroquets.” In the Château de Chenonceau (1603), there were “more than two coverings for the petites chaises cacquetoires of silk of several colours 32brightened with gold and silver also on canvas estimated at forty sols, apiece.”

There were three other “chaises cacquetoires like the three chairs just mentioned, estimated at four livres dix sols apiece.”

In Cardinal Mazarin’s inventory, there was “an old chaise à perroquet” covered with moquette (a kind of velvet or woolen tapestry), and in the inventory of the Garde Meuble, ten perroquets covered with “tripe” (a kind of red panne velvet) occur.

Another kind of chair is the “chaise voyeuse.” The seat of this is quite high and the top rail resting upon the side supports (which are continuations of the back legs) is supplied with a manchette (cushion), upon which one may rest his elbows while watching the play at the card table. The back of this chair is shaped like a violin, or a bidet. These chairs are mentioned in many old inventories such as Cardinal Mazarin’s Fontainebleau, Versailles, etc. In Fontainebleau in the salons de jeux were “four voyeuses en prie-dieu” and “two voyeuses en bidets.”

The lit de repos, or chaise longue (see Plate VIII.) is an elongated seat. As a rule, this couch, or seat, is six feet long, and upon it rests a mattress or cushion. It is also furnished with a bolster, which should be covered with the same material as the mattress and back. Being exactly the width of the seat, it is placed below the back at right angles to the mattress. Sometimes this piece of furniture has elbows, and sometimes it has only turned supports at the sides of the back.

Many of the handsome tables were of a fashion that was continued through the succeeding reign, being of 33richly carved and gilded wood with hind’s feet or with term legs with or without stretchers. Some of them were enriched with gilded bronze, and incrustations and marquetry work of shell, copper and other metal. The tops, like those of the preceding reign, were frequently of marble or marquetry. They were also covered with a cloth and a housse of leather, serge, tapestry, etc. The table-carpet, as a rule, reached to the floor and was garnished with a narrow or wide fringe. This was the housse, and above it was a second cloth (see Frontispiece). These table-coverings were either simple or rich, according to the purse or fancy of the owner. Cardinal Mazarin, for example, had four table-coverings of crimson damask flowered, bearing the arms of his Eminence; four of “red crimson” Turkey leather trimmed with gold fringe and gold tassels and lined with red taffeta, and a green flowered damask table-carpet with four sides, lined with green cloth and trimmed with gold fringe à la Romaine. One of the handsomest varieties of table appears as a full drawing on Plate II.

Although the console is known during the reigns of Henri II. and III., it is in the reign of Louis XIII. that the phrase table en console appears in the inventories. The console was derived from the credence, and was even in its earliest form a large table with a marble top, jutting out like a bracket and serving to support a bust or vase. The three visible faces of the console were in the early days frequently supported with chimæras, fauns, etc. The word table was gradually dropped and the article was known as console.

A variety of table, known as the guéridon, was also 34popular. This is a small round table mounted on a stem or baluster that ends in three legs (Plate III., No. 2). It was made of various woods, sometimes of pear-wood stained black and sometimes painted. It was of great convenience. Sometimes it was used for cards; but more often it held a lamp, or candelabra, or a refreshment tray.

The chandeliers were usually of brass and hung from the centre of the room. Of course, candles were inserted in the arms. Candelabra and small candlesticks were also used to give light, and sconces were frequently attached to the walls. Pictures were framed and hung directly over the tapestries, as shown in the Frontispiece. Their frames differed but slightly from the frames of the mirrors, specimens of which appear on Plate II. as a full drawing and as No. 1. Another frame appropriate for either a picture or a mirror is seen on Plate IV., No. 3.

The Jacobean Period covers almost a century (1603–1690). In its earlier stages, therefore, it is still Elizabethan in spirit, and in its old age it is largely influenced by the taste of the dominant French court. During the reign of James I., the styles of furniture and interior decoration are still strongly Tudor in character, but the intimate connection with the Low Countries, and the friction with Spain and her Western possessions have their effect in making the wealthy classes of England thoroughly acquainted with the best products of Spanish, Dutch, and Flemish workmanship. The Tudor mixture of Gothic and Renaissance styles was gradually modified under the influence of Inigo Jones, “the English Palladio.” The political ties between England and the Low Countries, based on mutual interests of a mercantile and religious nature, were still further strengthened by dynastic alliances. In Norfolk and Suffolk, the population 38was largely composed of natives or descendants of natives of the Low Countries. Flemish and Dutch art and manufactures, therefore, were extremely influential in forming what is known as the Jacobean style.

This period covers, of course, a portion of the reigns of Louis XIII. and Louis XIV.; and much of the furniture fashionable in France at this period was imported into England; but with the exception of the wealthiest homes sumptuous articles are not common. There is, indeed, a massive set of superbly carved silver furniture at Knole, Sevenoaks, Kent, but such luxury is rare.

Oak and walnut are the woods chiefly used at this period, but we also find lime, cherry, and cypress (the latter especially for chests). Sometimes, as even happened in Tudor days, the carving was gilded, and, in many instances, we find the wood painted. Pear-wood stained black to imitate ebony is also popular. Mahogany is almost unknown in these days; but exotic woods are used in the construction of cabinets. Towards the end of the Seventeenth Century a great deal of ebony was imported, and even carved ebony furniture from India and Ceylon found its way into many rich English homes. Shakespeare gives us a hint of the generous use of rich articles from various parts of the world, showing what a cosmopolitan atmosphere a Tudor home presented:

It is not unfitting that we should first recall a few of the distinguishing features of Elizabethan ornament, so frequently met with in the Jacobean home.

The carving was characterized by bold and deep cuttings, leaving the design in high relief. The panels of the chests, cabinets, cupboards, beds, etc., present a rich variety of subject. Figures taken from Biblical or mythological lore, grotesque monsters, animals and floral forms are met with; and of the latter we particularly find the rose, vine, carnation, lily, marigold, sunflower and tulip predominating. A typical floral panel is shown on Plate X., No. 7. Then we often see a diaper pattern, and, occasionally, the “linen fold.”

The cornices of cabinets, bedsteads, etc., are often adorned with the “egg and tongue” pattern; and the backs of settees, cornices of overmantels, etc., are often enriched with rather grotesque dolphins, placed back to back, forming a kind of scroll the outline of which is shown on the table on Plate X., No. 2.

Another typical ornament is the swelling acorn-bulb. It appears on the legs of tables, posts of bedsteads, and supports of cabinets, cupboards, etc., as shown on Plate X., No. 2. A variety of this bulb occurs on Plate XI., No. 1, showing the black ebony balls connected by plain 40stretchers, or straining-rails. The bulb also appears, but somewhat smaller and connected by straight stretchers, on the table on Plate V. The baluster legs of the court cupboard on Plate X. exhibit another kind of swelling leg. This leg becomes slenderer until it dwindles into the type shown on Plate X., No. 1.

Other ornamental devices consist of interlaced bands, strapwork, shells, lyres, bell-flowers, the acanthus, arch panels, branches and leaves in large flowing designs, besides a great variety of mouldings, panels and pierced scrolls. Turned work is rapidly superseding carving, which, however, is never quite driven away.

The newest decoration is the “spindle” ornament which seems to have been introduced from England from the Low Countries about the middle of the Seventeenth Century. This was made of ebony, or of pear-wood stained black, turned, of course, cut in half and applied. Eggs and lozenges were likewise made, stained black and applied. These ornaments decorate the cabinet on Plate X., No. 1, and the “spindle” is shown separately as No. 4 on the same plate. The scroll is an excessively popular device: it not only occurs upon mouldings and cornices, but it also decorates the feet, frames of panels and straining-rails of chairs and settees.

During this period, the hall was the most important room in the house. Guests were always received here, and here meals were generally served. In the baronial homes, therefore, of past generations, the hall was used as both drawing-room and dining-room. The table was set on a daïs, or platform, and a screen cut off the entrance from the kitchen. At the other end of the hall 41was the minstrels’ gallery. In the course of time, a bay window was added at the dais end of the hall, which formed a private retiring-place for conversation while the table was being cleared. This paved the way for the small “privée parlour,” a little room built at the end, or side of the hall. The next addition was the “Great Chamber,” a larger room than the “parlour,” to which the lord of the household often retired, leaving the hall to his retainers and to such guests as were not of equal rank with himself. The “Great Chamber” was used as a bedroom by night and as a living-room by day. Here, of course, there was a sumptuous bed; and a bed with rich furniture also stood frequently in both parlour and hall.

The general impression of a Jacobean hall is elegance,—an elegance not merely derived from the dignified styles of the furniture contained in it; but from the rich tapestries and hangings, the warm panels, the comparatively low and beautifully ornamented ceiling, the stately mantel-piece, the cosy bay window and the bright wood fire crackling upon the great andirons.

Perhaps the first thing that attracts one’s attention is the lavish use of the panel. The doors are panelled, as well as the ceilings and wainscots,—a fashion very popular in the days of Elizabeth. In some instances, the room is panelled from floor to ceiling, and in others only the wainscot and doors are panelled, in which case the wall-space above the wainscot is completely covered with tapestry. Tapestry is often hung over the ^[2] panels 42also, as shown in our illustration (Plate V.). English people had been fond of tapestry ever since the days King Alfred, fully appreciating the beauty derived from

Tapestry, which had become something of a lost art during the Wars of the Roses, had been again brought into favour by Henry VIII., and a fresh interest is now given to it on account of the beautiful articles that are being made at the Mortlake factory established by James I.

Another hanging, not quite banished as yet, was “painted cloth,” canvas painted in tempera, or oil, with various devices, figures, mottoes, proverbs and wise sayings. Falstaff’s comparison “Slaves as ragged as Lazarus in the painted cloth,” shows us that Biblical subjects were represented. The saucy Beatrice of Much Ado about Nothing admits that she took her witty answers from the painted cloth.^[4]

Hangings of embossed leather from Spain, with figures in gold, silver, and various colours, were also used, 43especially in the adornment of the small rooms. Another novelty at this period was chintz, figured or flowered. In 1663, Pepys notes in his Diary: “Bought my wife a chint, that is a painted Indian calico for to line her new study.”

The latter must have been a kind of boudoir, or, possibly, a library. In some houses there was a special room set apart for books. These “studies” had been popular in England long before the time of Mrs. Pepys, since Leland describes one that was called “Paradise,” and which might be imitated with advantage in modern homes, especially where there is a restricted space for books. He writes:

“At Wressil Castle, Yorkshire, the seat of the Percies, there was one thing I liked exceedingly in one of the towers; that was a study called Paradise, wher was a closett in the middle of eight squares lattised about; and at the top of every square was a deske ledged to fit bookes on and cofers within them, and these seemed as joined hard to the top of this closett; and yet by pulling, one or al would come down briste high in rabattes, and serve for deskes to lay bookes on.”

In some houses, the ceiling is carved in elaborate fretwork, ornamented with bosses and pendants,—a practice afterwards imitated in plaster.

The windows are furnished with small diamond, or square, panes, and frequently in the centre of each window the armorial bearings of the family are displayed, as shown in Plate V. Sometimes these are encircled with floral, or other devices. The arms are also placed upon the chimney-piece. In the bay windows we always find 44a low-cushioned seat bountifully supplied with soft, movable cushions and pillows, covered with rich silks of bright hues, and often beautifully embroidered. Indeed the cushion ^[5] is one of the features of every room, being a necessity as well as a decorative accessory to the heavy chairs of the day.

The floor, of polished oak or inlaid wood, is occasionally enriched with a “foot carpet.” In many of the older houses, the floors are paved with tiles of various colours, or laid with chequer-work.

The most important architectural feature of the room, however, is the chimney-piece. The favourite Tudor chimney-piece and overmantel was a mass of rich carving, consisting of arch panels, mouldings, scrolls, coats-of-arms, flowers, vines, columns, and interlaced strapwork, supported by beautiful, or grotesque, terminal figures. Simpler styles are now being introduced in sympathy with the growing taste for Classic severity. The fire-place still remains large enough to admit of big logs, and the hearth is equipped with andirons, tongs, bellows, and sometimes a fender,—all of great artistic beauty. Behind the flames, there is usually an iron “chimney-back,” stamped with a decorative device, or, occasionally, the arms of the owner.

45The illumination is obtained by means of lamps, lanterns and candlesticks. The latter are very ornate. Some of them are branched and hang from the ceiling. Others have sconce-arms and are placed on the walls. Tall standing candlesticks of metal are also used, and are moved about the room at pleasure. The illumination is also helped by means of small mirrors, with frames carved and gilt, or else made of ebony or olive-wood.

The furniture consists of one large table, several small round or oval tables, side tables, chairs, settee, couch, stools, a “court,” or “livery cupboard” (and sometimes both), a screen, cabinets, chests, and coffers; while the decorations are pictures, antlers, armour, vases and other ornaments of porcelain, gold, silver, or pewter, and table-clocks.

There has been much discussion regarding the “court cupboard” and the “livery cupboard,” mentioned above, but it is now generally accepted that the “court cupboard,” which may have derived its name from the French word court (short), to distinguish it from the high standing cupboards, corresponded to the French dressoir, and was used for the display and keeping of plate, glass, etc., etc. The “livery cupboard,” on the other hand, still found in the farmers’ and labourers’ cottages in England, where it is sometimes called the “bread-and-cheese cupboard,” received its name from the French livrer (to deliver) and was used both for service and as a receptacle for broken victuals. The difference between them is well defined in Janua Linguarum (London, 1673), as follows: “Golden and gilded beakers, cruzes, great cups, chrystal glasses, cans, tankards and two ear’d pots are 46brought forth out of the cupboard and glass case; and being rins’d and rubb’d with a pot-brush are set on the livery cupboard.”

The “court cupboard” corresponded, in a measure, to the modern sideboard. It was a great feature at festivals and it rose in several receding stages or shelves, upon which the plate was displayed. The number of stages varied according to the rank of the master or mistress of the house. In Les Honneurs de la Cour, we learn that two steps were allowed to the wife of a baronet, three to a countess, four to a princess, and five to a queen.

At Cardinal Wolsey’s entertainment to the French Ambassadors at Hampton Court, Cavendish relates: “There was a cupboard for the time in length of the breadth of the nether end of the same chamber, six desks high, full of gilt plate, very sumptuous and of the newest fashions; and upon the nethermost desk garnished all with plate of clean gold were two great candlesticks of silver and gilt most curiously wrought.” When the same Ambassadors were entertained by Henry VIII. at Greenwich, there was a “cupborde seven stages high and thirteen feet long, set with standing cuppes, bolles, flaggons and great pottles all of fine golde, some garnished with one stone, and some with other stones and pearles.”

When Queen Elizabeth was entertained at Hatfield House (the present seat of the Salisburies) in 1556, and there was a great and rich “maskinge in the great halle at Hatfield,” at night “the cupboard in the halle was of twelve stages, mainlie furnished with garnish of gold and silver vessels and a banket of seventie dishes, 47and after a voide of spices and suttleties, with thirtie spice plates, all at the charges of Sir Thomas Pope.”

A good example of a “court cupboard” with five degrees of stages ornamented with plate is shown in a picture printed in Laurea Austriaca (Frankfort, 1627), representing an entertainment given by King James I. of England to the Spanish Ambassadors during the negotiations for the marriage of the Prince of Wales to the Infanta of Spain. The stages rest upon a frame of turned baluster legs connected by straining-rails. Below the first stage there is a drawer. The “carpets” hang over the front of the cupboard instead of over the sides, as was more usual. This picture would seem to prove that an ordinary side table of the period might be converted into a court cupboard by simply placing the requisite number of shelves above it. However, in the inventory of Sir Thomas Kytson (1603) the following occurs: “At y^e Great Chamber Dore one little joined boarde w^t a fast frame to it, to sett on glassis. Itm, a thing like stayres to set plate on.”

In the early days, before the “livery cupboard” was brought from behind the screen into the hall, the “court cupboard” was removed from the lower end of the hall. The “livery cupboard” took its place. The “court cupboard” was then placed on the daïs, at the “Lord’s borde end,” or in a recess at the back of the high table. Sometimes it was placed in front of the bay window at the end of the daïs, where it acted as a kind of screen.

The “livery cupboard” was not only used for service, but for “liveries” of food and drink, served at night and in between meals. Smaller livery cupboards were sometimes 48found in the bedrooms, and these were usually furnished with doors and locks. As food was kept in them, the panels are frequently perforated for the sake of ventilation.

Occasionally, especially in later times, the uses of the “court” and “livery” cupboards were combined. Between these pieces of furniture, one difference long existed: a portion of the court cupboard was enclosed at a very early period, while the livery cupboard remained with its open shelves.

If we may believe the old inventories, there were many varieties of the cupboard, or many names for it. We find cupboard and chest-of-drawers, great cupboard, table and cupboard, table-cupboard, livery cupboard, side cupboard, press cupboard, sideboard cupboard, half-headed cupboard, standing cupboard, “cort” cupboard, etc., etc.

Its use was universal, as it was an article of convenience, beauty and ceremony. On Plate X. a characteristic specimen of a Seventeenth Century “court cupboard” of oak is shown. This is preserved in the Vestry in Jamston Church, Nottinghamshire. The lower part would resemble the ordinary side table of the day, if the back supports were like the two turned baluster legs in the front. The long drawer with carved panels is appropriated for linen, or cutlery. The enclosed cupboard is cut in the form of half a hexagon,—a favourite device of the period for cupboards, and has three doors enriched with carved panels and mouldings. The top slab or “cupboard head” is supported by spirally turned columns. The proper way to adorn this piece of furniture is to 49place a cupboard cloth, or “carpet” (of damask with fringed ends, or a strip of the same material as the hangings of the room) upon the top, allowing the ends of the scarf to fall over the sides (but not the front), and then to arrange on it a few choice pieces of plate, or porcelain. It is interesting to compare this example with No. 8 and No. 1 on the same plate. No. 8 is a portion of a cupboard of later date. This has a “double head,” and under the first stage the ornament is a pendant, instead of a column or pillar. This stands on a ball foot, of an older form than the foot of No. 1 or No. 3. This example, moreover, has its lower portion enclosed with panelled doors. The earlier specimens of the “court cupboard” are generally (and often richly) carved. Sometimes the pillars have Ionic capitals, sometimes they are ornamented with the swelling bulb or acorn enriched with the acanthus leaf, as exhibited in No. 2, Plate X. The devices for the mouldings and panels open to the carver were innumerable. Towards the close of our period, cupboards were decorated with applied ornaments of ebony (or an imitation of it) in the form of eggs, spindles and lozenges, as shown in the cabinet No. 1 on Plate X.

The cabinet is a development of the enclosed cupboard. The characteristic cabinet of James I.’s time is adorned with pillars, arch panels and spindle ornaments. The specimen just referred to on Plate X., No. 1, has these decorations. It stands on a frame of six legs,—a frame that was also used for the lower part of the high case-of-drawers that was coming into fashion towards the end of our period.

50The cabinet was always a handsome piece of furniture equipped with shelves, drawers, compartments, and doors,—a repository for jewels, documents and curios. It was sometimes defined as a set of boxes, or drawers for curiosities, and from it the cabinet-maker, “one whose business it is to make cabinets and the finer kind of joiner’s work,” took his name.

The cabinet was known in England at an early date. In 1550, we read of a “fayre large cabinett covered with crimson velvet with the King’s arms crowned.” In the Seventeenth Century, the cabinet was panelled and carved, adorned with turned pillars, pendants or swelling bulbs, or it was of the newer style with applied ornaments and turned supports. Frequently also an imported cabinet was to be seen in the English home of this century,—a beautiful specimen of Dutch marquetry, of Italian inlay, of Oriental lacquer, or, indeed, of Boulle work, to say nothing of the splendid examples of Flemish carving.

Some of these cabinets were very ornate specimens of workmanship. Inlay or marquetry was the leading feature of decoration for them. Natural flowers, birds, animals and foliage in bright colours, or in the colours of the exotic woods, undyed, were in use. Ivory and mother-of-pearl, as well as shell were also employed. Even before the days of William and Mary, when the Dutch marquetry became universally popular, there was much inlaid furniture.

“Emblema, continued to this day by the Italians in their Pietra Comessa.... St. Lawrence at Florence, 51where the pavement and all the walls are most richly encrusted with all sorts of precious marbles, serpentine, porhirie, ophitis, achat, rants, coral, cornelian, lazuli, etc., of which one may number thirty sorts, cut and laid into a fonds or ground of black marble (as our cabinet-makers do their variegated woods) in the shape of birds, flowers, landskips, grotesks, and other compartments.”

The above reference shows that the English cabinet-makers were accustomed to work in inlay.

One of the designs of marquetry that came into vogue in the Seventeenth Century was the “herring-bone” pattern. A clock made by Daniel Quare late in the Seventeenth Century, and preserved at Hampton Court Palace, has its case inlaid with a border of herring-bone pattern.

The characteristic table of Jacobean days is the “drawing-table,” a solid piece of furniture with massive legs, often carved, and connected with rails near the floor. The top is a large slab of oak and beneath it are two other slabs or leaves; when these are drawn out at each end, the large slab falls into the space they occupied, and the table is thus lengthened.

Another typical table, called either “round” or “oval,” is shown on Plate XI. This is an eight-legged table provided with flaps, or falling leaves, supported by legs that can be pulled forward. When not in use, they fold into the frame. Sometimes this variety of table has six instead of eight legs. A popular modern name for these is “the gate-legged” and “the thousand-legged tables.” Frequently the legs were turned spirally. There was another round, or oval table, whose falling leaf was 52supported by a bracket, shaped something like the wing of a butterfly, from which it has received the modern and popular name of “butterfly table.” The square table was also in use. The table was always covered with its “carpet”; indeed, in the inventories of the period, the “table and carpet” are often mentioned together.

On Plate XI. are three specimen table legs. No. 1 shows legs that are ornamented with a round globe, which like the round ball foot, is of ebony or wood stained black in imitation. The stretchers and rest of the frame are oak. Frequently the table leg was decorated with the carved bulb or acorn, as is shown in No. 2, Plate X. A similar leg to No. 1, Plate XI., occurs on the table in Plate V., but the stretchers here are different. No. 2 and No. 3 on Plate XI. are good types of the ornamentation of the period and their legs are also connected by stretchers. The latter would be used as side-tables or placed in the centre of a room.

The furniture of the parlour in the late Tudor period consisted of high-backed carved chairs, joined stools with cushions covered with rich material and fringed, foot-stools, turned chairs, “lyttle guilt chairs for the women,” high folding screens with many leaves, long, square and round tables with “carpets,” “conversation stools” with ornamented ends and backs, chests, cabinets, coffers and all the ornaments of the period. A wood fire gives warmth, and silver candelabra and sconces light to the room, while further comfort is added by the tapestries, curtains and innumerable cushions. Often, indeed, a bed occurs.

The Jacobean parlour differed but little; indeed, in 53some houses this exact room survived; but the new styles were gradually driving out the heavy chairs and cabinets for the lighter varieties with turned frames and cane webbing or their upholstered backs and seats; and the old carving was being rapidly supplanted by the newer decoration of the black mouldings and applied ornaments. The high-backed and richly carved settle had to give place to the “couch and squab,” a handsome specimen of which appears on Plate VIII. This is also called a settee or a “chaise longue.” Our particular example is composed of a walnut frame covered with cane, upon which are placed a mattress or long cushion and a round bolster, both of which are covered with green silk damask bordered with a narrow fringe. The back, resembling the back of a chair, is enclosed in an ornamental frame of scroll-work, somewhat similar to that of No. 1 on the same plate, and turned side pillars. The top rail is surmounted by a pedimental scroll with a crown in the middle. The six legs have projecting knees and feet connected lengthwise by ornamental rails upon which scrolls and crowns are carved. This piece of furniture dates from 1660.

We have noted that the bed was generally met with in every room in the house. There were, however, separate bedrooms even in the Tudor age. Shakespeare’s description of Imogen’s apartment gives a very charming picture of a rich sleeping-room of the time:

It is interesting to compare the above with the room that was prepared for the reception of James I. at Knole, Sevenoaks, Kent, which is still intact. The walls are covered with tapestry depicting the story of Nebuchadnezzar. The state bed, which cost £8,000, is richly ornamented and has a canopy top, while its furniture is of gold and silver tissue, lined with rose-coloured satin, and embroidered and fringed with gold and silver. The chairs and stools in the room are covered to correspond with the hangings and other furniture of the bed.

Another room in the same house, known as the “Venetian Bedroom,” because the Venetian ambassador, Nicolo 55Molino, slept there, contains a fine state bed, said to have been arranged for the entertainment of James II. The canopy and headboard are carved and gilt and surmounted by the royal arms. The hangings and other furniture are of green cut velvet lined with lutestring,^[7] and the chairs and stools in the room are similarly upholstered.

Another room at Knole, known as the “Spangled Bedroom,” on account of its ceiling, is hung with tapestry and contains a handsome bed which is represented on Plate IX. The stools and chairs in this room are covered with crimson silk embroidered in the same pattern as the bed-furniture.

The massive Elizabethan “four-posted” bed died hard. Although in many homes the new styles were being introduced, the “beddes of tymbre” were treasured and still formed objects of special bequests. Oliver Cromwell’s bed, which is still in existence, is similar in general style to the “Great Bed of Ware,”^[8] which was so large that it could hold twelve persons. In 1598, Paul Hentzer, visiting Windsor, notes the beds belonging to princes of preceding reigns measured 11 feet square and were covered with quilts shining with gold and silver.

The large Tudor bed was the richest piece of furniture. Apart from the sheets of finest linen, the soft and handsome blankets, the counterpane of marvellous needlework, the quilts of silk and rugs of fur, and the curtains 56of tapestry, samite, silk or velvet, it was a mass of superb carving luxuriantly expressed upon headboard, canopy, tester, columns, and panels. The columns were often carved to represent the “four gospellers,” or evangelists, and angels: which explain the old rhyme:

One of the popular decorations of the columns was the acorn-shaped central bulb on the posts, and the arch panel on the headboard. Even the under side of the canopy is formed of carved panels. On either side of the headboard, the terminal figures of men or women or angels were not merely decorative, but formed supports for looping back the curtains. Many of these carved oak bedsteads were imported from Flanders, especially those whose testers are carved with designs suggested by drapery or fringe. Under this great bed, which sometimes stood upon a low platform, the “trundle” or “truckle” bed was rolled.

The bed shown on Plate IX. is of the new style which lingered with a few changes far into the reign of Queen Anne. It is therefore a typical Jacobean or Stuart bed. The proportion is entirely different to that of the Tudor 57four-poster. The pillars, or supports, for the tester are taller, and the whole framework is of lighter build. This interesting specimen is still preserved at Knole, the home of the Sackvilles at Sevenoaks, Kent. Its hangings, tester, valance and counterpane are of crimson silk lined with satin and richly embroidered with gold and silver.

No. 1 on the same Plate shows the bed with light, spiral column that was also in use. The post is surmounted by an ornament, or knob, or bunch of feathers which, in France are called “pomme.”

It will be noticed that there is no carving on this bed which depends for its elegance upon the richness of its furniture. At this period, green, yellow and crimson were the favourite colours for draping the bed. The materials chosen were silk damask, worsted damask, plain satin, silk, or serge, according to the wealth of the owner; and when it is remembered that the windows were hung with the same stuff, and the chairs, stools, cushions, table-carpets and cupboard cloth and cushions were of similar stuff, it will be admitted that a Jacobean bedroom is lacking neither in beauty nor richness.

The rich materials mentioned above were often embroidered in gold or silver as is the case in bed shown on Plate IX.

Striped silk was another favourite for the hangings of the bedroom. As a rule, when worsted materials were used, the curtains of both bed and windows were lined with silk. There was a great variety of silks, known variously as lutestring, paduasoy, tabby, taffetas, sarcenet, 58chaney, cheney or China, etc.; while the woollen goods included serge, darnick or dorneck, perpetuana, mohair, camoca or camak, camlet, say, serge, rateen, watchet, fustian, damask, and kitterminster or kidderminster, some of which were mixed with camel’s hair or threads of silk. There were also dimity, flowered chintz, and callimanco (a glazed linen), as well as Turkey-work and “wrought” (which, of course, was needlework). East India goods, such as printed calico and seersucker, were also used at the end of the period. White curtains for the bed are rarely employed.

The modern upholsterer will have no difficulty in finding suitable and equivalent materials for furnishing a Jacobean bed and bedroom.

The valance hanging from the tester, as shown on Plate IX., is adorned with fringe, as is also the stool that stands at the foot of the bed.

Beside the bed, there was always laid a narrow strip of carpet, or tapestry, or rug, always referred to as a “bedside carpet.”^[9]

In the bedroom, we always find a large “trussing chest,” used as a receptacle for the bed clothes, and there may be another chest for the preservation of wearing apparel. The latter is more likely to be a chest-with-drawers, consisting of the chest proper, below which are two long drawers, appearing to the eye as four on account of the panels, mouldings and knobs. On lifting up the top, a deep well is revealed, at the side of which there is a “till,” or compartment, for small articles, trinkets, etc.

59At first, the chest was decorated with carved panels and mouldings, and was usually rendered secure with a lock and great iron hinges that were extremely decorative. The date and the initials of the owner were carved upon it, as well as a fanciful motto or legend. At a later period, the chest was placed on a frame of short square legs. The next development was the addition of a long drawer below the chest. Another drawer was added, and another, until this piece of furniture gradually became, instead of a simple box or trunk, a “chest-of-drawers,” a “chest-with-drawers,” a “nest-of-drawers,” a “case-of-drawers,” a “press,” a “cupboard-press,” etc., etc. The bureau, or desk, or “screetore,” is another development; and, of course, the cabinet in its simplest form is nothing but a chest-of-drawers with shelves inside shut in by doors.

This development will be apparent by glancing at the chest-of-drawers, or case-of-drawers, on Plate X. This contains but four drawers, although at first sight it would seem that there were eight. The panels of these drawers are edged with a flat bevelled moulding stained black, and within that is a sunk panel, in the centre of which is the brass handle-plate. A moulding incised with cuts edges the top slab. The chest-of-drawers stands on four turned knobs or balls. A specimen handle and key-plate of the period appropriate for chest, chest-of-drawers, or cabinet are No. 5 and No. 6 on Plate X. The case-of-drawers is also found in the bedroom, where the other furniture includes a dressing-table and glass, tables, chairs and stools, very often a cupboard, sometimes a desk or “screetore,” and always plenty of cushions.

60The “drawing-table,” of course, has no place in the bedroom; such a one as that shown on Plate XI., with either a square or round top is the most usual. Its “carpet” matches the hangings of the room. The cupboard, chairs, stools, and couch and desk do not differ from those already described. The dressing-table is merely a simple table covered with drapery, and upon it or above it stands or hangs a mirror, the frame of which in general design is like the one shown on Plate XI. In very rich homes, this is of solid silver, but more frequently it is carved and gilt, or made of olive-wood, or ebony. Sometimes it has merely a square and unornamented frame, and again the frame may be inlaid.

Turning now to the chairs, we find the heavy wooden chairs, such as are shown on Plate VII., Nos. 1, 2, 3, and 4, and No. 2 on Plate VIII., are giving place to newer forms. One of the most typical is the “low leather” chair, which we have already spoken of in the preceding chapter. This was generally covered with leather put on with large brass nails, and was sometimes also decorated with fringe. Genoa velvet, silk, serge, needlework, etc., were also used for covering this form of chair. A square straining-rail usually connects the legs close to the floor. It was popularly known as “the Cromwell,” and is shown on Plate V. and in the Frontispiece. Two good variants occur on Plate I., No. 3, and lower right-hand corner. Another typical chair, which is also reminiscent of Abraham Bosse, appears on Plate VII. This shape is frequently met with in the pictures of the old Dutch masters.

This particular specimen, which is preserved at 61Knole Park, is covered with rose-coloured velvet, divided into squares by means of a braid of mixed gold and silk threads, and adorned with a fringe of the same. The nails that fasten the material are copper-gilt, and a large quatrefoil ornament marks the intersection of the legs. The oval finials on the back are also decorated with copper-gilt nails. The woodwork is painted with red lacquer ornamented with a floral design in gold.

All the styles shown on Plate I. are also known in England. A very characteristic chair is the “high backed” chair, known also to France and Flanders. It is very slender and upright. Examples are shown on Plates V. and VIII. The side-posts are either spiral, as in Plate V., or spindle, as shown in No. 1 and No. 6 on Plate VIII. The back panel and seat are of cane webbing, or stuffed and upholstered. The frame of the panel may be rounded as in No. 6 on Plate VIII., or square as No. 1 on the same plate. The top is usually carved in some kind of scroll-work. Sometimes the cane-webbing is framed with a simple moulding, as shown in No. 6. Plate VIII. and again it may have an ornate combination of scrolls and leaves, as shown in No. 1 on the same Plate. Stretchers render the legs firm. Sometimes there are two spiral front rails as shown on Plate V., but more frequently the rail is an elaborate arrangement of scrolls, as shown on the chair in the upper left hand corner on Plate VII. or on No. 4 and No. 5 on Plate VIII. The feet are often made of a large and somewhat clumsy scroll turned outward, as shown on No. 5, Plate VIII. Another variety occurs on the arm-chair above. Another species of foot is moulded into a kind of embryonic claw, known as 62“the Spanish foot.” The arm-chair on Plate VIII. is one of the richest productions of the age. It is elaborately carved and gilt. The border or frame surrounding the panel of the back is beautifully carved with the strawberry leaf, and Cupids and other figures enrich the top. The side supports of the back are spirally turned, ending in a decorative acorn (which is repeated in detail on No. 3). The seat and back are upholstered in red velvet. This valuable relic dates from 1660.

A simpler chair, also dating from 1660, occurs on Plate VII. This is of walnut. The side-supports are continuations of the back legs, the front legs curve outward, and the front rail is a series of scrolls. The back is surmounted by a carved and pierced pediment. The stuffed seat and back are covered with needlework on canvas.

Other typical seats of the day are shown on Plate VI., a settee or double chair, and stool, the frames of which are painted black. The back of the settee is very high with a curved or wavy top. The arms curve downward with a bold sweep. The four short legs, curving outwards, with projecting knees and feet, are connected by heavy straining-rails formed of heavy scrolls. Both settee and stool are upholstered in rich Mortlake tapestry of the age, representing sprays of flowers.

1. Taming of the Shrew, Act II., Scene 1.

2. “The usual manner,” says Percy in his preface to the Northumberland Household Book, “of hanging the rooms in the old castles, was only to cover the naked stone walls with tapestry or arras, hung upon tenter hooks from which they were easily taken down upon every removal.” Afterwards it seems to have been hung on projecting frames leaving a space between it and the wall, affording a convenient hiding-place. It will be remembered that Hamlet killed Polonius behind the arras, where the latter had concealed himself.

3. So called from the town of that name in Flanders.

“Read what is written in the painted cloth
Do no man wron; be good unto the poor
Beware the mouse, the maggot and the moth
And ever have an eye unto the door.”

(Old Tract, 1601).

5. The cushion was in favour at an early date; it is mentioned in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, “Whyssynes upon quelde-poyntes” (1340 c); in the Will of Edward the Black Prince in Nichol’s Royal Wills, “74 curtyns quissyns” (1361); Chaucer’s Troylus, “And down she sett here by hym upon a quysshon gold y-bete” (1229); Isumbras, “Bryn a chayere an a qwyschene” (1400); Wyclif, “Seetis of skynnes ethir cuyschuns” (1388) Wyclif, Ezek iii, “Woo to hem that sewen tegider cusshens” (1382); Mallory, “And there was laid a cusshyn of gold that he should knele upon” (1470–85); and Berners, Arth. Lyt. Bryt., “They set them down on cosshyns of sylke” (1530).

6. Cymbeline, Act II. Scene IV.

7. A heavy ribbed silk.

8. “Taunt him with the license of ink; if thou thou’st him some thrice, it shall not be amiss; and as many lies as will lie in thy sheet of paper, although the sheet were big enough for the bed of Ware in England, set ’em down.”—Twelfth Night, Act III, Scene II.

9. This name occurs as early as 1301.

The culminating period of the long reign of Louis XIV. (1643–1715) was reached at the Treaty of Nimeguen in 1678. From this time forward, France not only dominated Europe by force of arms, but also by her taste and achievements in art. Paris set the fashions for the whole Continent and for the Court of Charles II. across the Channel.

The “Roi magnifique,” now able to indulge every fancy and whim, makes the Palace of Versailles the symbol of the time. Although the architect Mansart began the improvements there in 1661, it was not until 1682 that the residence of the Court was fixed at Versailles. Then it became the expression of pomp, pleasure and magnificence. Magnificent Versailles, with its water-works, its statues, its groves, its gardens, its galleries, its pictures and its furnishings, cost the King a fortune. The furniture alone, not including either pictures or tapestries, amounted to 13,000,000 livres.

66Anxious to exhibit a magnificence unknown since the days of Rome and Byzantium, the “Sun King” conceived the idea of entrusting the designing and manufacture of carpets, tapestries, furniture, plate, etc., etc., to artists of the first rank. His first plan was to gather around him a number of talented men, to each of whom he granted apartments in the Louvre; but he found that it would be well to subject all the various individual works to one guiding spirit and thus to create harmony. Therefore, in 1667, he established the “Manufacture des Gobelins,” with the painter, Le Brun, at its head. This manufactory of the crown became not only famous for the superb tapestry that bears its name, but for cabinet work (ébénisterie), goldsmith work (orfèvrerie), etc., etc., and was the special pride of Louis XIV., who, according to a contemporary:

Among the famous artists and workers employed at the Gobelins, were the ébéniste André Charles Boulle, the goldsmiths Claude Ballin and Delaunay, the painters and decorators Jean Bérain and Jean Lepautre, and the engravers La Barre, Viaucourt, Debonnaire, and Guillaume and Alexandre Loir. Nor must Colbert be forgotten, the great minister of finance who aided the King in founding this important establishment. Le Brun dominated all productions with his taste, which was that of Louis himself,—magnificent, splendid, heroic and pompous. Here were produced not only the furnishings for the homes of the wealthy, but those superb gifts that 67Louis lavished upon the ambassadors from foreign courts.

Massive silver ^[10] furniture, which seems to have originated in Spain, and to have crossed the Pyrenees with Anne of Austria, the daughter of Philip III., became extremely popular at court and with those of Louis’s courtiers who could afford such a luxury. When Charles II. ascended the English throne, and brought with him from France all the styles of Louis XIV., silver furniture was introduced into the country, some of which is still preserved.

Doubtless the richness and beauty of these rare articles developed the taste for carved and gilded wood. Its use was not confined to the wealthy; in comparatively modest dwellings and hôtels the frames of the seats, mirrors, tables, consoles, etc., were carved elaborately and gilded. It is probably owing to this dazzling and glittering effect of gilded wood that has caused critics to refer to the preceding style of Louis XIII. as “sombre.” The luxury and splendours of the court penetrated to the middle classes, who adopted all the styles of the day. It was not long before great changes in interior decorations were sufficiently apparent to attract the notice of contemporary writers. La Bruyère speaks of the preceding reign when copper and pewter had not been supplanted by silver. The enormous and monumental chimney-piece 68which reached to the cornice, a typical example of which is shown in the frontispiece, was banished for the “petite cheminée,” or little chimney-piece. Mirrors now made at the Gobelin manufactory became far more common, having been brought within the reach of many who could not afford the hitherto unrivalled glasses made in Venice. The flags and tiles were now superseded by floors of inlaid woods, or parquetry, and the tapestries and embossed leather that adorned the walls in the preceding period were gradually succeeded by painted and gilt panels. There was a tendency everywhere for lighter hues. This taste had already reached high expression in the Marquise de Rambouillet, who astonished everyone with her “Blue Parlour,” which was decorated and draped in the colour of the sky.

It must not be imagined, however, that tapestry was rejected. The magnificent productions of the Gobelins reproducing in their bold colours the pictures of Le Brun, Van der Meulen, and others, made superb wall-decorations for the homes of the wealthy; and those who did not care for the hunting-scenes, war-scenes, mythological subjects, or allegories, could select Bérain’s fine “arabesques.” We notice, however, some new colours that were extremely popular. These were particularly the yellowish pink hue of dawn, called aurora, flame-colour, flesh-colour, and amaranth, a purplish red such as occurs in the common flowers, Love-lies-bleeding and Prince’s Feather. These colours occur chiefly in the sumptuous brocades and damasks from Lyons, Genoa and Flanders that were used to line the walls, for covering the seats, and draping the great beds.

69The influence of Le Brun cannot be over-estimated. All the industries of the day that had any connection with art passed into his control. For at least twenty-five years, he regulated all the types and models, and was the arbiter and judge of the productions. He furnished designs for painters, sculptors, cabinet-makers, weavers, etc., etc. Let us in confirmation of this turn to the Mercure de France for 1692; “Although I have mentioned,” says the writer, “many works, I have forgotten to speak of those large and superb cabinets that they make at the Gobelins from his designs and under his guidance; it would seem that all the arts have contributed something to them. Finally, M. Le Brun is so universal that all the arts work under him, and he even goes so far as to make designs for the locksmith. I have seen very cultivated strangers gazing at the locks and bolts of the doors and windows at Versailles and the Galerie d’Apollon at the Louvre as if they were chefs-d’œuvre, from whose beauty they could not tear themselves away.”

Colbert’s industrial system was founded upon the idea of useful luxury. Everything in common use had to be beautiful, and the result was that, although the taste was aristocratic, the result upon France was democratic. Silk and velvet, tapestry and rugs, vases of porphyry and porcelain, candelabra and andirons, clocks and articles of silver, rich cabinets and armoires, in fact, all kinds of useful and ornamental articles were soon to be found in middle-class houses as well as in the homes of the wealthy. A great progress was noted in the art of the dyer; the tapestries became brighter, with the famous 70Gobelin scarlet, Lyons black, Rouen blue, Tours green, the Nîmes yellow, etc.

To appreciate the general luxury of the day, let us recall the magnificent entertainment that Fouquet gave to Louis XIV. at the Castle of Vaux, when “he went so far as to cause to be placed in the room of each courtier of the King’s retinue a purse filled with gold to supply at the play those who had not enough, or none at all;” and the still more remarkable lottery that Cardinal Mazarin held in his palace in 1660 (the year before his death), for the benefit of the courtiers. The prizes given on this occasion consisted of precious stones, jewels, textiles, mirrors, tables, cabinets, and other furniture, crystal candelabra, silverware, gloves, ribbons and fans, valued altogether at half a million.

Again, when Louis received the Siamese Ambassador, he was seated on a throne of silver, and his costume was so heavy with gold and jewels that he was soon forced to remove it.

It was an age of jewels. Travellers brought home from the East many precious stones, particularly diamonds; Tavernier, for instance, made six voyages to India and Persia, and brought diamonds to the King. Chardin, merchant to the King, publishes his voyage to Persia. This contact with the East touches popular fancy, and the Persian, the Turk and the Hindu appear in court-ballets, and their art often inspires the art of the day, as may be noted in some of the arabesques of Jean Bérain.

The general impression of the Louis XIV. style is that of imposing majesty,—a style that is more appropriate 71to ceremonial rooms than to familiar living. It is an age of carved and gilded furniture; the period indeed has been called “the triumph of gilded wood.” The carving, however, is entrusted to sculptors who seem to find inspiration in the work of the goldsmiths, for the complicated ornamentation that appears on the frames of chairs sofas, consoles, tables, etc., etc., suggests the chiselling of metal. Dead gold and burnished gold are both used, and the profusion of scrolls, leafy boughs, guilloches, heavy foliage, lozenge-shaped imbrications embossed with flowers in high relief, shells and flowers in high relief, arranged as festoons, garlands, bouquets, and sheaves, not to speak of the acanthus, the mascaron and the cartouche, produce an appearance of luxury and brilliancy that was unknown until the days of Louis XIV.

In the reign of Louis XIV., it was generally understood that every piece of decorative work should consist of a combination of the straight line and the curve. A series of bars interlaced, or ending with scrolls, is a distinguishing characteristic of this period. This combination is found not only in the forms of the furniture, but in the inlays of wood and brass and upon the walls of rooms, both painted and carved.

A feeling of stoutness and width characterizes the mouldings, the hollows of which never refuse to admit light, and these architectural mouldings are usually rich in classic ornaments (palm-leaves, ovolos, etc.). Sometimes the mouldings are replaced by a torus enriched with imbricated laurel-leaves.

The bases and supports of the furniture rest broadly and firmly on the ground. There are broad surfaces and 72few projections of detailed ornamentation that would cast shadows; the colours are bold and brilliant, the cornices resemble Roman capitals, the straining-rails are, as a rule, heavy and rectangular in section, and, with the exception of armoires and beds, the furniture is not high above the floor. Tables are supported by pilasters, or massive columns.

The characteristic ornamentation of the first period of the Louis XIV. style, which was dominated by Lepautre, is Roman or heroic. The motives are, for the most part, such as would appeal to a warrior or hero. We find trophies of antiquity where the cuirass, surmounted by a helmet, is accompanied by swords, and even by the lictor’s fasces, and sometimes they are heaped up in a mass, suggesting the spoils of war,—such as cuirasses, casques with plumes, shields, fasces, laurel wreaths and clubs. The winged Victory is also omnipresent, and Victories blowing trumpets are used. We also find allegorical figures, mythological divinities, river-gods resting on their urns, great cornucopias much heavier and with wider openings than those of Louis XIII., and heavy garlands, or swags, of fruits and leaves, having much longer and fuller leaves than the Louis XIII. style, and these trails of foliage frequently display a wealth of ample scrolls. The acanthus leaf, which is so popular, becomes very broad, even bloated, and all the other leaves in use are now strong and powerful. The mascaron, typical examples of which are seen on Plate XIV., Nos. 1, 2, and 3, the fleur-de-lis, the double L (the King’s cypher) represented on Plate XVI., Nos. 2 and 4, complete, with the cartouche, the characteristic ornamentation. 73Upon the latter are displayed the coats-of-arms, the fleur-de-lis and the double L, as represented on the plate just referred to. The cartouche has a strongly rounded and projecting field, and its form is either circular or oval,—a real ellipse (quite different from the egg-shaped oval of Louis XVI.). There is another peculiar decoration, consisting of a strange combination of the scroll and shell; the anthemion,^[11] treated as a shell (see Plate XV., central ornament on No. 2) and the scroll mingled with the foliage of the acanthus.

The second period of the style Louis Quatorze is especially characterized by Bérain, and is nothing more than an attenuated Louis XIV., which forms a quite natural transition to the style of the Regency.

The swelling curves and the heavy masses of decoration gradually become finer, more delicate and more refined, until at length they merge into the succeeding period.

Another characteristic taste of the day was for the Chinese style. One of the Trianon palaces exhibited in high degree this taste for la chinoiserie in decoration. It was called the palais de porcelaine. Four of its small pavilions were ornamented with plaques of faïence in imitation of porcelain. The interior was painted also in porcelain. 74The walls were covered with mirrors and the furniture was extremely sumptuous. The flowers and shrubs were planted in handsome porcelain pots.

One of the distinctive styles of furniture at this period is that made by André Charles Boulle (also written Boule and Bühl). He was the son of Jean and the nephew of Pierre Boulle, both of whom were “menuisiers du roi” and lived in the Louvre. Our Boulle, born in 1642, also lived in the Louvre from 1672 until his death in 1732, and when Louis XIV. established his manufactory at the Gobelins he was made “ébéniste, ciseleur, et marqueteur ordinaire du Roi.”

Boulle’s furniture is exclusively de luxe, or apparat, and only harmonizes with rich surroundings. It consists almost exclusively of consoles, armoires, commodes, cabinets, tables, desks and clock cases,—forms that present large surfaces for the decoration that he carried to such perfection. His designs are very heavy. Occasionally they take the curved, or bombé forms. This swelling curve is especially found in the commodes tombeaux (tomb-commodes) and commodes à panse (paunch chests).

Boulle’s furniture was an excuse for decoration, which was carried so far that even the joinings of the panels were lost beneath the clever designs of foliage, flower, or scroll. Many pieces still exist that were merely intended for show (apparat). Yet nothing could be richer than Boulle’s work, with its marquetry of exotic woods, its incrustations of tortoise-shell, its threads of copper or pewter beautifully engraved, its scarlet lines and its splendid gilt mascarons, handles, and bas-reliefs that form a sort of frame for the beautiful marquetry-work. Particularly 75handsome are the console-tables, upon whose marble slabs should stand rich vases of goldsmith work, jasper or porphyry, perhaps, with gilt mouldings and garlands; and, when these are reflected back by numerous mirrors, the effect is dazzling.

“No one would refuse to admit,” says Havard, “that the architecture is the least remarkable part of the creations of this celebrated artist. His great merit independently of the perfection of the work of his ébénisterie, must be sought elsewhere. Boulle is a colourist in his art more than a designer. The contours of his furniture are often heavy, and he added nothing new. You may find all the elements in the immense work of Le Brun, the great master of decorative art under Louis XIV. The superiority and the originality of this cabinet-maker consists in the admirable combination of the bronze and the copper with the background of the furniture which he understood how to vary infinitely by the multiplicity of incrustations and mosaics upon the groundwork of oak and chestnut. This was his palette, from which he drew his surprising effects and on which he played with his consummate virtuosity; it is to this that he owes his legitimate renown, greater even in England that it is in France.”

Boulle’s furniture is now highly prized by collectors and brings enormous prices. In 1882, two large armoires by Boulle from the Duke of Hamilton’s collection fetched £12,075 at Christie’s in London. In the famous Jones collection at South Kensington there is an armoire specially noted for its beautiful decoration. Mr. Jones bought it from a house in Carlton Terrace, London, 76for a small sum many years ago, and it is now valued at £10,000. It is supposed to have been designed by Bérain and made by Boulle for Louis XIV.

In looking over the French inventories of Louis XIV.’s time, we frequently come across the description of a bed that belongs to an earlier period. It is not surprising that these old beds, with their magnificent hangings that are sometimes described as much faded, or as lacking some of their decorations, should have been valued and bequeathed from generation to generation. In some of the castles, therefore, the beds were historic. Sometimes they had special names by which they were known. For instance, among the valuable beds owned by the Crown was a bed mi-party of embroidered violet velvet and cloth of gold that was known as “lit d’Angleterre,” because the arms of England were embroidered in the centre of the headboard with the device “Honi soit qui mal y pense.” Another bed was anciently called the “lit des satyres,” because upon its draperies were depicted Diana and her nymphs and satyrs. Another was known as the “lit de Melusine,” because that serpent-princess was represented on the headboard as bathing in a fountain. Such beds, belonging to a former age, were frequently to be met with in luxurious and ancient dwellings; yet we cannot associate them with the days of Louis XIV. Nor was the lit en housse abandoned. It is indeed quite frequently found. Even as late as 1708, M. de Leger’s chamber contains a lit en housse (3½ feet wide and 6 feet long) of violet and white damask trimmed with a mixed silk fringe. The four folding-stools in this room were covered with the same. On Plate XV. 77(No. 1) a transitional bed is shown; this forms a link between the lit en housse of the Louis XIII. period and the lit d’ange of the Louis XIV. period. The latter, also represented on Plate XV., is the characteristic bed of this age, and is the model to be kept in view when reading the descriptions of the beds in the following pages, and the model that should be imitated when arranging a bedroom of this period.

The position of the bed is always “vu de pied,”—standing out in the room.

According to the Dictionnaire de Trévoux, a lit d’ange was a bed without pillars or posts, and whose curtains were looped back. To add to this, other authorities say that the ciel, or canopy, while being the same width as the bed, must not be as long. If it covers the entire bed, then it is a lit à la duchesse, and if it lacks a carved or decorative cornice, then it becomes simply a lit à pavillon. Finally, according to Havard, the true difference between a lit d’ange and a “lit vu de pieds” of to-day is not to be determined by the dimensions of the canopy, nor by the arrangement of the curtains or lambrequins, which are the same, but that the foot of the bed is not simply covered by a long courtepointe, or counterpane, but should have the squares of drapery (cantonnières), hanging from the mattress repeating the form and trimmings of the upper valance and rest of the bed furniture.

An early lit d’ange recorded occurs in Cardinal Mazarin’s inventory, dated 1653, and is described as a lit d’ange of China gauze on a background of flame-coloured silk, with flowers and syrens in gold. The counterpane and six curtains were of this rich material 78adorned with gold fringe. The lit d’ange continued in fashion for about a hundred years. It became as popular as the lit en housse had been; and, if we may believe Des mots à la mode, one of the merits of a courtier in 1692 was to “juger en dernier ressort du grand art de retrousser les rideaux d’un lit d’ange.”

The lit d’ange was sometimes as high as 12 feet; but it was generally 11 feet high, 6 feet wide, and nearly 7 feet long. Single beds were about 6 feet long, 6 feet high, and 3 feet wide. They were evidently comfortable, as the average number of mattresses was three, besides a feather-bed, and the bolster was frequently of down. Pillows never seem to have been used on the bed at all. For instance, the furnishings of Madame de Maintenon’s bed were: two woollen mattresses covered with fustian, one feather-bed, one hair-bolster; and, in addition to the sheets, she had a red blanket, a Marseilles quilt, and a wadded white satin quilt, the reverse being of white taffeta. Over the white Marseilles quilt, the crimson damask counterpane was smoothly drawn, and the valance neatly adjusted. Mademoiselle d’Aumale’s bed had three mattresses and a feather-bed and a feather-bolster. She had two white woollen blankets and a white Marseilles quilt.

The various pieces of the bed were valances (upper and lower), cantonnières (for definition, see note on page 85), straight curtains called bonnes grâces, outside curtains, headboard, canopy, posts, and pommes, or knobs. The four-post bedstead has nearly become extinct, and now the beds have but two posts only at the head. These are almost invariably covered with a kind of 79sheath, or case, made of brocade, silk, or velvet, matching, or contrasting with, the curtains. Taffeta is a favourite material for lining the curtains, and almost every bed is decorated with some kind of braid and fringe, usually gold, or gold and silver mixed. In addition to the beds described in the preceding pages, we may note here other typical beds that would serve as suggestions for the designer of to-day. One is a bed of reddish brown velvet, embroidered with gold, and trimmed with a gold braid and fringe; the valances, headboard, posts, and canopy were of this material, while the three curtains were of a gold, silver, and violet brocade lined with red taffeta. Another was of green and white muslin, trimmed with a woollen braid and fringe of green and white; a third, is a pavilion bed of red and white muslin, trimmed with red and white fringe; and a fourth, a “lit en dome” of striped gauze, the stripes being gold, silver, and flame-colour. The ornamental fringe was a narrow one of gold and silver. The draperies were arranged in seven festoons. The counterpane was also of this striped gauze.

Returning to the lit d’ange, one owned by the King himself is of extraordinary elaborateness, being entirely embroidered on a gold background, with flowers, quivers, cartouches with the arms and cypher of the King, and, moreover, ornamented with gold lace. On the ceiling, there was painted a little picture representing Night; and on the centre of the counterpane, a picture representing Sleep. A heavy gold cord, tied in knots and decorated with tassels, looped back the curtains. The wood at the foot was visible. It was carved in the form 80of two pillars at the foot representing children on eagles, each carrying on his head a perfume-vase. This frame and all the rest of the visible wood was gilded. The detail (No. 2) on Plate XV. represents the base of a less ornate bed and one of a later period than this of the King. Here there is a feeling that anticipates the coming period of the Regency, although the cloven foot, or hind’s foot has long been familiar, and is of frequent occurrence in Boulle’s work. The mascaron, too, above the foot, is not new, nor is the shell, or anthemion ornament, in the centre. The general effect of the curve is what announces the coming style.

Two beds belonging to Louis XIV. were described in 1718 after his death, and as having been made especially for him. One was à la duchesse (demi ciel), and the other was à l’Impériale (the dome surmounted by a crown). The latter must have been very handsome, as it was of yellow damask, embroidered in silver, the design being foliage, leaves, berries, and seeds. The whole bed was finished with a fringe of amaranth chenille. What a charming combination! yellow and silver with a touch of reddish purple!

There were two in Madame de Maintenon’s apartments: one was 5 feet, 10 inches long, and 2 feet, 2 inches wide. This was covered with moquette and furnished with two bolsters and a pavilion of red serge. The other was 3½ feet long and 2½ feet wide. It had a cover of crimson damask and was surmounted by a pavilion of red serge.

81In nearly every room of the period, a lit de repos is found. Two varieties of this piece of furniture are shown on Plate VIII. and on Plate XIII., one having but one back and the other, two. It was always richly upholstered and furnished with a round bolster at each end and sometimes with two square cushions as well. Although frequently called chaise longue, this couch is more generally known in France at this period as lit de repos. Toward the end of the reign of Louis XIV. it was placed in the niche, lengthwise of course. Its covering always agreed with the rest of the furnishings of the room; but sometimes we come across one described by itself; as for example, one in 1671 that had a double back, that is to say, a back at each end, like the one from the Château de Chenonceau on Plate XIII. This was furnished with two round bolsters, two square pillows and two mattresses, all upholstered in a silk brocade of violet, aurora and white, trimmed with a braid of the same colours and a fringe of gold, silver and silk. The wood of the frame was carved and painted violet and white and gold. The slip cover for this beautiful couch was of changeable taffeta, of the hue known as gorge de pigeon.

We may note here that all the sofas, chairs and folding-seats, as well as couches, had separate housses or slip covers that were made as a rule of taffeta. They were used to protect the furniture.

The seats of the period consisted of fauteuils, or arm-chairs, chairs with backs, folding-stools, tabourets, and the sofa, or canapé. It is not necessary to describe the court etiquette regarding the ceremonial use of the seats: 82the details regarding the tabouret would fill a chapter. The fauteuil and the canapé were reserved for the highest in rank; the characteristic fauteuil on Plate XIII. consisting of a stuffed seat, a square back, scroll arms partly upholstered, term legs and heavy straining-rails. Modifications of the frame of this chair appear in No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3 on the same plate. The canapé on Plate XIV. is of the same general form. The frames of the seats, particularly those destined for ball-rooms and other extremely luxurious apartments, were carved and gilt; but many were painted in hues that harmonized with the hangings of the rooms, and picked out with gold, silver, white, or any other required thread of colour. They were always richly upholstered in velvet, damask, brocade or tapestry, as is shown on Plates XIII. and XIV. The materials were fastened to the seats by means of gold or silver-headed nails, as shown in No. 2 and No. 3 on Plate XIII.; and often, too, the nails were above fringe, as shown in the arm-chair on Plate XIII. Sometimes a braid or lace was used to hide the ordinary nails, and sometimes, again, a small lambrequin, or valance surrounded the frame of the seat, nearly reaching to the floor (see Plate XXI., No. 3). The splendid list of chairs at the Château de Turenne in 1700 gives a very excellent idea of the chairs of the day. They include: fauteuils of crimson velvet trimmed with gold braid and gold fringe; of cloth-of-gold; of violet velvet and of green velvet; many folding-stools; chairs covered with serge, violet cloth, moquette, yellow moquette, black leather, yellow leather, cloth-of-gold with designs of crimson velvet, and chairs painted green and yellow and 83upholstered in green. We also learn of six folding-stools covered with white satin, embroidered with Chinese figures and trimmed with gold fringe; three fauteuils and three cushions of Flanders brocatelle,—red, aurora and white; twenty-four folding-stools and twelve square cushions of blue velvet embroidered with gold and silver, and two fauteuils, six folding-seats, two square pillows and tabouret of flesh-coloured and silver brocade.

The fringes used for the chairs, stools and beds were very elaborate, and there was an extremely large number of them, in knots, twists, tassels, tufts, headed by plaited and twisted braids of many kinds and known under many names. So many specimens of these have been preserved that one cannot go astray in upholstering any article in the Louis XIV. style.

Towards the close of this period, a new fauteuil makes its appearance. Its back is arched and slightly curved, and its feet end in a carved leaf. This is one of the first indications of the coming style of Louis XV. This is also felt in the curving chair-back that appears on Plate XIII. (No. 4) and on Plate XVIII. (No. 5).

The legs and feet of the chairs are usually cut in the tapering form with four faces, and ornamented with marquetry, paint or gilding. Many of them have straining-rails that intersect in the form of an X, as is shown on Plate XIII.; and these usually carry at their point of intersection a little ornament such as a steeple, or a rose. Some of them have a carved front rail, and others have a wooden moulding below the seat instead of a fringe. The arms nearly always end in the scrolled 84acanthus, and some of them are padded. Plate XIII. gives several examples.

A piece of furniture that dates from this reign was the Commode, a kind of desk or bureau, containing drawers for the preservation of linen, or clothing or small articles. Its top slab is usually of marble. The Dictionnaire de Trévoux says, in 1771, the name was given to it on account of its great commodity. It seems to have been always a very handsome article. Although Littré speaks of it, in 1760, as a “newly invented piece of furniture,” the Inventaire du Garde Meuble of Versailles, in 1700, shows us that the Duc d’Orléans had a “bureau de commode” of walnut. This was 3 feet, 5 inches long and 25 inches wide. It contained two drawers with iron rings. Among the Meubles de la Couronne, Versailles (1720–1730), there were two “commodes de marqueterie,” of many-coloured flowers on a background of ebony. Upon the top, the ornament was a vase of flowers standing on the end of a column with festoons of flowers, birds, butterflies and two grotesque masques. Six fleurs-de-lis ornamented the corners and the centre of the sides. In front were three large drawers, and the locks and rings were of gilt bronze. These commodes were 4 feet, 2 inches long, 2 feet, 7 inches wide and 2 feet, 8 inches high. Another “commode” is described as veneered with palissandre (violet-wood) with a marble slab. This was bombé in front and contained three drawers, the locks, handles and other ornaments of gilt bronze. Its dimensions were 31 inches high; 3 feet, 8 inches long; and 24 inches wide.

Bérain and Lepautre designed many commodes of 85excessive richness, which even the magnificent examples of Boulle, one of which is given on Plate XIV., did not surpass.

The Duchess of Orleans owned a walnut commode 3 feet, 7 inches long, and 2 feet wide, containing three drawers with iron rings. The Duke had a bureau en commode, 3 feet, 5 inches long, and 25 inches wide, containing two large drawers with iron rings.

Madame de Gaudry (1708) had an oak bureau containing three drawers with iron rings. It was 3 feet, 4 inches long, and 2 feet, 1 inch wide. It was covered with a leather carpet lined with green serge. She also had a pine bureau containing two large drawers with copper rings. This measured 3 feet, 3 inches by 26 inches. A red leather carpet lined with red serge covered it.

Madame de Maintenon owned a veneered walnut bureau inlaid with threads of ebony. It had seven drawers on each side with copper gilt key-plates. This piece was 5 feet long and 2½ feet wide, supported by eight small columns. It was covered with a carpet of red velvet bordered with a narrow gold braid.

The Duchess of Orleans had a walnut table in the form of a bureau with two large drawers. It was 3 feet, 4 inches long and 25 inches wide. There were two covers for it: one of red leather and the other of red damask and gold moiré. Both covers were trimmed with gold braid and gold fringe.

The dressing-table as a separate piece of furniture seems to have been unknown. All the contemporary illustrations of ladies at their toilettes show them seated before a rather low table which is covered with a cloth, 86sweeping the floor, over which is spread another cloth probably of linen or leather. Upon it stand a small mirror and all the vases, pots, cushions, and small articles for paint, patches and perfumes. Sometimes the dressing-table was arranged like the one on Plate XXIII., No. 1, or again a commode, or table with drawers, was placed under a mirror, as shown in No. 3 and Nos. 5 and 8, also on Plate XXIII.

The handsomest tables of the day were of marquetry, ornamented with mascarons, or of carved and gilded wood. Many of them have the hind’s foot, or the term leg, and are connected with straining-rails. However, tables were also made of violet-wood, walnut, pine, cherry, or other woods, with simple turned feet. These were always covered with a carpet, or cloth, that matched the hangings of the room. The card-tables were sometimes three-cornered and sometimes cut into five faces. The guéridon, the shape of which was a stem, bearing a small round top and ending in three feet, was often used for cards. Typical tables are shown on Plates XIII and XVI.

Madame de Maintenon’s tables included two tables of violet wood each 2 feet, 8 inches long, by 2 feet wide. Their covers were black velvet trimmed with gold braid. She also had a little table of cherry, 2 feet, 3 inches long, and 17½ inches wide, with a drawer and compartments. It was inlaid with ebony in a design of lozenges and foliage and stood on four term-shaped pillars. The Duke of Orleans had a walnut table inlaid with ebony. It stood on four twisted legs and contained a drawer. The dimensions were 2 feet, 11 inches long, by 23 inches wide.

87The console is somewhat squarer than that of the former period, and stands frequently with its back against a pier glass. The slab is of marble and sometimes of rich mosaic. The hind’s feet here give place to the termed legs, which are joined by straining-rails. Some of them have eight feet, that is to say, four double feet.

Another form of the console is shown on Plate XVI., No. 1, the leg of which appears also on Plate XVI. as No. 4. This is decorated with the ram’s head, heavy swags of flowers, the cartouche with the double L and the woman’s head. The curved scroll under the slab proclaims the advent of the new style.

Cabinets, desks and armoires were sumptuous. A typical marquetry desk, 3 feet, 10 inches long, and 2 feet, 4 inches wide, inlaid with many coloured woods on a background of ebony, contained seven drawers and a door on which a fleur-de-lis was represented. The drawers were furnished with gilt bronze key-plates. On the top of the desk, the design was a vase of flowers, foliage, birds and butterflies, all surrounded by a border of marquetry between two bands of violet wood and threads of white. Each desk stood on eight termed pillars with capitals and feet of gilt wood.

A marquetry cabinet inlaid with bright flowers on ebony and ornamented with bands of violet-wood and white was composed of two sections, each having three doors with gilt copper locks.

The Duchess of Orleans owned a cabinet of marquetry in two parts, containing three wings and three drawers of marquetry of copper and pewter on ebony, enriched with columns, pilasters, squares, bands and pyramids 88of lapis; in the centre of each of the three wings were masques of men and women in copper-gilt carrying on their heads baskets of flowers and fruits, also copper-gilt. The feet were four consoles; on the two central ones were two children of gilded wood, and on the straining-rail a little child holding a blue shield in a cartouche of gilded wood. The dimensions of the whole were 5 feet, 4 inches long, 18 inches deep, and 4 feet, 3 inches high.

The favourite clock is Boulle’s. It stands on the mantel-piece, or upon a pedestal, or term. The tall clock in the long pedestal-shaped box was also in use.

Some of the frames of the clocks follow the designs shown on Plate XVII., Nos. 2 and 3.

The pedestal that Boulle makes for his clocks have almost an architectural form; they are like a kind of small pavilion, at the top of which is the dial. The legs are most frequently formed by a scroll of foliage terminating in a clawed paw. The subject on top is usually Time with his scythe, or some mythological symbol.

On Plate XVI., No. 3, is shown a portion of a console d’applique of carved wood painted in gray céladon, dating from the end of the Louis XIV. period, the two scroll feet joined by a stretcher, the side supports swelling into the bust and head, the front curved rail having in the centre a cartouche with a woman’s head enclosed with the skeleton C (a broken scroll freely used later), and the acanthus. The head at the side supports is adorned with plumes and flowers.

The screen is met with in nearly every room. Sometimes 89it consists of several leaves, and again it is in the form shown on Plate XVII. Sometimes the tapestry, or the leather, or damask, or whatever material is used for the covering, is garnished with gold braid and fringe, or it is tacked to the frame by means of gold nails, as shown in the above example.

The mirror is far more generally used than in the former reign. It is seen in every home and in every room. Its frame is carved and gilded and in a variety of designs. A characteristic example is shown on Plate XIII.

We may know what furniture was considered necessary for a room by the following information from inventories between 1675 and 1700: One set of furniture consisted of a bed, four fauteuils, twenty-eight folding-stools, a screen and a table-carpet of embroidery on a gold background depicting the history of Moses.

Another set consisted of a bed, three fauteuils, eight folding-stools, two table-carpets, two cushions, a screen, a daïs and wall-hangings. The material for these decorations was velvet branches of bright amaranth on a silver background, combined with another material of cloth-of-silver with little flowers of amaranth. The bed, which was 6½ feet long and 7½ feet high, comprised three valances, four curtains, four cantonnières^[12] and three lower 90valances, all of the velvet; while the three outside valances, the sheaths for the two bed-posts, and the couverture de parade, and the linings of the curtains, were of the cloth of silver with amaranth flowers. The whole bed was trimmed with gold and silver braid, and on the top of the canopy were four pommes with bunches of mixed feathers, probably white and amaranth.

Another set of furniture was of red satin and white taffeta in squares, and ornamented with gold braid and gold fringe. The pieces comprised a bed, three fauteuils, twelve folding-stools, a table-carpet, a screen and a square cushion. The bed was 7 feet high and 6 feet wide; its three valances, four cantonnières and three lower valances were of the red and white taffeta embroidered with gold, while its four curtains, head-board, interior hangings and two posts were covered with gold brocade.

We also learn of a set comprising a bed, three fauteuils, six chairs with backs, twelve folding-stools, a daïs and a chaise de commodité of blue velvet, ornamented with gold and silver braid and fringe.

Another set was of white damask trimmed with fringes of gold, silver and green silk; another was of white damask and gold; and another set consisting of a bed, eleven folding-seats and four fauteuils, was of Spanish leather, cut out, embroidered and edged with black, and laid on blue damask. The carpet for the table and the two square cushions were of the same.

In many rooms of the day, the alcove occurs. It was introduced from Spain, and took its name from the Spanish 91alcoba and the Arabic Al Koba, the tent, or the place where one sleeps, or rests. It was made fashionable by its appearance in the Hôtel de Rambouillet, and, of course, the home of every Précieuse had to have one. Fouquet had rooms with alcoves at his Château de Vaux and when “La grande Mademoiselle” took refuge at her Château de Saint-Fargeau, during the troubles of La Fronde, she at once conformed to the taste of the day. “On the very day” (of her arrival) she writes: “I wished to change the chimney-pieces and doors and to make an alcove.”

The alcove became so fashionable that it soon supplanted the ruelle; and the “coureurs de ruelles” were known thenceforward as “coquets d’alcôvistes.”

But what they called alcove in the Seventeenth was not what they called alcove in the Eighteenth Century. At first, it was a part of the room set apart from the rest by a railing or some columns of architectural pretensions. In 1684, in the État du mobilier de la couronne there is mentioned an alcove balustrade of chiselled silver of fabulous price.

The alcove was in reality a little room within a large room and here the bed and chairs for guests were placed.

Fouquet had an alcove hung with crimson satin enriched with gold embroidery. At President Tubeuf’s the hangings of the alcove were ornamented with bands of black velvet alternating with bands of English tapestry. Molière’s was hung with red taffeta garnished with fringe and tassels of aurora silk.

92Madame de Maintenon’s apartments at Versailles, in 1708, consisted of the first antechamber, the second antechamber, the chamber, the “garde-robe” behind the bed, the “grand cabinet upon the arcade,” and “garde-robe en suite.”

The walls of the first antechamber were hung with red damask of small pattern trimmed with Venetian brocatelle of white background ornamented with red and green branches and flowers of various colours. These same materials filled the space over the chimney-piece. Twelve chairs with backs of turned walnut wood were covered with tapestry on which birds figured. The couch was covered with the same material and was furnished with a pavilion of red serge. A small table was covered by a green cloth trimmed with green silk fringe. The window curtain was white cotton.

The second antechamber was hung with crimson damask, ornamented with gold braid and gold fringe. The portières of the same, and lined with red taffeta, were 2½ ells long, and comprised four lengths each. The seats were six fauteuils, six large folding-stools and two small folding-stools. The frames were painted red picked out with gold. The two little stools were upholstered in red velvet garnished with gold and silver fringe. The other seats were covered with red damask, ornamented with gold fringe. The couch in this room was covered with crimson damask, trimmed with gold braid and fringe, and overhung by a pavilion of red serge. A pine desk was covered with a piece of red damask, trimmed with gold braid and fringe. The one window 93curtain consisted of four lengths of red taffeta (3 ells long), bordered with a narrow gold braid.

The chamber was hung with twenty-five lengths of gold and green damask, and twenty-four lengths of crimson damask of a large pattern (the length being 2½ ells). These hangings were trimmed all around and on the seams with gold braid. The bed was composed of three outside valances, two bonnes grâces, two cantonnières, three valances on the frame of the bed, three valances on the courtepointe, and four pommes. All the interior hangings were gold and green, and all the outside ones were of crimson damask. The courtepointe was crimson damask. These draperies were ornamented with a wide gold braid and gold fringe. The pommes supported four bunches of white feathers with aigrettes. The three window curtains, each 11 feet long, contained three lengths each of crimson taffeta, trimmed with gold fringe. There were other hangings in this room: two portières, two alcove curtains, and the interior draperies of the niche. The portières were made of two lengths of gold and green damask and one of red damask, trimmed with gold braid. One was lined with red taffeta, the other with green taffeta. The two alcove curtains ^[13] were 3¼ ells long, each one being made of two lengths of gold and green damask, and two lengths of crimson damask. This large room contained three fauteuils, twelve folding-stools, four lounges, a lit de repos, a chaise d’affaires of crimson velvet, two tables, two little marquetry desks, a screen, a writing-table, mirror and chandelier. The 94seats were all covered with red damask, bordered by a band of gold and green damask, and finished with a narrow gold braid and fringe. The lit de repos, 6 feet long by 2 feet, 4 inches wide, was covered with the same damasks as well as its four pillows. The latter were finished with gold braid, fringe, and tassels at each corner. Another lit de repos stood in the niche. The tables 4 feet long by 4 feet, 4 inches wide, were of pine with walnut feet. Their covers were made of the two damasks already described (mi-party), the top being of red velvet. These cloths were nailed to the table, and trailed on the floor. They were ornamented with gold braid and fringe. The screen consisted of five leaves 3½ feet high. Three of its leaves were of gold and green damask, and two of red damask. Gold braid brightened it. The writing-table was of violet-wood, 4 feet, 8 inches long by 20 inches wide. Over it was a green velvet cover, edged with gold. The little desks of marqueterie d’étain were probably Boulle’s. They were 2 feet 9½ inches long, and 1 foot 9 inches wide. Each one contained four drawers and a door in the front, behind which were three interior drawers, and stood upon eight termed pillars of marquetry the capitals and bases of which were of silvered wood. The feet were pineapples silvered. These were covered with a carpet of green taffetas, lined with serge.

The niche ^[14] was of oak 5 feet, 10 inches long by 2 feet, 10 inches wide and 8½ feet high. It was hung inside 95with four lengths of red damask and three lengths of the gold and green damask already described, the seams being covered with narrow gold braid. The outside was hung with three lengths of gold and green damask and two lengths of red damask, the seams hidden by gold braid.

The lit de repos placed lengthwise in the niche was 5½ feet long and 2½ feet wide, therefore nearly filling up the niche. It was covered with a square of green taffeta, to which were attached three valances of gold and green damask ornamented with gold braid and fringe. The two pillows and bolsters were covered with the same damask, ornamented with gold braid, fringe and tassels. A coverlet, crimson satin on one side and green satin on the other, was invitingly ready for the lounger.

The Garde-robe behind the bed was hung with crimson damask of a small pattern, trimmed with gold braid. The portière was of the same. Here stood a tabouret covered with red velvet ornamented with gold and silver fringe.

The hangings of the Grand Cabinet on the Arcade consisted of thirty-one lengths of gold brocade with flowers in gold thread, and thirty-one lengths of red damask of small design. The length was 2¼ ells. This was also used to decorate the space over the chimney. The frames of the seats were painted red picked out with gold. These comprised a fauteuil and eight tabourets covered with crimson velvet ornamented with gold braid and fringe, two small and twelve large folding-stools covered with crimson damask. In this room stood also a 96large sofa with two backs of gilded wood, known in that day as canapé à cremaillères (sofa with adjustable back). It was furnished with a mattress, covered on both sides with crimson velvet ornamented with gold braid, and valances of red velvet ornamented with gold braid and fringe. Its two round bolsters and two square pillows were similarly covered and decorated with gold tassels. The dimensions of this species of lit de repos were 7 feet, 2 inches long and 2½ feet wide. The window curtains were of red taffeta. Red taffeta was also used to line a handsome armoire here (7 feet, 9 inches high, 5 feet wide, and 3 feet, 2 inches deep) in which there were two shelves also draped with the said taffeta. The top of the armoire and the spaces over the doors were also covered with crimson taffeta. The two mirrors and the chandelier were supplied with cords and tassels of gold. In this sumptuous room were three superb pieces of marquetry—two desks and a cabinet—a walnut bureau, and about ten tables, most of which were card tables of various kinds; and one, a little walnut table used for meals in bed.

The Garde-robe en suite had a window curtain of white cotton and a small curtain of white taffeta. It contained a small upholstered bed, with a pavilion of red serge. The two small folding-seats, the frames of which were painted red picked out with gold, were covered with red velvet trimmed with a narrow gold braid.

Mademoiselle d’Aumale’s chamber at Versailles (1708) contained both a bed and a lit de repos, besides two fauteuils, five folding-seats, a small chair, a screen, two tables, the lower part of an armoire and a bureau. 97The bed 6 feet long, 3 feet wide, and 6 feet, 3 inches high, was hung with crimson and white damask of small pattern, and trimmed with a braid and fringe of red, white, and black silk. One fauteuil and the five folding-stools, the frames of which were painted red picked out with white, were covered with the same crimson and white damask, and the same fringe as the bed. The same fringe decorated a small chair with a back that was covered with red damask. The other fauteuil was covered with red linen. Its frame was painted green picked out with gold. The lit de repos was upholstered in crimson damask; two of its pillows were of the same, and two of red velvet, trimmed with gold braid. The window curtains were of white damask, trimmed with a braid and fringe of gold and silver. The screen, 3 feet 2 inches high, was of four leaves, and was covered with red velvet, trimmed with gold and silver braid. One of the tables, 3 feet, 3 inches long by 2 feet wide, was of beech, and was covered with a carpet of red London serge falling to the floor on all sides, the other was a walnut table, 25 inches by 18 inches, with a folding leg. The lower part of the armoire was also covered with a cloth of red London serge. The bureau was of marquetry of cherry-wood, inlaid with green ebony in foliage design. It had compartments, four drawers, and a door, and stood on eight legs of term-shaped pillars of the same marquetry, the bases and capitals being of gilded wood. This piece of furniture was 2 feet 9 inches long, and 1 foot 9 inches wide.

The cabinet of Madame la Maréchale de Rochefort (1708) contained a lit de repos, a fauteuil, four chairs 98with backs, two banquettes, and a table. The lounge with its two round bolsters and two square pillows, and the chairs were covered with aurora-coloured and blue damask, trimmed with gold and silver braid, the wood painted red picked out with aurora. The window curtains, each containing six lengths (2⅓ ells each) were of white damask, trimmed with a braid of gold and silver, and there were also two small curtains of white taffetas, and a portière of Venetian brocatelle of blue background with flowers of aurora, white, and black, lined with aurora-coloured serge. The table, 2 feet 7 inches long by 23 inches wide, was of violet wood, inlaid with ebony and white wood. It contained a drawer, and was supported on four termed pillars with gilt bases and capitals.

The chamber of Mlle. Gaudry (1708) had in it a bed, a fauteuil de commodité, five folding-seats, and two bureaux. The bed, composed of three outside hangings, three large curtains, two bonnes grâces, valances, and pommes, was draped in crimson Lyons damask, trimmed with a braid of aurora-coloured silk. The seats were upholstered in red velvet, trimmed with red and aurora-coloured silk. One of the bureaux was covered with a carpet of red leather, lined with red serge; the leather carpet of the other was lined with green serge.

The apartments of the Duke of Orleans at Versailles in 1708 consisted of an antechamber, a chamber, a cabinet and a garde-robe beside the chamber.

The antechamber was hung with gold leather on a red background, the designs representing branches and masques of gold, and children and birds in natural hues. 99An eight-leaved screen, seven feet high, a form covered with red moquette and the lower part of an armoire furnished this room.

The chamber contained a bed, four fauteuils, three chairs with backs, six folding-stools, two screens, a table, a bureau en commode, two guéridons, a fauteuil de commodité and six tabourets. The window-curtains were of white damask, trimmed with gold fringe, but the room was hung with red velvet of a design of small branches, trimmed with gold braid. The portières, lined with taffeta, were also of this material. The outside draperies of the bed, which was 6½ feet long, 6 feet, 3 inches wide and 10 feet, 10 inches high, were of the same red velvet, trimmed with gold braid and fringe, but the inside curtains, headboard, etc., were of gold watered silk. In the centre of the headboard was a cypher and a fleur-de-lis. The canopy was decorated with four red velvet pommes, upon each of which was a bunch of white feathers. The frames of all the seats were painted red picked out with gold. One of the screens had a gilded frame and was covered with red velvet; the other, covered with red damask with a design of crowns and gold and silver flowers, ornamented with gold braid and a double fringe of gold and silver, was supported by a stem of gilded wood on three console feet. The bureau en commode was of walnut, as was also the small table. The latter was inlaid with ebony, contained a drawer and stood on four twisted columns. This had two table carpets, one of red velvet, lined with taffeta and trimmed with gold braid and gold fringe trailing over the floor; the other, of leather, lined with serge and trimmed with gold braid. The bureau en 100commode had two large drawers with iron rings. The two tables were of black Chinese lacquer ornamented with gold. They were each 3 feet, 5 inches high, the leg of each resting on three women’s heads of gilt bronze. The fauteuil de commodité was of crimson damask, trimmed with gold and silver fringe, and its frame painted red picked out with gold. The wood of the six tabourets was also red picked out with gold, the legs being term-shaped. These were covered with red damask, having a design of crowns and gold and silver flowers.

The cabinet contained a lit de repos, four fauteuils and four folding-stools, all upholstered in red velvet ornamented with gold braid and gold fringe. The window curtains were of white damask, trimmed with gold fringe. In this room were also two bureaux of marquetry, and a small walnut table, 27 inches long by 17 wide, standing on four turned pillars. The cover for this was green serge bordered with an aurora-coloured braid.

Having seen the apartments of the Duke of Orleans at Versailles, let us look at those of the Duchess there in the same year (1708). The antechamber was rich with a “set of tapestry hangings,”—gilt leather on a white background; and here were also represented festoons of fruits and garlands of flowers in red, green and gold. It was, moreover, enriched with figures of Bacchus, women, children, harpies and gold birds.

The entire room was hung with this (18⅓ ells being required to cover the walls, and 3½ ells were required for the space above the mantel). The furniture included an eight-leaved screen 7 feet high, two forms covered with red flowered moquette, a folding-stool 101with painted red frame and covered with red linen, and a couch.

The chamber was furnished with a bed, four fauteuils, four chairs with backs, six folding-seats, twelve tabourets, a bureau-table, two tables and a screen. The bed was superb. It was 6 feet wide, 6 feet, 9 inches long and 11 feet high. It was mi-party (i. e., divided half and half), of red damask and gold moiré, lined with white moiré and trimmed on the seams and all around the base and top of both valances and curtains with gold braid and gold fringe. The three outside top valances, three lower valances, two bonnes grâces, two cantonnières and four curtains were of the red and gold moiré; the headboard, four interior valances, courtepointe and sheaths of the bed-posts were of silver moiré; the four pommes of red damask and gold moiré carried bunches of white feathers with aigrettes. The fauteuils, chairs and folding-seats were of gilded wood, covered with gold moiré, trimmed with a band of crimson damask, edged with gold braid and gold fringe. The frames of the tabourets were painted red; the covers were red velvet, trimmed with red silk braid. There were two covers for the walnut bureau-table: one of red damask and gold moiré, trimmed with gold braid and fringe; the other of red leather, lined with taffeta and trimmed with a gold braid and gold fringe. The frame of the screen was gilded wood. It was covered with red damask, ornamented with narrow gold braid. The windows were draped in white damask, trimmed with gold fringe. Each curtain was 4⅓ ells long and contained six lengths of material. The cord for the chandelier was of gold and silver and red silk.

102The cabine, or little chamber, had similar curtains at the windows. Four fauteuils, four chairs with backs and ten folding-stools were covered with green velvet, trimmed with gold braid and fringe, the frames being painted green, picked out with gold. There was also a small folding-stool, the frame of which was painted red, and the seat of red velvet trimmed with gold and silver fringe. In this room stood a walnut commode, a card-table and a large marquetry cabinet.

The prevalence of the fashionable hue of aurora is to be noted at Val. The Salon was hung in Venetian brocatelle, aurora-coloured background with trailing branches of blue. The space over the chimney-piece was also adorned with this rich textile, although the spaces over the four doors were covered with aurora taffeta. The nine tabourets in this room were upholstered with the rich Venetian brocatelle and trimmed with a silk fringe of aurora and blue. The frames were painted blue picked out with gold. The stools had also coverings of aurora taffeta.

The King’s Chamber was furnished in aurora and white damask, containing the bed and customary seats. The portières were lined with aurora taffeta and trimmed with a braid and fringe of gold and silver.

The King’s Cabinet contained a lit de repos, six folding-stools, and two square pillows. These were covered to match the draperies in a rich damask of aurora-coloured flowers on a blue background. The lit de repos was somewhat unusual, as over it hung a kind of pavilion. The mattresses, bolsters and pillows were upholstered with the damask just described, but the pavilion was 103hung with a striped material of aurora, white, blue and black arranged in three little curtains looped over a large curtain which fell to the floor, but which was looped back. The drapery was trimmed with a braid and fringe of gold and silver.

The Passage was draped in a blue silk damask with white woollen flowers trimmed with a blue silk Flanders brocatelle with aurora and white flowers.

In the Guard-room, the hangings were of red Flanders brocatelle with woollen flowers of aurora and white, the borders of the hangings being green brocaded with branches of aurora and white. There were six forms in this room, covered with moquette of various colours edged with braid and fastened to the frames with gold-headed nails.

The Square room was draped in green Genoa damask, which was also used for the portières, lined with green taffeta, and the twelve tabourets. The frames of the latter were painted green picked out with gold.

In the Oval room, the hangings were of Venetian brocatelle with aurora background upon which large green bunches were outlined with white. There were four lounges in this room and eight oval tabourets. The frames of the latter were painted green picked out with gold. They were trimmed with gold fringe.

The Round room was adorned with a similar brocatelle, but the branches on the aurora-coloured background were red outlined in white. The four lounges here were 4½ feet long, and their frames were painted red picked out with gold.

The Octagon room was hung in crimson damask 104from Genoa. The seats were eight octagonal tabourets, painted red picked out with gold, and covered with crimson damask nailed to the wood.

In 1675, a little cabinet at Val was furnished with a lit de repos with one back, two chairs, two fauteuils and two tabourets. These were all covered to match the hangings with a brocade of gold and silver on a green satin background and trimmed with gold and silver fringe. There was a curtain of green taffeta and a curtain of white taffeta, and there were slip covers of green taffeta for all the seats. The entire furnishings were given by the King to Madame la Princesse de Conty.

The Salon (Plate XII.) is of fine proportions and gives an idea of the rich frame required for the kind of furniture we have been describing. The doors with two wings are of great importance. Their panels may be decorated with carved motives, or cartouches. The ornaments may be painted, if preferred. The chimney-piece is rarely of white marble: red marble, green marble and breccia were the kinds most frequently employed in Louis XIV.’s time. The slabs of the tables and consoles should be of the same, unless they are of mosaic. Upon the chimney-piece, a Boulle clock, or one with a carved and gilded, or bronze frame, may stand. The candelabra, on either side, containing several arms, are carved and gilt. Andirons in the form of chimæra complete the furnishings of the chimney-piece, where a wood fire should blaze.

Torchères should also be placed in the corners of the room, whose branching arms help to illuminate and decorate the room. The chandelier, in the centre of the 105room, is crystal and gilt bronze. The walls are arranged in panels for the reception of tapestry, or hangings of some rich nature. The mouldings surrounding the materials are often carved and covered with dull, or burnished gold. The hangings are frequently pictures of tapestry, as shown in Plate XII., or they are of damask, brocade, velvet, or silk. The wall space below the hangings should be wainscotted; it must never, however, attract attention.

Over the chimney-piece a mirror is placed; and directly opposite is another mirror of similar frame. Beneath the latter, a console may stand.

The floor is of parquetry, and in winter is covered with a large Persian or Smyrna rug, or it may have a velvet Aubusson or Savonnerie rug of sober colour, so as not to detract from the hangings.

The ceiling is usually made into caissons, or compartments, painted to harmonize with the draperies. Sometimes, however, these are painted white and gold, a deep oak, aurora, or a lilac grey. The window curtains match the hangings; sometimes they are of tapestry, sometimes of brocade, or damask, or silk, and beneath these heavy curtains white curtains of muslin or silk are hung. In the evening, the heavy curtains are always drawn. They are rarely suspended below a cornice. Sometimes the silk or brocade curtains are trimmed with braid and fringe, and sometimes with a wide border of silk or velvet forming a kind of frame all around the hanging. If portières are used they are usually like the rest of the draperies. If lambrequins are used, they are cut and arranged in the shapes shown on Plate XIX, No. 1 and No. 4.

10. 106Metal furniture, however, was known to the ancients. To quote a single example, in the palace of King Ahasuerus, “the beds were of gold and silver upon a pavement of red and blue and white and black marble.” The Assyrian furniture was of gold, silver, and bronze, and splendid furniture of gold, silver, and bronze, likewise adorned the Egyptian and Roman palaces and villas. The Romans d’aventure of the Middle Ages contain descriptions of such rich furniture, inspired by Oriental luxury.

11. In the anthemion, the springing point is the base, and the units arrange themselves on either side of a central member, and form a bi-symmetrical figure. This anthemion type of form is met with in almost every style and period of art. The anthemion is sometimes called the honeysuckle pattern. It is an old dogma that the decorative form was suggested by this plant; but its more or less remote resemblance to the buds of the honeysuckle is accidental, not incidental; and the charm, both in nature and in art, is the inherent beauty of a mass of radiating and upspringing forms, instinct with the suggestion of vitality and growth. Hulme, The Birth and Development of Ornament. London, 1893.

12. “A cantonnière is a piece of material almost always of Gobelin or Aubusson tapestry, which, hanging flat in the manner of a lambrequin, has two hangings or tails falling down the sides and forming a kind of frame for the curtains beneath. Sometimes these two hangings are held back by hooks which give the effect of curtains; cantonnières for the decoration of beds are also made. The richness, the delicacy and the good design of tapestry can give much value to this kind of decoration. The narrow curtains of less fullness that are called bonnes grâces are an imitation of the cantonnières, an imitation that is demanded by economy rather than the principles of decoration.” Deville, Dictionnaire du Tapissier, Paris, 1878–1880.

13. In 1726, these curtains were used to upholster some furniture for the Queen’s apartments at St. Cyr.

14. All of the draperies of this niche, like the alcove curtains already described, were used in 1726 to cover a chair, a lit de repos and four folding-seats as well as three portières for the Queen’s apartment at St. Cyr.

The Queen Anne period is interesting on account of the favour in which it has been held of late years, particularly by a class that knows nothing at all about it. Queen Anne furniture, Queen Anne silver, Queen Anne cottages have been in great demand, in England particularly. When, however, the student asks the Queen Anne devotee for a list of objects that may fitly be included in an interior of that style, he usually meets with a bewildering jumble. Charles II. oak-framed cane chairs jostle others with cabriole legs and jar-shaped splats made of mahogany; marquetry escritoires, spindle-legged walnut tables, Frisian clocks, brass fenders, steel fire-irons and four-posted bedsteads are all brought together to produce the proper contemporary flavour. The result is certainly unsatisfactory for the searcher after truth.

Looking only at the manifest transitional features of the beginning and end of this short period, some scoffers 110have even gone so far as to deny that there is any Queen Anne style at all, but this is an extreme and unjustifiable view. The Queen Anne period, short as it was, possessed special characteristics.

First let us recall the dates. The easy-going lady who succeeded Dutch William occupied the throne for only twelve years, dying in 1714,—one year before Louis XIV. At this date, therefore, we are on the threshold of the Regency, the characteristics of which in decorative art are already established. For the beginnings of the Queen Anne style, moreover, we must revert to a date prior to her actual succession. This date is 1690, when the Glorious Revolution placed the Prince of Orange on the throne of England. William used England as a weapon of defence of the Netherlands against the aggression of Louis XIV., and on her accession Anne carried on his policy. England, therefore, from 1690 to the fall of Marlborough in 1711, might almost be regarded as a Dutch province. Considering the close dynastic, political, mercantile and religious ties between the two countries, it would be strange if Dutch taste did not predominate in England. It was a Dutch taste, however, tempered with French art. The French forced the highest development of the Louis XIV. style on England and the Low Countries by the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685. In consequence of that edict, many thousands of the best workmen in the French arts and crafts were forced to go into exile, taking refuge in England, Germany and Holland. There they were welcomed by their co-religionists, and their labours had a great and immediate influence on the native styles. 111The artist who exerted the greatest influence in forming the Queen Anne style was Daniel Marot, who left France in 1686 and went to Holland. There he found immediate employment in the service of the Stadtholder, and when the latter became King of England in 1690, he appointed Marot his chief architect and master of works. Till his death in about 1718, Marot designed the interior decorations and furniture for many mansions and palaces in England and Holland. The names of many joiners, carvers and goldsmiths (who at that day designed many minor pieces of furniture) are to be found in the lists of Huguenot refugees in London. In that city, French artists and designers found ready employment. Among others we find J. B. Monnoyer (Baptiste), who died in London in 1699. Samuel Gribelin also found much encouragement in England. He had published three books of ornamental design before 1700. Thus, what the French call “le style refugié,” crossed the Channel.

Traffic with the Far East, however, was probably a more important factor in the formation of the Queen Anne style than any other influence. The Oriental taste had reached Amsterdam and London before Paris felt it. Throughout the Seventeenth Century, the English and Dutch East Indiamen poured porcelain, lacquer, and other products of Oriental art into their respective capitals, and even the bitter trade rivalry between the two did not arouse the French from their indifference till the arrival of the Siamese embassy in 1690. Long before this, however, Mazarin had tried to bring Oriental goods into favour. The daughter of Gaston d’Orléans, 112La Grande Mademoiselle, notes in her diary (1658), that the Cardinal “took the two queens (Anne of Austria and Henrietta, wife of Charles I. of England), the princess (Henrietta’s daughter) and myself, into a gallery that was full of all imaginable kinds of stone-work, jewelry, and all the beautiful things that came from China, crystal chandeliers, mirrors, tables, cabinets of all kinds, silver plate, etc.” All these Oriental wares were given away by the magnificent Cardinal in a lottery in which every guest drew a prize.

Twenty-five years later, the same adventurous lady who wrote the above had a quarrel with her unrecognized husband, the Comte de Lauzan. To patch up peace, he sent her from England a cargo of Chinese wares.

Before the port L’Orient gained its name by its trade with that quarter of the world, Paris received its Chinese and Indian goods chiefly through London. Consignments from the distant Jesuit missions to their headquarters were largely instrumental in bringing Eastern art to the notice of the public. There is an entry in Evelyn’s Diary (March 22, 1664):

“One Tomson, a Jesuite shewed me such a collection of rarities, sent from ye Jesuites of Japan and China to their order at Paris, as a present to be received in their repository, but brought to London by the East India ships for them, as in my life I had not seen. The chiefe things were rhinoceros’s horns; glorious vests wrought and embroidered on cloth-of-gold, but with such lively colours, that for splendour and vividness we have nothing in Europe that approaches it ... fanns like those our ladies use, but much larger, and with long handles 113curiously carved and filled with Chinese characters; a sort of paper very broad, thin and fine like abortive parchment, and exquisitely polished, of an amber yellow, exceedingly glorious and pretty to looke on; several other sorts of paper, some written, other printed; prints of landskips, their idols, saints, pagods, of most ugly serpentine monstrous and hideous shapes, to which they paid devotion; pictures of men and countries rarely printed on a sort of gum’d calico transparent as glasse; flowers, trees, beasts, birds, etc., excellently wrought in a sort of sleve silk very naturall.”

In England, porcelain had been a comparatively rare luxury confined to the tables and closets of rich collectors until about 1630. Cromwell laid a heavy duty on it. China-shops under the Restoration became one of the favourite lounging-places of fops and curiosity hunters, and the appointments made there caused them to fall into bad repute. Later, emporiums of Oriental wares were known as India houses. Queen Mary while only the Princess of Orange in Holland, had developed quite a craze for porcelain and Indian goods of all kinds. When she became Queen of England, Sir Christopher Wren designed cabinets and shelves for her china in Hampton Court Palace.

Lord Nottingham in his news-letter descriptive of Queen Mary’s movements (1689) says: “Her majesty being disappointed of her second play, amused herself with other diversions. She dined at Mrs. Graden’s, the famous woman in the hall, that sells fine ribbons and headdresses. From thence she went to Mrs. Ferguson’s to de Vetts and other Indian houses.”

114With such tastes in high places, it is not astonishing to find a popular furore for China and everything Oriental, spurious and real. This Chinese taste affected everything in architecture and interior decoration.

With regard to architecture, the ill-understood Gothic had fallen into very bad odour. John Evelyn’s opinion of it (1697) is worth quoting. He says: “A certain fantastical and licencious manner of building which we have since called Modern (or Gothic rather) congestions of heavy, dark, melancholy and monkish piles without any just proportion, use or beauty.... So when we meet with the greatest industry and expensive carving, full of fret and lamentable Imagery a judicious spectator is distracted and quite confounded.... Not that there is not something of solid and odly artificial too, after a sort; but then the universal and unreasonable thickness of the walls, clumsy buttresses, towers, sharp-pointed arches, doors and other apertures without proportion; nonsense insertions of various marbles impertinently placed; turrets and pinnacles thickset with Munkies and chimæras and abundance of busy work and other incongruities dissipate and break the angles of the sight and so confound it that one cannot consider it with any steadiness.... Vast and gigantic buildings indeed but not worthy the name of architecture.”

Domestic architecture, however, was undergoing considerable changes under the new influences. These changes were in the direction of comfort and cosiness, to the sacrifice of grandeur and magnificence. Of course, novelty aroused opposition. Evelyn (1697) protests:

“As certain great masters invented certain new corbels, 115scrolls and modilions, which were brought into use; so their followers animated by their example (but with much less judgment) have presumed to introduce sundry baubles and trifling decorations (as they fancy) in their works.... And therefore, tho’ such devices and inventions may seem pretty in cabinet-work, tables, frames and other joyners-work for variety, to place china dishes upon; one would by no means encourage or admit them in great and noble buildings.”

The changes in domestic architecture are noticed by Du Bois, who issued a new and sumptuous edition of Palladio (the plates engraved by Picart) in 1715. Among other things he says:

“We see so many bungled houses and so oddly contrived that they seem to have been made only to be admired by ignorant men and to raise the laughter of those who are sensible of such imperfections. Most of them are like bird cages, by reason of the largeness and too great number of windows; or like prisons, because of the darkness of the rooms, passages and stairs. Some want the most essential part, I mean the Entablature or cornice; and though it be the best fence against the injuries of the weather, it is left out to save charges. In some other houses, the rooms are so small and strait, that one knows not where to place the most necessary furniture. Others, through the oddness of some new and insignificant ornaments, seem to exceed the wildest Gothic. It were an endless thing to enumerate all the absurdities which many of our builders introduce every day into their way of building.”

The changes in interior decoration that contributed 116to form the Queen Anne style were largely due to the requirements of the effective display and preservation of porcelain. The chimney-piece, especially, was affected. As early as 1691, D’Aviler says in his book on architecture: “The height of the cornice (of the chimney-pieces) should be raised six feet in order that the vases with which they are ornamented may not be knocked down.”

A glance through Marot’s book of designs will show a most lavish use of china as an integral part of interior decoration. He piles up his chimney-pieces with tier on tier on shelves loaded with porcelain of all shapes and sizes, arranged, however, with an eye to symmetry. Brackets up the walls, in the corners, and between the panels, all along the cornice, and over the door are loaded with cups, bowls, and vases. The panels themselves are sometimes painted with Chinese subjects, or covered with real Oriental painted or embroidered fabrics. A glance at Plate XVIII., the walls and chimney-piece of which are reproduced closely from one of Marot’s designs, will show one of the more formal Queen Anne rooms, properly decorated in accordance with the taste of the day. This is a modest specimen of this style of decoration. One of Marot’s plates shows more than 300 pieces of china on the chimney-piece alone. The china craze was rapidly increasing. Addison writes: “An old lady of fourscore shall be so busy in cleaning an Indian mandarin as her great-grand-daughter is in dressing her baby.” In 1711, also he gives the following description of a lady’s library:

“The very sound of a Lady’s Library gave me a great 117Curiosity to see it; and as it was some time before the Lady came to me, I had an opportunity of turning over a great many of her Books, which were ranged together in very beautiful Order. At the End of her Folios (which were very finely bound and gilt) were great jars of China, placed one above another in a very noble piece of Architecture. The Quartos were separated from the Octavos by a Pile of smaller Vessels which rose in a delightful Pyramid. The Octavos were bounded by Ten dishes of all Shapes, Colours and Sizes, which were so disposed on a wooden Frame, that they looked like one continued Pillar indented with the finest Strokes of Sculpture, and stained with the greatest variety of Dyes. That Part of the Library which was designed for the Reception of Plays and pamphlets and other loose Papers, was enclosed in a kind of Square consisting of one of the prettiest grotesque Works that I ever saw, and made up of Scaramouches, Lions, Monkies, Mandarines, Trees, Shells, and a thousand other odd Figures in China Ware. In the midst of the Room was a little Japan Table with a quire of gilt Paper upon it, and on the Paper a Silver Snuff-box made in the shape of a little Book. I found there were several Counterfeit Books upon the upper Shelves, which were carved in wood, and several only to fill up the number.”

As an example of the decorative use made of china by arranging it on brackets even above mirror or panel, the reader is referred to Plate XXIII., No. 2.

The Queen Anne room had its walls sometimes covered with tapestry and sometimes decorated with painted or carved panels. In accordance with the French and 118Dutch custom also, pictures were used with a conscious decorative effect. Sometimes they were hung on the tapestry, also, though not when the latter depicted a story of itself. In 1710, D’Aviler defines the word picture (tableau) as a subject of painting, usually in oil on canvas or wood, and contained in a frame or border. “Pictures greatly contribute to the decoration of the interior of buildings. The big ones figure in churches, drawing-rooms, galleries and other big places. Those of medium size called easel-pictures are placed in the spaces above the chimney-piece, above the doors and in the panels of the walls, or else on the tapestry against the walls. The small ones are symmetrically arranged in the chambers and cabinets of the curious.”

In the ordinary house, in the reign of Queen Anne, there was a strange jumble of the old and the new. The late Jacobean carved oak, or walnut, cane-bottom chair had not yet gone entirely out of use, but the new styles were varieties of the chair and stool on Plate XXI., Nos. 1 and 4. These were usually of walnut, but mahogany was just coming into fashion as a cabinet wood, and Queen Anne chairs with the frames made of that wood still exist. The characteristics of this chair consist of the cabriole leg, with and sometimes even without stretchers, the club foot, and solid curved splat which very frequently assumes the jar shape. Later in the period, the stretchers were discarded altogether. There was very little carving except on the spring of the knee. The claw-and-ball foot was rapidly coming into favour, and the tendency was constantly towards increased lightness of frame. Even where the characteristic square tapering 119leg of the Louis XIV. style is preserved, increased lightness is noticeable. The turned stretchers, both of chairs and settees, are shown on Plate XIX., Nos. 5, 6 and 7, and Plate XXI., Nos. 1, 4 and 10. Marot clung to the flat curved stretchers of the Louis XIV. style, and his chairs are very large and heavy. The reason of this is that he paid great attention to the upholstery, and his large and brilliant designs required a correspondingly large surface for adequate display. Many of his plates are devoted entirely to patterns for materials for upholstery, and the geometrical flower-bed is the apparent inspiration of much of his work of this nature. Some of Marot’s chairs and stools are shown on Plate XXI., Nos. 2, 3, 5, 8 and 9. The chairs on either side of the bed on Plate XXII. are also Marot’s. No. 7 on Plate No. XXI. shows the lighter form of frame of this class of chair. The settees, numbered 5, 6 and 7, on Plate XIX. should also be carefully studied as types of this style. They are taken from contemporary prints of court ladies. On one of them, Anne herself is sitting in the original. No. 6, Plate XXI., represents the top of a chair back which is very characteristic of the Marot school. One of the favourite ornaments of this period was the urn in some form or other. The acorn was also largely used for feet, and the flattened bulb was not entirely superseded. The effect produced by the above-mentioned detail is found in several other pieces of furniture of the day, clocks and mirrors particularly. The urn is seen in No. 5, Plate XXIII., and the effect is repeated in Nos. 1 and 6, Plate XX. Nos. 5 and 6 on that Plate also show the combination acorn and flattened bulb employed 120as feet. No. 6 also shows another decorative feature of the period in the heavy chutes of bell-flowers. The handsome clock, No. 6, Plate XX., from Marot’s design, shows many Louis XIV. features. The sun in splendour is noticeable and the winged cherub above the dial. The latter was made great use of in the Queen Anne style. The mascaron also was largely adopted. Another decorative feature which was carved on the centre lower rim of so many chests-of-drawers, and dressing-tables was the shell. The cabinet-makers were never tired of using the latter, and its constant appearance may perhaps be accounted for by the fact that it was the principal charge in the arms of the English company of cabinet-makers. It is seen on top of the mirror in No. 2, Plate XIX., and the mascaron is used to beautiful effect in the mirror No. 3 on the same plate. The mascaron appears as the chief ornament in No. 3, Plate XX. Strange to say, this is not a chair, as might be imagined, but a fire-back, as is also No. 4. The shape of this fire-back, however, is going to be that which will dominate in chair-backs in many styles and even to the present day holds its own. The chair No. 8, Plate XX., is transitional between Jacobean and Queen Anne. The couch (No. 9 of the same plate) is a fine example of the Queen Anne style with its scrolls, cabriole legs and stretchers. The winged effect of the scrolls connecting the legs is a very favourite feature of the day. This should be compared with the couch by Marot in Plate XVIII., which retains more of the Louis XIV. characteristics.

The bed on Plate XXII. is one of Marot’s designs 121and shows the Louis XIV. influence. The detail No. 3, on the same plate, exhibits another variety of head-board. No. 1 is a detail of a bed cornice and its drapery; and No. 2 shows the pattern of a valance. Specimens of lambrequin drapery, both for beds and windows, moreover, are shown in the details, Nos. 1 and 4 on Plate XIX.

Typical contents of a fashionable home in England during the reign of Queen Anne are to be gathered from the will and inventory of La Marquise de Gouvernet, a French Protestant refugee, who was naturalized at Westminster in 1691, and lived for thirty years in English aristocratic circles, dying in 1722. She was very wealthy, and occupied a distinguished position in London society. To her grandson and heir, she bequeathed an immense quantity of jewels, furniture, pictures and porcelain. The mere enumeration of the pieces of furniture affords a good idea of a stylish interior of the Queen Anne period.

One small calico bed, 3 foot wide and 8 foot high, for the country, being stitched with coloured flowers, with five armed chairs of the same.

One suit of chamber hangings of cloth, painted with Indian figures, nine pieces, 7 foot high.

One other suit of chamber hangings of cloth painted in the Indias, drawn in porticoes, eleven in number, 7 foot high, very old.

One suit of chamber hangings of white damask, pillows of coloured stuff fixed thereon.

One blue gauze Indian bed, worked with gold straw work, eight pieces of tapestry, and the chairs of the same, very old.

122A furniture of Indian damask of four colours, with the bed, 4 foot wide, the door curtains, the window curtains and chairs of the same, all very old.

One bundle of borders of old gold and silver brecard, with coloured flowers embroidered thereon.

Four pieces of blue damask hangings with borders of cross-stitch, and three chairs.

Two couches, the ground violet with figures. Bottoms of Hungarian Irish stitch chairs and two door curtains.

One Indian quilt, stitched in yellow silk, basses and pillows of the same, all old.

One table of Calambour wood, which encloses a toilette of the same wood, ornamented with gold, containing two dressing-boxes and looking-glass, one pin cushion, one powder box, and two brushes of the same.

The lining of a bed of gold mohair, the counterpane, the head cloth and the small valances.

123Two pieces of cloth embroidered with silver and thirty-two pieces of Tent stitch.

Thirteen breadths of dove-coloured silk serge 2¾ yards high, embroidered in flowers with figures; 35 yards of the same in several pieces, some of them drawn.

One four-leaf screen of the same damask, with the furniture of four colours embroidered, and of the same embroidered damask sufficient to make another four leaves at least.

One four-leaf folding low screen, tent stitch, with antique figures, and four pieces of the same work to add to it on occasion.

One small bureau of ditto wood, inlaid with rays of Prince’s metal and one scrutoire of the same.

Two large looking-glasses with green ebony frames, and two other large looking-glasses.

One bed of Spanish point, with festoons of gold and silver colour, fixed upon white damask, four curtain valances and bases of the same lined with white satin, the counterpane, headcloth and tester, embroidered, five arm-chairs and two door curtains of the same.

One suit of hangings, the ground white, half painted and half worked, containing five pieces, one piece without a border.

One brown damask bed with gold coloured flowers, ten armed chairs, one couch, one door curtain, 124eight chair bottoms and four pieces of hangings of the same.

One damask bed with a violet ground and flowers of gold straw-work and with colours with borders of velvet cut in Persian figures, six pieces of hangings belonging to the bed, whereof the middle are Persian carpets gold ground and the borders of gold coloured silk serge, on which are fixed the same figures with the bed, nine armed chairs, two door curtains, six borders, with figures and birds.

1 small silver set half gilt, containing 3 small dishes, 4 plates, 1 goblet, 1 salt sellar, 1 knife, 1 spoon, and 1 fork of same, 58 oz., 2 dwt.

2 silver knobs for a grate and 5 handles for tongues fire shool, &c., and four hooks to support the fire shool, etc., all of silver.

The above inventory deserves most careful study, since it reveals so minutely the character of the objects that were to be found in the house of a noble lady who moved in the highest court circles during the reign of Queen Anne. The list of pictures that she left to her grandson has not been reproduced here; they were principally family portraits, and other pictures by the celebrated 128French painters of the early part of the reign of Louis XIV. These pictures, of course, had been brought over to England when the Marquise was exiled. Considering, however, that she had lived for thirty years in London till her death in 1722, the great bulk of the furniture in the above inventory must have been “Queen Anne.”

A study of the items, however, shows that some of them, especially those marked very old, were purely Louis XIV. Others, especially the chairs that matched the beds, were probably of the Marot school.

The Oriental goods are particularly noticeable, especially the lacquer screens and Indian stuffs. The china also shows that the Marquise followed the prevailing taste. It is to be noted that there is no mention of mahogany, and the wood that appears to be most in favour is the Calembour. This is otherwise known as eagle wood, a sweet-scented species of aloes that comes from the East.

The Dutch influence that prevailed during this period naturally resulted in marquetry coming into very high favour. The ordinary cabinet woods were inlaid in geometrical, floral and animal patterns with the warmer and more beautiful tints of the exotic woods. Complete pictures were often formed on broad surfaces, such as table tops, and narrower surfaces were also decorated in this manner. Plate XXIII., No. 7, shows a small chest-of-drawers, or dressing-table, of this period, with inlaid floral ornamentation on the legs. This dates from about the beginning of the Queen Anne period. Typical objects of this class, dating between 1690 and 1710, are described as follows:

129A dressing-table veneered with walnut containing three drawers with brass handles has the faces of the drawers inlaid with boxwood and ebony. A band of inlay also ornaments the top. The four legs are cabriole with web feet. A dressing-table, contains two deep drawers and a central one with brass key-plates and handles. On the lower side the front is cut into three cusps with two pendants between them. A chest-of-drawers, veneered with walnut, contains two short drawers and three long ones, inlaid on their faces with narrow strips of sycamore and rosewood. Around the top is a deep cornice, below which is a deep rounded moulding forming the face of a drawer in front. The chest is placed on a stand, containing three drawers, upon short turned legs. The front is cut into cusps and curves on the lower side. Another chest-of-drawers veneered, contains three long drawers below and two small drawers above, and a shallow drawer in the stand upon which the chest rests. The chest is surmounted by a cornice and the stand by a moulding. The lower part is cut into three circular arches, with a decorative beading. The feet are four square piers resting upon turned discs. Each side is cut into a flat arch without beading. Another chest-of-drawers contains five drawers, with handles and key-plates of or moulu, the whole of walnut decorated with inlaid arabesque ornaments in oval medallions. A combination dressing-table and secretary with a swinging glass, the whole of walnut, decorated with beading and moulding. The dressing-table stands on four cabriole legs carved with a shell ornament. The looking-glass of walnut slightly carved and gilt, the glass bevelled at the edges.

130Of cabinets, we may note a walnut cabinet supported on four spirally turned legs with curved stretchers, opening with two doors and furnished with brass lock-plates. A cabinet of oak standing on large turned feet. It has a flat top with a slightly overhanging moulded edge. At the top is a drawer and below it two doors shutting in six drawers. The drawers and doors are panelled and moulded, with turned ebonized handles in the centre of each panel. The sides of the cabinet are also panelled. A cabinet of various kinds of wood, on a stand of oak with four spirally turned legs and stretchers of the same. The outside doors veneered with pollard oak, the centre with hexagonal pieces of thorn acacia. Eleven drawers are enclosed within. The cornice is of pear-wood at the sides and walnut in front, the drawers at the top below the cornice are of burr walnut.

Two dressing-tables from engravings of the day are shown in Nos. 1 and 3, Plate XXIII. No. 1. is properly draped with the toilet, usually muslin, but often of richer material. On the same plate, Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5, are details both of simple and more ornate mirrors of this style. No. 5 is especially good with its carvings, gildings and inlaid leaf ornamentation. The glasses in the mirrors were gradually increasing in size as the manufacturers became more skillful. Nos. 2 and 3, Plate XIX., show two oval mirrors of different proportions. No. 3 is a specially fine example, as it shows so many of the contemporary decorative motives, including the mascaron, shell, chute, swag, scroll and wings.

The handles for cabinets, chests-of-drawers, etc., 131were of various shapes, but the brass drop-handle was the most usual. Its length for average drawers was two inches. The ordinary model is reproduced in No. 6, Plate XXIII.

The tables still retained the late Jacobean characteristics shown in No. 8, Plate XXIII. Far more common, however, were the so-called “thousand-legged” tables with round or square leaves and horse legs. The legs were becoming slimmer and still connected with the centre frame by stretchers close to the ground.

The display of china had developed a new piece of furniture. Dyche thus defines it in 1748: “Buffet, a handsome open cupboard or repository for plate, glasses, china, etc., which are put there either for ornament or convenience of serving the table,” and Chambers, 1751:

“Beaufait, Buffet, or Bufet, was anciently a little apartment separated from the rest of the room by slender wooden columns, for the disposing china and glassware, etc., also called a cabinet. It is now, properly, a large table in a dining-room, called also a sideboard, for the plate, glasses, bottles, basons, etc., to be placed, as well for the service of the table as for magnificence. The buffet, among the Italians, called credenza, within a balustrade, elbow-high.”

Sometimes the “beaufait” consisted of a tier of shelves built into a niche in the wall of the dining-room. Even in the Queen Anne period, however, the word was sometimes used to signify a table. Murray quotes (1718): “The plate was placed upon a table or buffett.” The word in the sense of sideboard as we know it to-day came from France. In 1710 D’Aviler says: “Bufet; 132in a vestibule or a dining-room, a large table with stages in the style of a credence upon which are displayed the vases, the basins, and the cristal as much for the service at the table as for magnificence. This Bufet, which the Italians calls credence, is with them usually placed in the great salon and closed in by a balustrade breast high. Those belonging to princes and cardinals stand under a daïs of cloth.”

The Early Georgian Period covers an interval of about forty years,—from the accession of the House of Hanover in 1714 to the appearance of Chippendale’s The Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker’s Director in 1754. During this period, strange to say, the art of the Regency and Louis XV., though not unfelt, has not so much influence as a spurious Gothic revival, an equally spurious “Chinese” furore and a fetish worship of Palladio and Classic architecture.

The commanding figures in the taste of the day were William Kent, Richard Boyle, third Earl of Burlington, and John Talman. Kent and Talman studied in Rome under the Chevalier Luti. When the Society of Antiquaries was established in its present form in 1718, Talman was appointed its first director. He died in 1726. Kent attracted the attention of the Earl of Burlington, and from 1716 to 1748, when Kent died, he 136received the shelter and hospitality of the Earl’s town house.

Kent’s charming personality, and the authority he assumed in art matters in consequence of his foreign training, enabled him to win a high position in fashionable circles. He soon became the arbiter of taste. Horace Walpole testifies: “He was not only consulted for furniture, as frames of pictures, glasses, tables, chairs, etc., but for plate, for a barge, for a cradle. And so impetuous was fashion that two great ladies prevailed on him to make designs for their birthday gowns. The one he dressed in a petticoat decorated with columns of the five orders; the other, like a bronze, in a copper-coloured satin with ornaments of gold.” Walpole also says: “Kent’s style predominated during his life.” Besides the numerous mansions he built for the nobility in the Classic style, he also built a “Gothic” house for Henry Pelham.

Kent was a painter, architect and general designer, and nobody has been found to oppose Hogarth’s dictum that neither England nor Italy ever produced a more contemptible dauber. Hogarth satirizes him in two of his prints: Masquerades and Operas (1724), and The Man of Taste (1732). In the former, the statue of Kent 137surmounts Burlington Gate, and supported on a lower level by the statues of Raphael and Michael Angelo; in the latter, he again towers above the same two artists over the gate (of taste), which is being whitewashed. On a scaffolding Alexander Pope’s diminutive form is wielding the brush and spattering passers-by with the whitewash. The Duke of Chandos gets most of it. The Earl of Burlington is mounting the ladder with more material.

Burlington House, Piccadilly, was practically rebuilt about 1716 from the Earl’s plans. It formed a striking exception to the mixed and commonplace architecture of the period, and aroused the enthusiasm of contemporary writers. Gay writes: “Beauty within, without proportion reigns.” Lord Hervey, however, sneers at its lack of accommodation:

This mordant wit also satirizes another residence at Chiswick owned by Lord Burlington, which was built about 1730 after the model of the celebrated villa of the worshipped Palladio. According to Hervey’s, “It was too small to live in and too large to hang to a watch.” Burlington designed mansions for others also. One of these, belonging to General Wade, in Cook Street, provoked Walpole to say: “It is worse contrived in the inside than is conceivable, all to humour the beauty in front.” Lord Chesterfield also suggested: “As the general could not live in it to his ease, he had better take a house over against it and look at it.”

138The discomfort of the interior arrangement of even the most magnificent houses built at the beginning of this period is attested by more than one writer. Pope sneers at Blenheim as follows:

How strong the fashionable taste of the day was for Gothic, Chinese and French decorations is gathered from the indignant writings of contemporaries who could not bear to see their pet Classic neglected. We learn that by the middle of the century the craze for the French and Chinese had somewhat abated. In 1756, Isaac Ware has much to say on the late tendencies. He speaks bitterly of the degeneracy of modern taste, and attacks those who “flew into every absurdity that the scope of things could afford. Of this we see instances in many expensive works which stand, and will stand to disgrace our country: and we have models of them, and of others as ridiculous, proposed for imitation.... 139We have seen architecture, a science founded upon the soundest principles, disgraced by ignorant caprice, and fashion very lately attempted, and it would be well if we could not say attempts now, to undermine and destroy it by the caprice of France, and by the whims of China.

“How must a man of true taste frown to see in some of the best buildings of that country, as it would pretend for the encouragement of arts, Corinthian capitals made of cocks’ heads. It is called the French (order) and let them have the praise of it; the Gothic shafts and Chinese bells are not below or beyond it in poorness of imagination.

“It is our misfortune to see at this time (1756) an unmeaning scrawl of (Cs) inverted, turned and hooked together take place of Greek and Roman elegance, even in our most expensive decorations. This is not because the possessor thinks there is or can be elegance in such fond, weak, ill-jointed and unmeaning figures: it is usually because it is French; and fashion commands that whatever is French is to be admired as fine.

“While these French decorations were driving out from the inside of our houses those ceilings which a Burlington had taught us to introduce from Roman temples, and those ornaments of doors which a better taste under Inigo Jones had formed upon the models of the best Roman structures; the Goths seemed to have seized upon pavilions, and the Chinese on rooms of pleasure. The jointed columns rose without proportion for the support of the thatched roof in some lower ground, while bells dangled from every corner of the edifice that caught the traveller’s eye upon an elevation.

140“True taste and good admonitions have got the better of these; and they are left for cake-houses for Sunday apprentices. The French are more difficult to conquer; but let us rouse in every sense the natural spirit against them; and no more permit them to deprave our taste in this noble science, than to introduce among us miseries of their government or fooleries of their religion.”

“The French have furnished us with abundance of fanciful decorations for these purposes (ceilings and panels) little less barbarous than the Gothic; and they were, like that species of building (for we will not descend to call it architecture) received with great readyness; the art seemed upon the point of being lost in England; but a better taste has now prevailed. We should, in that danger, have declared for banishing whatever came under the denomination of French ornament; but, now we see it over, the art will be to receive these ornaments with discretion, to adapt them to the few uses for which they are proper, and to soften their luxurious use, and blend them with better figures, till we have reduced them into a more decent appearance.

“A ceiling straggled over with arched lines, twisted curves, with X’s, C’s and tangled semi-circles, may please the light eye of the French, who seldom carry their observation farther than a casual glance; but this alone is poor, fantastical and awkward; it is a strange phrase to use for anything from France, but those who have seen such ceilings as we here describe must acknowledge it is just.”

141He then goes on to recommend a ceiling which the plate shows to be Louis XV. in style.

Here then we have direct evidence of the favour in which the styles of the Regency had been received in England. The rocaille decoration and the excessive use of Chinese subjects, and monkeys, arabesques and floral devices, and particularly the broken curve, quickly overcame the opposition encountered from conservative members of the old school and strongly influenced Germany and England.

The expensive French wall-painting and silken hangings are imitated in wall-paper. The taste even spread to America, for Mr. Hancock, of Boston, sent to London in 1736 for paper-hangings for one of the rooms of his new house. He says about three or four years ago one of his friends had a hanging like the sample he sends, but he adds, “If they can make it more beautiful by adding more birds flying here and there, with some landskips at the bottom, should like it well. Let the ground be the same colour of the pattern. At the top and bottom was a narrow border of about 2 inches wide, which would have to mine.... In the other part of these hangings are great variety of different sorts of birds, peacocks, macoys, squirril, monkys, fruit and flowers, etc.”

The macoys (which, of course, are macaws or parrots) and the monkeys proclaim the Regency taste.

Some characteristics of the Regency style are as follows: The legs of the furniture are slightly curved and not so heavy as the Louis XIV. furniture. However, they retain a look of solidity. Round the edge of the table, under the top, is usually a frieze which forms a 142descending curve in the middle; it sometimes assumes the form of a bow also. This has been called the contour d’arbalète. At the top of the legs, and on the corners of other pieces of furniture, are mountings of bronze often showing acanthus motives with a head which is more expressive than the antique mascarons of the preceding style. Sometimes heads of animals also appear. The scroll and shell-work is rapidly becoming ornate. A fine example of Regency work is shown in the lower screen on Plate XXX., in which the prevailing vogue of the monkey is noticeable. Besides Watteau, Chinese designs were also produced by Aubert (d. 1721), La Joüe (d. 1752), Fraisse (d. 1735), and Mondon le fils (d. 1738). Roumier (d. 1724) designed tables of this period.

The French school, which Chippendale was going to follow almost slavishly in his book of designs, had many admirers in England long before. In 1740, Batty Langley brought out The City and Country Builder’s and Workman’s Treasury of Designs. In this and other works, he gives several hundred designs for buffets, chimney-pieces, cisterns, clocks, table-frames, etc. Some of these are confessedly “after the French manner.” Of these, we have the curious chest-of-drawers on Plate XXVIII., the dressing-table on Plate XXVI. and the clock and bookcase on Plate XXV.

After examining Batty’s dressing-table and chest-of-drawers, the latter of which he has even neglected to supply with handles, we are astonished to come across anything so graceful as the console-table on Plate XXVI., which also appears in his book. However, in our examination 143of French designs, we come across this very table signed Picau, so that Mr. Langley has shamelessly transferred a French design to his own book without acknowledgment, as Picau considerably antedated Langley. The influence of the French decoration is also noticeable in the bookcase, No. 1, Plate XXV.

Langley thus catered to some extent to the tastes of those who admired the French styles, but he did not approve of them himself. He says:

“The great pleasure that builders and workmen of all kinds (those called cabinet-makers, I think, only excepted) have of late years taken in the study of architecture has induced me to the compiling of this work. And indeed I am very sorry that cabinet-makers should have been supine therein; because of all small architectural works none is more ornamental to buildings than theirs, when well and justly executed, as being generally made with such kinds of materials which Nature has wantonly adorned with delightful textures of colours that contribute very greatly to their beauty.

“The evil genius that so presides over cabinet-makers as to direct them to persevere in such a pertinacious and stupid manner that the rules of architecture, from whence all beautiful proportions are deduced, are unworthy of their regard, I am at a loss to discover; except Murcea, the Goddess of Sloth, acts that part and has thus influenced them to conceal their dronish, lowlife incapacities and prompt them, with the fox in the fable, to pronounce grapes sour that ripen out of their reach.

“Cabinet-makers originally were no more than spurious 144indocile chips, expelled by joiners for the superfluity of their sap, and also, by instilling stupid notions and prejudice to architecture into the minds of youth educated under them has been the cause that at this time ’tis a very great difficulty to find one in fifty of them that can make a book-case, etc., indispensably true after any of the Five Orders without being obliged to go to a joiner for to set out the work and make his templets to work by.

“But if these gentlemen persist much longer thus to despise the study of this noble art, the very basis and soul of their trade, which now to many joiners is well understood, they will soon find the bad consequences of so doing and have time enough on their hands to repent of their folly—and more especially since that our nobility and gentry delight themselves now more than ever in the study of architecture, which enables them to distinguish good work and workmen from assuming pretenders.”

On Plate XXV. are three of his eight designs of bookcases, which, “if executed by a good joiner, and with beautiful materials, will have good effects, or even if by a cabinet-maker, provided that he understands how to proportion and work the Five Orders, which at this time, to the shame of that trade be it spoken, there is not one in a hundred that ever employed a moment’s thought thereon, or knows the Tuscan from the Doric, or the Corinthian from the Composite Order, and more especially if the Doric freeze hath its triglyphs and mutules omitted. In short, the ultimate knowledge of these sort of workmen is generally seen to finish with a monstrous 145Cove, on an Astragal, crowned with a Cima Reversa, in an open pediment of stupid height.

“When a Gentleman applies himself with a good design of a book-case, etc., made by an able architect, to most of the masters in this trade, they instantly condemn it and allege that ’tis not possible to make cabinet works look well that are proportioned by the Rules of Architecture; because, they say, the members will be too large and heavy, etc., whereas the real truth is that they do not understand how to proportion and work the members of these designs, and therefore advise the unwary to accept of such stuff as their poor, crazy capacities will enable them to make, and wherein ’tis always seen that the magnitudes of their Coves and Cima Reversas (their darling finishing) are much larger members than any members of a regular cornice (even of the Tuscan Order) of the same height, wherefore, ’tis evident that all their assertions of this kind are used for nothing more than to conceal an infinite fund of stubborn ignorance which cannot be paralleled by any other set of mortals in the world. This I mention that for the future Gentlemen may have a more particular regard in the choice of works and workmen, in this way, than any have heretofore done. For I do affirm that a good joiner will not only execute a design of this nature in much less time than any of the common run of cabinet-makers can, but will perform it in that masterly manner which is known but to very few, if any, in the cabinet trade.”

Isaac Ware, who, as we have seen, was a determined enemy to the French innovations, says: “We shall here direct the eye of the student from the frivolous decorations 146which France has furnished us to those which dignified the works of Greece and Rome, and have been an honour to the names of some of our own architects in times of better taste.” Though he prefers the nobler style of Inigo Jones, he advises the architect “to consider the other kind of richness. We consider the proprietor dislikes the former kind; he thinks it too heavy, or he has corrupted his taste in France so far as to dislike the Grecian science. He desires to have a ceiling as rich as that proposed to him, but more airy; and he will have some of the French crooked figures introduced into it.”

“A continued chimney-piece can only be proper where there are ornaments of sculpture about the room; for otherwise there will be nothing with which it can correspond. Therefore, against all other considerations, let him design at all times a simple chimney-piece for a room that is hung, and a continued one for a room that is finished any other way. No wainscot is or can be made without panels; and it will be easy to make the upper part of a continued chimney-piece correspond with them, let them be of whatsoever kind.... No more will be required than to form a regular design of an upper part for the chimney-piece intended to be placed there, and to execute it with the common mouldings of the panels.... The purpose of the work is to raise an ornament like that of the other parts of the room from the chimney-piece to the ceiling; and in such manner to adapt this to the chimney-piece itself that it shall seem naturally to rise from it and be connected with it; that it shall be a regular and proportioned part of the 147chimney work at the same time that it is also a regular part of the ornament of the room....

“It is the first object that strikes the eye, on entrance and the most conspicuous part of the room, and for that reason, while he gives it the same air as the rest, let him make it somewhat richer. When the common mouldings of the wainscot have some sculpture, let those which are continued over the chimney have more, as well as be laid in greater number, and to whatever degree the rest is carried, let this part exceed it.

“Rooms that are hung are debarred by the rules of the science from the advantage of this ornament; but for all other kinds whatsoever, it is very well adapted. Where the walls are plain stucco, this upper part of the chimney-piece must have very little ornament; but even in that case, as the lower part will naturally be very plain, a light representation of its most conspicuous parts in the space above will be far from unpleasing.

“Let him (the student) not suppose this circumstance of room finished with plain stucco to be a parallel case with that of one hung with paper or damask, and in which we limited him to the use of a simple chimney. Here the space within the panel over the chimney being plain as the rest of the wall, at the same time it admits the grace of this addition, keeps up a similarity with the rest, without anything improper in itself; but, in the other case, the great contrast in the colour or figures of the paper or silk would break in upon the intended composure of the whole; and the mouldings, whether in wood or stucco, would appear to be stuck on the paper, not to rise from it, as they will certainly 148appear to do from the stucco-wall. The upper part of the chimney-piece, which in the case of our plain stucco-wall shews itself only what it is, that is, a light ornament continued from the lower work of the chimney, will, where there is paper or silk, have the aspect of a frame; and these will appear as pictures in it. All know how poor this must look, since, in the reality, what could be so mean as the thought of framing a piece of the hanging?”

Having now learned from contemporary authorities the most approved styles of decoration of ceilings, walls and chimney-pieces during the Early Georgian period, we may proceed to say a few words concerning the Gothic and Chinese influence. The Chinese fad, which is often wrongly attributed to Sir William Chambers, was no new thing, as we have already seen. In the preface to his book of designs he had made in Canton, he clearly states that his object is to correct the absurdities that were daily produced for the public as “Chinese.” He says:

“It was not my design to publish them, nor would they now appear, were it not in compliance with the desire of several lovers of the arts, who thought them worthy of the perusal of the publick, and that they might be of use in putting a stop to the extraordinary fancies that daily appear under the name of Chinese, though most of them are mere inventions, the rest copies from the lame representations found on porcelain and paper-hangings.”

Towards the middle of the century, many books appeared by Johnson, Edwards and Darly, Halfpenny and 149others, giving designs for Chinese temples, arches, garden-seats, bridges, palings, etc. When Chippendale brought out his book, as we shall see, he felt compelled to bow to the prevailing taste, and give designs of Chinese character.

Just as the Chinese fashion is attributed to Chambers, so the Gothic revival is frequently erroneously attributed to Horace Walpole. It is true that he greatly liked to encourage that form of architecture, but the taste was reviving before he had any influence.

In 1742, Langley published his Gothic Architecture. He says it is “restored and improved by a great variety of grand and useful designs entirely new in the Gothic Mode for the ornamenting of buildings and gardens exceeding everything that’s extant.” The subscribers to this work included eighty-one of the nobility, two bishops, nine judges, two ladies of title, sixteen gentlemen, three carpenters, one smith and one mason.

This list shows that it was already fashionable to take interest in “Gothic.” Horace Walpole was one of the subscribers, but the claim made for him of having originated revived interest in Gothic architecture is disposed of by the fact that he was not yet in possession of Strawberry Hill, and it was not till 1750 that he wrote: “I am going to build a little Gothic castle.” In fact, in 1756, Isaac Ware calls it a “late taste” and implies that it is already on the wane. He writes: “The Gothic is distinguished from the antique architecture by its ornaments being whimsical and its profiles incorrect. The inventors of it probably thought they exceeded the Grecian method, and some of late have seemed, by their 150fondness for Gothic edifices, to be of the same opinion; but this was but a caprice, and, to the credit of our taste, is going out of fashion again as hastily as it came in.... The error of the late taste has been in attempting to bring the Gothic into use in smaller buildings, in which it can never look well.”

The Englishmen of taste had adopted the French fondness for ruins in decoration, and real and artificial ruins in their gardens. It is said that some even dismantled their castles to have respectable ruins of their own.

In Langley’s Principles of Gardening, published in 1728, this taste is catered to. Among his plates is “an avenue in perspective, terminated with the ruins of an ancient building after the Roman manner”; and eight plates are devoted to “views of ruins after the old Roman manner for the termination of walks, avenues, etc.” These ruins, some of which are of a false Gothic style, are to adorn “such walks that end in disagreeable objects,” and “may either be painted upon canvas, or actually built in that manner with brick, and covered with plastering in imitation of stone.”

We get a faint hint of the rococo also from the following advice: “When figures of shell-work are erected in the midst of fountains, we receive a double pleasure of a fountain and cascade also by the waters agreeably murmuring down the rocky shells.”

Langley was far more responsible for the “Gothic” craze than Walpole was. Besides writing books on the subject, his services were engaged by the latter, doubtless on account of his being the authority of the day on that subject. Walpole’s good sense, however, soon taught 151him dissatisfaction. When we look at the Gothic chimney-pieces and other features that adorned the rooms of Strawberry Hill, we cannot wonder at his dissatisfaction. We learn from the Gentleman’s Magazine:

“Through the inability of his architects, particularly of Langley (who, though esteemed capital in his day, knew nothing of the art of constructing modern Gothic), his ideas were never properly executed. Mr. Walpole often complained they were rather Moorish than Gothic; however he could not at that day procure better assistance. He was always, however, among the first to depreciate his own architecture.”

Mrs. Delany’s letters afford evidence of the prevailing Gothic taste. In 1754, we hear: “I am working stools in worsted chenille for the Gothic cell.” In 1756, she mentions a great Gothic hall in her description of Lady Oxford’s house. She also says:

“The chapel is to be new built in the same taste; the alterations Lady Oxford made in this place cost above 40,000 pounds, and her apartment is the prettiest thing I ever saw, consisting of a skylight antechamber or vestibule, adorned in the Gothic way. The rooms that encompass it are a library, a dressing-room, a room fitted up with china and Japan of the rarest kinds, and a Gothic room full of charming pictures, and embellished with everything that can make it look gay and pleasant; it is lighted by a window something of the Venetian kind, but prettier, and the whole breadth of one side of the room.” Then, in 1758:

“My closet is just hung with crimson paper, a small pattern that looks like velvet; as soon as dry, I shall put 152up my pictures; and I am going to make a wreath to go round the circular window in the chapel, of oak branches, vines and corn; the benches for the servants are fixed, the chairs for the upper part of the chapel are a whim of mine, but I am not sure till I see a pattern chair that I shall like it; it is to be in the shape and ornamented like a Gothic arch.”

Hogarth should be a very valuable guide to the furniture of this period. As a rule, however, he seems to care very little about the delicate details and generalizes the forms, giving an impression of excessive heaviness and clumsiness. However, occasionally we get a good hint, as in the bed in the scene of the countess’s toilet in Marriage à la Mode. One of Hogarth’s tables is shown on Plate XXVIII., No. 1. It will be noticed how little trouble he has taken to indicate the special kind of foot, whether hoof or ball-and-claw. An escritoire from one of the plates of the Industrious Apprentice is shown on Plate XXVIII., No. 2. The ball-foot and drop-handles are clearly shown in this. One of Hogarth’s chairs, which was a very common pattern during this period, is that of No. 4, Plate XXVII. The models also numbered 9, 10 and 11 are generally known as Hogarth chairs. No. 7 is one of Halfpenny’s designs for a Chinese chair. Nos. 1, 2, 3, 6 and 8 are also types of chairs in use before Chippendale brought out his book. No. 5 is an early model of the “Windsor chair,” which came into favour during the reign of Queen Anne and maintained its place for a century and a half. This chair dates from about 1710. The central drawing represents a folding chair-bed. 153The frame is of mahogany and the back filled with cane. The back is curved at the top and straight at the sides, which have two curved pieces, or wings, projecting forward. The arms are curved and the four cabriole legs end in club feet. The backs of Nos. 9, 10 and 11 on this plate curiously agree with the form of the fire-back No. 3 on Plate XX. This general model appears in the inventories as the “Crown-back chair.” With the exception of the Windsor chair, which was very often made of cheap wood, the chairs on this plate were made of walnut or mahogany and upholstered with velvet, cloth, leather, Turkey-work, leather, or haircloth plain or figured.

The seat is movable, and no upholstery nails or braids were used, the frame of the wood giving the necessary finish. The dumb-waiter on Plate XXVIII. dates from about 1740: it is of mahogany decorated with incised floral pattern in outline. No. 2, Plate XXVI., shows a toilet swinging-glass dating from about 1730 which exhibits a little of the French influence. It has a wood frame carved and gilt with flowers, foliage and scroll ornament. Nos. 1 and 3 are other common forms of mirrors of this period. The frames are frequently of mahogany picked out with gold.

The general proportions of the room shown in Plate XXIV. are taken from Hogarth’s Marriage à la Mode.

As a rule, the bed was the four-poster of oak, walnut or mahogany draped with upper and lower valances and curtains. The window curtains always matched those of the bed, and unless the chairs were of cane, or leather, they were also covered with the same material. 154These hangings were of silk or worsted damask, serge, flowered or figured russell, harrateen, camlet, mohair, or chintz. Numerous products in silks and cotton from India were also used. The Early Georgian bedroom was seldom draped in white: the different bedrooms frequently are described as the “Blue,” the “Yellow,” the “Red,” or the “Green Room.”

Sometimes a room contains an alcove and an alcove bed after the French style, and the field-bed is not unfamiliar. The latter, however, is chiefly reserved for the unimportant bedrooms.

The furniture includes small chairs and easy chairs, chests-of-drawers, cases-of-drawers, chests-upon-chests, sometimes a press, a secretary, and almost invariably two or three tables. One small table always stood by the bed for such conveniences as a candlestick, etc.

The dressing-table was a case-of-drawers, such as is seen to the right in Plate XXIV. Upon this is spread a toilet and over it hangs a mirror. This is, of course, a species of commode. This piece of furniture of late years has been called improperly a “low-boy,” as the high case-of-drawers that sometimes stands on cabriole legs and sometimes on six spindle-shaped legs joined by stretchers, has been called a “high-boy.” Another variety is the chest-upon-chest consisting of a double case-of-drawers.

These pieces are made of mahogany, walnut, cherry, or they are japanned, painted with Chinese or Japanese subjects and lacquered, or painted and lacquered in imitation of the French work of the day. The tall clock is also frequently japanned and brightened with 155brass mounts. The frames of looking-glasses and pictures are also frequently lacquered.

Engravings and mezzotints, which are very much in vogue, are framed in this style, or in black. Although the grate is rapidly gaining favour, the brass andirons have not been banished. In either case the hearth furniture, tongs, shovel, etc., is of brass, more or less ornate.

Two bedrooms described in 1738 will give an idea of the appearance of the sleeping-rooms of the age. One was a Green Room; the bed-curtains, window-curtains, and chair coverings were of green harrateen. The floor was covered with a Turkey carpet, and the chimney-piece was bright with brass andirons and other hearth furniture. A pier-glass was hung between the windows, and the rest of the furniture consisted of twelve chairs and a couch, a dressing-glass and drawers, a bureau-table and three large sconces with arms.

The other room was furnished in yellow mohair. There were six chairs, a large chair, two stools, a desk and bookcase with glass doors, a dressing-table and glass, a chimney-glass and sconce, a bed and brass andirons, etc. The window curtains and window cushions matched the bed, whose bolster and counterpane, as well as draperies, were of yellow mohair.

15. 156Bridgman was a famous landscape gardener of the day, and Gibbs a noted architect.

The gloom and solemnity of the last years of Louis XIV., ruled by a morose monarch and his bigoted, unacknowledged wife, gave place to the license of the Regency, and the exuberant vitality of a young king, the influence of which is fully reflected in decorative art. The Regency saw a short period of inflated wealth such as had never been dreamed of by any living man. Law’s Mississippi Bubble, before it was pricked, enabled men to get rich in a day, and some of the upstarts paid fabulous sums for the best work that artists of all kinds could produce. Architecture had to give up parade and magnificence, and cater to comfort and convenience. Paris saw mansions and pretty little houses rise by the hundred. Their furniture and decoration bore the stamp of gaiety and caprice. There was open rebellion against the rigid rule of the last reign.

Le Brun’s divinities become gay and frisky and laugh 160at you. Fauns get very hairy about the snout, plants climb and frolic along the limbs of the goddesses. Olympus becomes human; partitions are built to break up the too cold and imposing grand galleries and transform them into cabinets particuliers. The pier invades the walls, the chimney-piece assumes shell forms. In fact, as the subtle “Advice to lovers of design,” which heads Oppenord’s collection of engravings says, these works are composed in a “taste after the antique,—but richer.” Then, we are led on to the charming follies of Meissonier, whom later we shall see go even further, growing ever and ever more “rich,” but still thoroughly under the illusory conviction that his style is “antique.”

Now we have arrived at what is perhaps the most exquisite and perfect period of the history of furniture in France. The workers of the Regency and of the reign of Louis XV. united with an incomparable manual dexterity a grace, fancy and caprice that is found nowhere else except perhaps in the best art of Japan.

Perhaps the greatest furniture-maker of this time was Charles Cressent (b. 1685). For the perfection of his workmanship, he ranks as high as André Charles Boulle, and perhaps surpasses the latter in the qualities of seductiveness and elegance. He was an engraver as well as a carver. Copper played a great part in the ornamentation of his coloured marquetry works, and he was able to set his own mark of taste and finesse directly upon his productions.

The Orient was exercising a powerful influence on French as on Dutch and English taste. We have seen that a liking for the contrast of richly coloured exotic 161woods was noticeable toward the end of the reign of Louis XIV. The Siamese embassy with its rich offerings of porcelain and lacquer had concentrated the eyes of the Court for a moment on the art of the East. French artists catered to the novelty, and from then till the middle of the Eighteenth Century the lacquers of China and Japan were actively though freely imitated.

First, the monkey was all the rage as a decorative motive. Monkeys climb up piers, swing on garlands in panels, and not only play their usual malicious tricks, but musical instruments also. They appear in all attitudes and combinations. Watteau, Huet, Gillot and even Chardin, the realist, bowed to the demand for Singerie. A good example of the use made of the monkey in furniture decoration is the beautiful Regency screen on Plate XXX., in which the characteristic scroll and shell also appear.

The monkey, however, was not the sole motive of decoration. Chinese and Japanese screens, jars and fans soon asserted their rights; and “chinoiserie” was in full swing. The walls and furniture for a time, as in England, show strong evidence of the “Chinese” taste. In France, however, it is followed at a greater distance from the original, and artistically modified and developed. The “chinoiserie” of Watteau and Gillot has only a faint though delicate flavour of the real Far East. This “chinoiserie” had some effect on furniture in certain ornamental details, and Cressent’s work shows traces of the prevailing taste.

The artist who perhaps had the greatest influence in 162producing the Louis XV. rocaille style was J. A. Meissonier (b. 1695), who by his contemporaries was abused for having broken up the straight line outrageously and pushed the curve to extreme limits. He was the abomination of all who held the angular and dry in reverence. A very able designer, Cochin, in 1754, issues an appeal to goldsmiths, chisellers, interior woodwork carvers, engravers, etc. He begs them “when carving an artichoke or celery head in natural size to be kind enough not to set beside it a hare as big as a man’s finger, a lark of natural size, and a pheasant one-fourth or one-fifth size; children of the same size as a vine-leaf; or figures of a supposed natural size supported by a decorative flower that could scarcely support a little bird without bending; trees with trunks slimmer than one of their own leaves, and many other sensible things of the same order. We should also be infinitely obliged to them if they would be kind enough not to change the uses of things, but to remember, for instance, that a chandelier should be straight and perpendicular, in order to carry the light, and not twisted as if it had been wrenched; and that a socket-rim should be concave to receive the running wax and not convex to shed it back upon the chandelier; and a multitude of equally unreasonable details that would take too long to particularize. Similarly, carvers of interior decorations of rooms are begged to be obliging enough, when executing their trophies, not to make a scythe smaller than an hour-glass, a hat or Basque drum larger than a bass-viol, a man’s head smaller than a rose, nor a sickle as big as a rake.”

163In reply we have the following protest: “It was necessary to find another kind of architecture in which every worker could distinguish himself and bring that kind of skill within the reach of everybody; nevertheless, accepted tastes should not be rudely shocked by the sudden production of novelties too remote from the reigning taste, thereby risking a hissing. At first the famous Oppenord served us zealously.... He made lavish use of our favourite ornaments and brought them into favour. Even now he is useful to us, and there are some of us who take him as a model.... We found a stronger support in the talents of the great Meissonier. It is true that the latter had studied in Italy, and consequently was not one of us, but as he had wisely preferred the taste of Boromini to the wearisome antique taste, he had thereby come closer to us; for Boromini rendered the same service to Italy that we have to France, by introducing there an architecture gay and independent of all those rules that anciently were called good taste. Meissonier began by destroying all the straight lines that were used of old; he curved the cornices and made them bulge in every way; he curved them above and below, before and behind, gave curves to all, even to the mouldings that seemed least susceptible of them; he invented contrasts;—that is to say, he banished symmetry, and made no two sides of the panels alike. On the contrary, these two sides seem to be trying which could deviate most, and most oddly, from the straight line that till then they had been subject to.”

As Oppenord may be said to have presided at the opening of the Regency style, so Meissonier inaugurated 164that of Louis XV. His rocaille escaped the exaggerations of the contemporary foreign masters, and kept within the bounds of good taste.

Among other decorators, less inventive but of charming taste, who followed in the traces of Meissonier were Michel, René Stoldz or La Joüe, Chevillon, etc. The Print Room of the Bibliothèque Nationale possesses a collection of the beautiful designs of the two last-named artists in water-colour and gouache. These designers used many of the same motives as Meissonier, the shell, the cabbage-leaf, the shrimp (of course, the forms derived from these objects), but they added to their decorations still more fleeting and vague elements, such as falling water, the ostrich plume, etc. La Joüe is a real past master in the art of introducing into a decorative panel a cascade which sometimes falls from nowhere and loses itself in pearly foam: for him everything serves as a pretext for a cascade: neighing horses plunging in the water, an open-jawed dragon clinging to the base of a column, a hunted stag vomiting a jet of water into a fount whose marble rim is full of twists and contortions.

The list of artists who contributed to interior decorations during the Louis XV. period is a long one. It includes: Boffrand, Le Roux, Oudry, Brisseux, Huquier, Pineau, Mondon, Cuvilliés, Gravelot, Boucher, Blondel, Babel, Germain, Marvye, Chedel, Jombert, Babin, Cochin, Pillement, Peyrotte, Eisen, Demarteau and Martinet. These are the great masters of the style. The principal smaller ones are: Aubert, Crepy, Vassy, Bachelier, Roumier, Vervien, Caylus, Lassurance, Lange, La Collombe, Dubois, Bouchardon, Prevost, Le Grand, 165Fraisse, Blanchard, Marsenois, De La Cour, Canuc, Poulleau, Mollet, Mansart, De Jouy, Perault, Dumont, Aveline, Cornille, Chamblin, Bellay, Vanerve, Pelletier, Paty, Chopart, Borch, La Datte, Lamour, Girard, Ballechou, Herisset, Hubert, Metayer, Servandoni, Sloiste, Caque, L’Hermitais, Roy, Duval, François, Charpentier, Lebas, Radel, De Lorme, Courtelle, Viriclix, Tessier, Lattre, De Laborde and Harpin.

One of the cabinet-makers who best produced the ideas of Meissonier was Jacques Caffieri (b. 1678), who was “sculpteur, fondeur et ciseleur du roi.” Even if he did not himself manufacture, he directed the production of splendid cabinet-work. His work is distinguished by grace and aristocratic elegance. He executed a great quantity of bronze for the famous cabinet-maker, Œben. Many extant works bear the mark of a C surmounted by a fleur-de-lis, and these are usually attributed to this master, but the great inequality of excellence makes many critics doubtful. Œben was a pupil of Boulle, and devoted himself exclusively to the branch of marquetry in cabinet-making, leaving the metal decoration to his assistants, Caffieri and Duplessis. His work was in the greatest favour with Madame de Pompadour, who bought it through the merchant Duvaux, one of whose best customers was the king himself. Œben died about 1756, and his works helped to furnish all the mansions and castles of the Marquise and King in Paris, Fontainebleau, Compiégne, Versailles, Bellevue, Crécy, Champs, Saint-Ouen, and la Celle Saint-Cloud. His widow married his foreman, J. Henri Riesener. The other great cabinet-makers of this period whose works are to be 166found in the Rothschild, Wallace, South Kensington, and other famous collections, are Bernard, Boudin, Ollivier, Dubois and Cremer, who worked principally in artificially coloured marquetry, and Gamier, Pafrat and Roubo. The latter wrote a very valuable treatise called L’Art du menuisier.

The taste for Chinese and Japanese art was very insistent, but at the same time only skin-deep. There was no true feeling for the profundity of the wonderful art in the patient work that produced the Chinese and Japanese lacquer. It was regarded as a toy. However, progress is noticeable, and fashion gladly welcomed the art products of the Far East. In Angola, a novel within the period, we read: “Upon my word!” says the Count to the Countess, “you have a splendid chimney-furnishing, and those Chinese cabinets are charming. Is this the rue du Roule?^[16] I am simply crazy about that little man. Everything that he sells is so expensive and scarce.” “Oh,” says the Countess, “it is a pretty good selection.” “Well,” replies the Marquis, “there is simply a divine taste in everything there. There are little divinities in the most wonderful forms. This one, for instance; this and your fool of a husband are as like as two peas.” Another description from the same work and in the same tone tells us a “lit de repos, in a niche of damask, coloured rose and silver, looked like an altar consecrated to delight; an immense screen surrounded it, and the rest of the furniture was in perfect accord with it; consoles, jasper corner-shelves, China cabinets loaded with the most rare pieces of porcelain, and the 167chimney-piece was decorated with corpulent gods of the most wonderful and clownish shapes.”

These Chinese cabinets were principally of lacquer, more or less adapted to French demand. Just as soon as the French taste required Oriental goods, orders were sent abroad and the “Heathen Chinee” was quick to supply the foreign market. The native art was gladly modified by the merchants in accordance with the demands of foreign trade. Sometimes even French and other goods were transported to China to have the finishing touches added there. Of course, the time came when native craftsmen tried to meet the demands of fashion by imitations of the Eastern ware. The trouble was that for a long time the home workmen could not produce the proper varnish and make a satisfactory lacquer. Some workmen boldly used native varnishes without attempting to imitate the Chinese and Japanese, and produced charming work of the most delicate finish; but these, unfortunately, scarcely outlasted the special entertainment for which they were manufactured. The undoubted chiefs of these varnishers were the Martins. In 1744, a decree of the Council allowed “au Sieur Étienne Martin le cadet exclusivement à tous autres, à l’exception du Sieur Guillaume Martin,” the privilege of manufacturing for twenty years all kinds of relief-work in the Japanese and Chinese taste. In addition to the above-mentioned, we must not forget the brothers Julien and Robert. The number of panels, carriages, sedan-chairs, boxes and ceilings and walls that they varnished is innumerable. The rage for their work was such that the wonderful Boulle-work in marquetry on the walls of Versailles that Louis 168XIV. had had executed for his son were destroyed and replaced by Martin decorations on a green background. They also did a lot of work for Madame de Pompadour at Bellevue. Their fame spread, so that Frederick the Great summoned Robert’s son, J. A. Martin, to decorate Sans Souci. Voltaire even thought the Martin work worth writing couplets in its praise.

Like all fads, the Vernis Martin aroused criticism and enmity. Mirabeau indignantly denounces the “voitures Vernis par Martin.” Notwithstanding jealousy and abuse, the Vernis Martin held its own, and to-day is a thing of great price. Good as it was, it could not compare with the Japanese and Chinese lacquer, and the specimens that have survived are relatively scarce. It may be interesting to note that the old lacquers that sunk in the shipwreck of the Nile, in 1874, near Yokohama, were found practically uninjured a year afterwards. At the same time, the modern products of Kioto and Yeddo were entirely destroyed.

In the Louis XV. period, the word apartment means a complete suite of living-rooms. There are three kinds of apartments, large, medium and small. A large apartment consists of a vestibule, a first ante-chamber, a second ante-chamber, a principal chamber, a salon or company-room (reception-room or drawing-room), a bedroom and several cabinets (studies), and garde-robe (wardrobe rooms). The medium apartment has fewer rooms and the small apartment still fewer. However, to be complete, the smallest apartments must comprise four rooms,—an ante-chamber, a chamber, a cabinet (dressing-room) and a garde-robe (a wardrobe), to which a 169small staircase leads. Each room has its own especial decoration. First comes the vestibule. This is a passage leading into the apartment. It is ornamented with columns, or pilasters, and circular niches, in which statues are placed. The ante-chamber comes next to the vestibule, and is destined for the servants. This room is ornamented in simple style: the woodwork of the doors and windows gives it its chief decoration, but mirrors and handsome paintings are often hung on the walls, and sometimes the corners are rounded for the sake of effect. This room frequently contains a stove, so that the cold air from the vestibule may be tempered before it reaches the inner apartments.

Next comes the second ante-chamber, where the servants who are in direct attendance upon the master wait. Sometimes this room is used for a dining-room, or a drawing-room. If used as a drawing-room, the woodwork is more or less richly carved, handsomely framing mirrors and pictures. Console-tables with marble slabs stand underneath the mirrors, contributing to the decoration of the room and exhibiting handsome vases, ornaments, etc. Sometimes the walls are adorned with rich tapestries reaching to the wainscot, which is of the same height as the slab of the chimney-piece. When used as a dining-room, the buffet is the chief feature. After indicating the place of the buffet, D’Aviler says: “The buffet can be incrusted with marble or Portland stone, or wainscotted with woodwork. This consists of a recess which occupies one entire side of the room; here you place a table of marble or stone supported on consoles, beneath which you may stand a small stone 170basin for cooling the wine bottles. On each side of the table is a deep niche, ornamented with aquatic attributes, such as Tritons, dolphins and mascarons of gilded lead, which throw water into the little basins below, from which it escapes, as well as into the basin underneath the table. The back of the buffet is ornamented with a little gallery with consoles, above which is hung a picture, usually representing fruits or flowers, a concert of music, or other pleasant subjects. This one (represented in D’Aviler’s book) represents upon a background of foliage, grapes and birds, a bust of Comus’s God of Festivity, upon which two little Satyrs are placing a crown of flowers and grapes.”

The chamber is the principal room in an apartment. Formerly it included all the rooms inhabited by the master except the vestibules, salons, peristyles and galleries.

The bedroom is the sleeping-room where the bed is placed. As a rule, this faces the windows. The decoration cannot be too rich, but this does not mean an overloading of ornament, as the best adornment consists of panels, mirrors and pictures well distributed. The large mirror is hung between the two windows opposite the bed, and below it is placed a console-table of gilded wood with a marble slab. Each window is furnished with a seat and has glass panes and an outside railing. On each side of the window, in the corners of the room, are pilasters, like those that decorate the rest of the room. Opposite the chimney-piece is another glass, beneath which stands a rich commode. Pictures are placed over the doors and mirrors.

171The bedroom may also be hung with tapestries of silk like the hangings of the bed. The pattern should be of large floral branches and leaves.

The chambre de parade demands the handsomest kind of furniture. Here visits of ceremony are received. A magnificent bed stands here in a rich alcove, or is separated by a balustrade from the rest of the room. The railing is quite high, gilded, and terminates in Corinthian columns. Carved panels with pilasters, painted white and brightened with gold, decorate the walls. A rich cornice, ornamented with consoles, and whose metopes are enriched with bas-reliefs and trophies, runs around these panels. The ceiling should be tastefully painted, and pictures, mirrors and handsome furniture should complete the decoration.

White and gold, according to D’Aviler, is the most elegant composition, especially if the wall behind the balustrade, where the bed is placed, is covered with a tapestry of blue silk, and the bed hung with blue and white curtains, ornamented with gold braid. The form of this room is important: (1) it must be deeper than wide, so that, if the space occupied by the bed is excepted, the room is square; (2) the windows must be opposite the bed; (3) the chimney-piece must mark the centre of the room and be exactly opposite the principal entrance.

As a rule, the salon is rectangular. Its proportions are 4 to 3 or 2 to 1. There are square, round, oval and octagonal salons. Sometimes Corinthian columns are used for decoration and to frame the mirrors and pictures. The decoration is left largely to the taste of the owner, 172but whatever is chosen must be of great richness and charm, because the salon is supposed to be “a retreat after a day spent in hunting or after a walk.” Here the inmates and guests gather to enjoy the evening with cards or conversation and light refreshments.

The cabinet is a little room in the apartment, consecrated to study. It should be secluded and removed from all noise. As a rule, it is between the ante-chamber and the bedroom. The morning hours are usually passed in the cabinet. The servants go into the bedroom through the exits by the bed, and the master or mistress is undisturbed in his cabinet, which is decorated in the simplest kind of fashion so as not to take the thought away from study. Sometimes the cabinet consists of three little rooms, one arrière-cabinet where books, etc., are kept and which is very private (cabinet secret); the next is a serre-papier, where titles, contracts, business papers and money are kept; while the third is a kind of wardrobe and toilet-room, which communicates with the bedroom, and has an exit for the servants. The name cabinet is also given to the room where the ladies make their toilette, have their oratory, or take their noonday rest.

The garde-robe is the room where the clothes are kept and where the body-servants sleep. Some architects like a chimney-piece here, for the sake of an occasional fire.

Such is the arrangement and decoration of the large apartments. It will be noticed that carved panels, with or without pilasters, and panelled doors surmounted by paintings or panes of glass occur in nearly every 173room. The wall decorations are important. D’Aviler says:

“The paintings in the spaces above the doors or other parts of the room should, especially in the first rooms, show the qualities of the master, or his exploits, so as to announce by these allegories the respect due to the person who lives there.”

One of the favourite ways of arranging the bedroom, particularly for the small apartment, was to place the bed in a niche, from which circumstance the room received the name of chambre en niche. D’Aviler describes it as follows:

“As for the chambre en niche, the bed is viewed from the front; an arm-chair may stand on either side, the alcove being ten to eleven feet wide. If it is smaller, the bed must be turned sideways, and the width of the alcove must not be more than the length of the bed, its depth also being restricted to the breadth of the bed. (See Plate XXIX.) This will cause it to be called a niche, and the room will also receive the same name. In this case, for the sake of symmetry, a false bolster is placed at the foot of the bed, which has caused it to be called the two-bolster bed (lit à deux chevets). These rooms are usually covered with carpentry, all the mouldings and ornaments of which are gilded. Sometimes people content themselves with varnish.”

D’Aviler, however, greatly prefers the chambre en alcove to the chambre en niche, and goes on to explain that the alcove is the part of the bedroom in which the bed is placed. “Usually the top of it is formed by a parallel headpiece of carpentry work, accompanied by 174two other panels vertical or perpendicular to it. Sometimes, also, it is separated from the rest of the room by an estrade, or by several columns or other architectural ornaments. This makes quite a fine effect, and it is susceptible of great decoration. Besides the magnificence in sculpture, painting and gilding, of which the panels are susceptible, the back of the alcoves may also be adorned with mirrors; which light up the room and do away with the deep shadows which a bed almost always produces in a room. This kind of strengthening has a peculiar usefulness when it is well placed or arranged in a room; there is then enough space remaining on both sides for small wardrobes, or at least entrances into other wardrobes. The alcove is thus accompanied by two doors with glass in them to admit light into these little wardrobes, and they may be very richly decorated.”

In Blondel’s Maisons de plaisance (1734), he gives us a very clear insight into the arrangement and furnishing of a fashionable, though somewhat modest, house of the period. We cannot do better than paraphrase his recommendations.

As the building is intended to receive only a few people at a time, all the rooms, with the exception of the Salon, in case of a reception, are not very large.

“The vestibule is graceful in form; in the four angles are niches with statues. The four doors are symmetrically arranged. The outside door faces that leading to the Salon. This room is high in proportion to its size. The decoration is of woodwork, painted white, without gilding, because it is so situated as to serve as a passage 175to the outer rooms around it. However, the servants having the vestibule for retirement and the Salon being then able to be occupied by the masters, it is therefore adorned with pictures, sculpture and mirrors. In cold weather, there is a fire here for those who want to warm themselves after their different amusements, the apartments to the right and left being reserved for the relaxation of the masters of the house.

“On the right of the Salon is a room for play. Opposite the windows that light it, is a niche for a sofa, and in the two angles are recesses for cabinets for holding the chess, tric-trac, counters, etc. Opposite the chimney-piece, the wall is panelled and carved, the ornaments being varnished and gilded.

“All these small rooms being intended for recreation of the mind, nothing should be neglected to render the decoration fine and gay. It is here that genius may soar and abandon itself to the vivacity of its caprices, whilst in the apartments de parade it must restrict itself to the most rigid rules of conduct and good taste, and not fall into the unrestrained liberties of the carving of to-day, which should be banished with all the more reason that true architects scarcely tolerate them in the rooms we are now describing.

“This play-room leads into another one where coffee is served. Here Indian and Chinese plants and figures have full licence to take part in the decoration: here they are naturally befitting; and, in my opinion, this is the sole place where they should be admitted.

“Next we enter a cabinet en niche, oval in form, which is lighted by a glass door that leads into a little bosquet, 176which serves as a private promenade for this chamber. Opposite this door is a chimney-piece in an arcade which matches the arcade in which the lit en niche is contained, and opposite which another of the same form is imitated, or the door leading into this room. In this doorway is a staircase leading up to the entresols that are over this room and a little room behind it, which are intended for the servants’ sleeping-rooms.

“From the coffee-room you enter a gallery that terminates the right side of this building. This gallery is symmetrically decorated, and the spaces between the windows are enriched with mirrors and consoles on which are placed various curios, such as bronzes, crystals, porcelains, etc.

“To the right of the Salon is a billiard room of a shape appropriate to its use. Ornaments, mirrors and pictures rarely form part of the decoration of this kind of a room on account of the accidents incidental to this game; and the walls are simply covered with large panelling.

“This billiard room leads into a room which in turn leads into a chambre en niche; it may be ornamented with tapestries above a wainscot. As for the chambre en niche, its walls should be covered with carpentry work all the way up. This will preserve it from the humidity it might have, being on the ground floor, and which always attacks apartments that are not constantly occupied. The decoration is perfectly symmetrical. To combine pleasure and convenience, I have arranged close to it a small garde-robe that is lighted from and opens into a little court. On each side of the 177niche that contains the bed, there is a door; one serves as a passage into the garde-robe, and the other opens into a recess for keeping the linen in and keeping under key whatever the master desires.

“The dining-room on the right of the vestibule is of an irregular form. The chimney-piece faces the two windows; the angles of the superfices on which it is placed are rounded, and in them I have placed niches for marble tables, on which can be set the silver, crystal and dessert, during the repast, and afterwards be put away in the closet next to this room.

“On the other side of the vestibule, is the common room in which the servants dine. Next to it come the kitchens.”

When the dining-room is separate from the suite, it is usually situated on the ground floor, near the large stairway. The architects of the day insisted that it should be well lighted, and, if possible, open upon a garden. The floor was of parquetry, and the walls wainscotted in oak and sometimes carved; yet it was not unusual to have the panels carved, painted white and gilded. The buffet with its fountain and wine-cooler was the centre of attraction. The curtains were of silk, the chairs were upholstered and the floor warmed by a carpet or rugs laid. On the mantel-piece stood a clock and candelabra, and sconces and chandelier holding many candles brightly illuminated the rooms.

One of the changes of this reign was the appearance of the petit salon and boudoir, smaller rooms beautifully 178and comfortably furnished, which were more adapted for intimate social life.

“In order to find useful furniture,” says Jacquemart, “we must pass to the reign of Louis XV., the king who deserted the state apartments for by-places with secret doors and back staircases.”

The Palais Soubise in Paris, the ancient home of the Guises, and the home of the Prince de Soubise, a favourite of Louis XV. and a devoted friend of Madame de Pompadour, is happily extant. The Prince de Soubise took for his second wife, his cousin, Anne Julie Charbot de Rohan, so celebrated for her beauty and her intrigues. The embellishments at the Hôtel de Soubise were begun by them in 1704 and continued by their son, the Duc de Rohan, who died in 1749, and the decorations of this mansion are considered among the triumphs of the “élégances raffinées” of the Eighteenth Century. Germain Boffrand, a pupil of Mansart, is responsible for the interior architecture.

The two floors in which the Prince and Princess had their apartments were laid out identically. The Prince occupied the rez-de-chaussée, or ground-floor, consisting of a bedroom, a Salon oval and ante-chambers, etc.

The bedroom communicated directly with the Salon oval and the many windows and glass doors of the latter opened upon a formal French garden. The decorations of these rooms were in the pale grey tone known as gris de lin. There were no bright colours and no mythological pictures of love and gallantry. The panels were laden with beautiful wood carvings, and in the upper part between the archivolts of the doors and 179windows were eight allegorical groups representing the arts and sciences. Music, Justice, Painting and Poetry, History and Fame were painted by Lambert Sigisbert Adam; and Astronomy, Architecture, Comedy and the Drama by Jean Baptiste Lemoine.

The Princess’s apartments above consisted likewise of a bedroom, Salon oval, and an antechamber. The bedroom was lighted by two windows that looked upon an interior court. In the cornices and in the centre of the panels were groups of figures inspired by the stories of Greek mythology. On the piers, a skillful carver related the amorous adventures of Venus and Adonis, Semele and Jupiter, Europa and the Bull, and Argus and Mercury. In the four corners of the ceilings, the gilded medallions represented Diana, Leda, Ganymede and Hebe; and, finally, in the cornice, stucco figures of almost natural size stood out boldly. They formed four groups. Between the windows, Bacchus and Ariadne were represented; in the depth of the alcove, Diana and Endymion, and at the side of the Salon Oval, Pallas and Mercury,—opposite to Venus and Adonis. Innumerable little Cupids, bearing attributes of sciences, arts and letters were everywhere. Over each door was a painted panel: one, by Boucher represented the Graces presiding at Cupid’s Education, the other, signed Trémolières and dated 1737, Minerva teaching a Young Girl the Art of Making Tapestry. In the back of the room, standing out from the red damask of the alcove, were two pastorals by Boucher, with shepherds in satin garments, and shepherdesses in panier-skirts, and beribboned sheep. All the frames, so graceful in sweeping 180curves, were in delightful harmony with this subject, adding as Jules Guiffrey says, “a fantastic piquancy to these mythological gallantries.”

“The Oval room,” says the same art critic, “will always remain one of the most artistic models of the Eighteenth Century; and everybody knows that the period of Louis XV. carried the science of decoration to its last limit.” The chief paintings were done by Charles Natoire in 1737–1739, and describe the story of Cupid and Psyche in the most charming colours; but, still quoting from M. Guiffrey, “the details of the ornaments of the salon oval defy all description. You must study in detail the entwinings of the rosace, the little cupids clothed in a beautiful coating of gold, all different in gesture, attitude and expression, to gain an idea of the infinite resources of the designers and sculptors of the time.”

The original chimney-piece was removed to the Tuileries, where it was burned. The floor originally was incrusted in the style of Boulle’s furniture, in branches of copper and pewter.

The boudoir is generally smaller than the average room of the period. The ceiling should be painted in the style of Boucher, with a pale sky scattered with clouds, garlands and Cupids. The cornices are white and gold, and the cartouches flowered and gilt. The doors are white and gold, and ornamented with painted motives very light. The panels of the wall are covered with silk, bearing flowers and birds on a pale rose, blue, or lilac background. The nails are covered with a harmonious braid. The alcove, or niche, is hung with the 181same material as the panels, and the cornice matches the other woodwork. Opposite the alcove is the window, the cornice of which repeats that of the alcove, and from it fall the curtains, made of the same material as the wall panels and alcove draperies, heavily wadded and lined with silk. They are surmounted by a light drapery, caught into festoons here and there, ornamented with shells or knots of the same stuff, and tassels or bell-shaped balls of silk. The under curtains are white lace, and the heavy curtains are looped back by means of light tassels of various hues. A scarf of drapery falls on either side of the alcove, the cornice of which sometimes is decorated with pommes. Below this is a valance corresponding with the valance at the base of the lit de repos that is placed within it. The chimney-piece is white marble, surmounted by a mirror with a frame of gilded wood carved richly in palms, flowers, birds, shells, etc. Upon it should stand a clock and two small candelabra of like design, or of Sèvres or Dresden porcelain. Opposite the chimney is a similar mirror, below which is a pier table or a commode. The carpet is Aubusson of light colours, and the doors, if preferred, can be hung with portières agreeing with the window curtains.

Sofas, easy-chairs, arm-chairs, secretaries, small tables, corner-cupboards and chiffonnières are all appropriate to the boudoir, which may be heated with a wood fire on bright andirons, or by a grate. The light is supplied by candles.

A book called La Petite Maison (1758) contains a description of the furnishings of a wealthy home in the height of the reign of Louis XV.

182Taking the dining-room first, we find that the walls are in stucco of many colours, made by the famous Milanese worker in stucco, Clerici, who made the Salon de Neuilly for the Comte d’Argenson and the Rendez-vous de chasse de Saint-Hubert for the King. In the compartments were bas-reliefs of stucco, the work of the sculptor Falconet. They represented the feasts of Comus and Bacchus; and the King’s sculptor Vassé had adorned the pilasters with twelve trophies, representing the pleasures of the chase, fishing and good cheer. On each of these trophies was fixed a torchère of gilded bronze, bearing a six-branched girandole, which could make this fine room as bright as day.

In the adjoining small cabinet, in which coffee was served, the panels were painted of a sea-green hue with picturesque subjects brightened with gold. In this room were a number of baskets filled with fleurs d’Italie. The furniture was covered with embroidered moiré. Next came the cabinet de jeu. Here the walls were done in Chinese lacquer; the furniture was also of lacquer, with rich Oriental material finely embroidered. The girandoles were of rock crystal, and upon finely carved and gilded brackets were valuable porcelains from Saxony and Japan. A thick-piled carpet was spread upon the floor. This room communicated by two doors with the dining-room and the boudoir. The door into the latter was disguised by a portière of tapestry.

The salon, which opened out upon the garden, was circular, arched en calotte and painted by Hallé, a French painter, who much resembled Boucher. The panels were painted in lilac and framed by very large mirrors. 183The space above the door was also painted by Hallé in a mythological design. The lustre and the girandoles were of Sèvres porcelain, with supports of gilded bronze or moulu.

The bedroom, square in form and à pans, was lighted by three windows that looked upon the garden,—an “English garden” it was. It ended in an arch, and this arch contained in a circular frame a picture representing Hercules in the arms of Morpheus, awakened by Love, painted by Pierre. The panels were imprinted with a pale sulphur. The parquet was marquetry of the odorous woods of amaranth and cedar. In the four corners of the room were mirrors, and beneath them console-tables with marble tops, upon which were arranged with great taste fine porcelains, handsome bronzes and marbles. The bed was draped in a material from Pekin, jonquil colour, ornamented with the gayest hues; and was enclosed in a niche or alcove, which communicated both with the garde-robe and bath-room. The garde-robe was hung with gourgouran (a kind of silk from India), gros vert, on which were hung rare prints by Cochin, Lebas and Cars. The furniture here consisted solely of ottomans, sultanes and duchesses.

In the bath-room, marbles, porcelains and muslin were not stinted. The panels were covered with arabesques executed by Pérot after designs of Gillot, and distributed in compartments with much taste. Marine plants mounted in bronze by Caffieri, pagodas, crystals and shells decorated the room. In it were two niches: in one was a silver bathtub; in the other a bed draped in Indian muslin, embroidered and adorned with tassels. 184This was a lit de repos, and at its side opened the dressing-room. The panels here were painted by Huet, the designs being medallions, garlands of flowers, birds, fruits, and some gallant subject in the style of Boucher. The upper part was finished with a cornice, surmounted by architectural motives that also bordered a surbased calotte containing a mosaic of gold, with bouquets of flowers painted by Bachelier. Natural flowers filled the bowls of porcelain gros bleu, ornamented with gold. Furniture, gros bleu, the wood of which was aventurine, had been finished by Martin. The toilet service was of silver, made by the goldsmith Germain.

The boudoir was, perhaps, the most elaborate of all the rooms. The walls were completely covered with mirrors, whose joinings were masqued and disguised by the trunks of artificial trees massed and arranged so that they formed a quincunx that one might believe real. These trees were loaded with flowers of porcelain and gilded girandoles, which produced, with their rose-coloured and blue candles, a soft and diaphanous light, reflected, but moderated by the transparent gauze that had been spread over the mirrors at the back of the room, where there reigned a voluptuous twilight. In the niche, also covered with mirrors, was a lit de repos enriched with gold braid and accompanied with cushions of all sizes. The parquet was of rosewood. All the carpentry work and carving was painted by Dardillon, who, in painting and gilding the panels, had mingled with the colours some odorous ingredients for the purpose of having them exhale a perfume. This boudoir was thus a natural bouquet, exhaling from its paintings 185and gilding the combined perfume of violet, jasmin and rose.

One wishing to furnish a room in the Louis XV. style could hardly find a better model than the following that dates from 1730. This had a furnishing of Lyons brocade of jonquil-coloured background embossed with silver flowers, designed by Lallié, and trimmed with braid, lace, and silver fringe. The set consisted of a bed, two fauteuils, two square cushions, six folding-stools, a screen, a folding-screen, wall-hangings, and four portières. The window-curtains were of plain jonquil taffeta, trimmed at the sides and top with silver lace, and at the bottom with a silver fringe. Each curtain was 13 feet, 10 inches long, divided into two parts, each part containing two lengths. The four portières of jonquil and silver brocade were lined with jonquil taffeta. Each was in two parts, each of three lengths (2⅓ ells long), and trimmed like the window-curtains. The wall-hangings were trimmed with silver braid. They comprised 24 lengths, 10⅔ ells around the course, which was 3¼ ells high. The fauteuils were of the typical style with wavy top rail, curving arms with cushions on the elbows and bombé fronts. The frames were richly carved and silvered. These chairs were covered with jonquil brocade and trimmed with silver braid and fringe. The square cushions of the same brocade were trimmed with silver braid and had a silver tassel at each corner. The frames of the folding-stools were carved and gilt; the seats were covered with jonquil brocade. The screens were also covered with the same material, which was tacked on by silver-headed nails upon silver braid. The bed was magnificent. 186It was 11 feet, 8 inches high, 6 feet long and 5½ feet wide. The draperies were exclusively of the jonquil brocade lined with jonquil taffeta and trimmed with silver braid and silver fringe. The draperies consisted of three inside and four outside valances enriched with embroidery. The latter were gracefully looped in irregular festoons and trimmed with a silver braid. Silver braid arranged in the form of shells fastened the curtains back to the columns. The headboard was embroidered in silver with designs of flowers and peacock feathers in high relief. The Imperial, or canopy, to which were attached the inside valances, was lined with jonquil taffeta and trimmed with silver braid. Four “pommes” in the shape of vases covered with jonquil brocade trimmed with silver, supported by leaves and scrolls of embroidery, held four “bouquets,” containing altogether 120 plumes and four aigrettes.

The furnishings of the bed were luxurious in the extreme. It was supplied with four woollen mattresses covered with some jonquil-hued material, a down bolster covered with white taffeta, a scarlet ratteen blanket of Holland manufacture, another blanket of white wool bordered with jonquil ribbon, a counterpane of Marseille piqué, and a quilted and wadded counterpane of white satin. The outside ornamental counterpane was of jonquil and silver brocade lined with jonquil taffeta and trimmed with silver braid and fringe.

Another suggestion for furnishing may be gained from a description of Madame de Pompadour’s room at the Château de Saint-Hubert, which was furnished in 1762 with a rich damask from India of green and white 187stripes. The two fauteuils and six chairs with backs were covered with this material, ornamented with a braid of assorted silks. The wood of the frames was carved and painted green and white. A small tabouret, a little footstool, and a fauteuil en confessional^[17] with its cushion were similarly covered and had also carved frames painted white and green. There was also a fauteuil de toilette made of beech and cane, the cushion and back of which were covered with green and white damask. There was a folding-screen covered with the same damask on both sides and ornamented with silk tassels. The carved frame was also painted green and white. The one portière in the room contained three lengths of the same damask, two ells in length, and was lined with white taffeta and trimmed with silk braid. The toilet-table was covered with a piece of the same damask, 7 feet, 4 inches long, lined with white taffeta and ornamented at each corner with a tassel of green and white silk. The window curtains were in two parts, each part containing two lengths of white silk (gros de Tours), 2½ ells long, trimmed with a braid of green and white silk.

The bed was completely draped in the same damask. It had four columns, headboard and footboard, and “imperial” or canopy (with four outside and four inside valances) four curtains en cantonnières, containing altogether twenty lengths, with four silk cords to attach them; the counterpane, three lower valances, four sheaths for the pillows, and four pommes were trimmed with silk fringe.

188This bed stood on castors, and was 4½ feet wide; 6 feet, 3 inches long; and 8 feet high. Three mattresses, a down-bed, two down bolsters, soft woollen blankets bordered with ribbons, a piqué Marseilles counterpane, and a white satin coverlet, were among its comfortable furnishings.

In this room were also two commodes of rosewood veneered and set with mosaics, the tops of violet breccia marble. In front were two drawers. The length was 3½ feet; the width 20 inches; and the height 32 inches. The mounts, trimmings and shoe of the leg were of bronze gilt or moulu. The writing-table was of rosewood inlaid with flowers of violet wood, with flap to let down. This was covered with black leather. On the right, it had a drawer that contained writing-materials. All the mounts and feet were of bronze gilt. This table was 26 inches high, 23 inches long and 15 inches wide.

A night-table was also in this apartment. It was 20 inches long, 13 inches wide and 32 inches high. It was of violet wood and rosewood, the top, a slab of breccia marble from Aleppo, the height 32 inches; the length, 20 inches; and the width 13 inches. The shoes of the feet and the ring-handles were of gilt bronze or moulu.

The room was heated by means of a grate, on each side of which was represented a child holding a bouquet. The depth was 22 inches. The shovel and tongs were gilded.

A peculiar feature was a niche en tabouret for two dogs, covered with the same damask of white and green, the 189wood painted white and green. Within it were two mattresses covered with white linen.

The furniture of Madame la Princesse de Talmont’s apartment at the Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye in 1771 consisted of a bed, two settees, eight arm-chairs, two banquettes, two screens, three commodes, four writing-tables, a night-table, a bidet, three chairs, two corner-cupboards, three mirrors and two portières. The wall-hangings were white Chinese satin with figures, flowers, and animals richly embroidered in coloured silks. The same material was used for the bed, screens, sofas and chairs, but the two portières (10 feet, 9 inches long) were of white taffeta trimmed with a silk braid of many colours. The bed, a lit à impériale et à la duchesse, was composed of three outside valances of green taffeta ornamented with a deep lace of gold arranged in festoons; the four inside valances were trimmed in the same style with a narrower gold lace, and these, as well as the ceiling, back, headboard, bonnes grâces, counterpane, and three lower valances were of the white satin embroidered with figures and trimmed with gold lace. There were also two curtains of white taffeta lined with serge. The bed itself with its canopy crosswise was 5 feet, 4 inches wide, 6½ feet long, and 12½ feet high and was equipped with three mattresses, a feather bed and feather bolster. The spread was a Marseilles piqué. The two sofas were each 6 feet long of sweeping and bombé curves, the arms also rounded and adorned with the small cushion on top (manchette). The material was fastened to the frames with silver nails. Each had a mattress and two square 190pillows, also covered with the embroidered satin. The eight arm-chairs, the two banquettes and one screen were covered in the same style.

The folding-screen of six leaves, was 4 feet high. It was also covered with the same material, and its frame, like the wood of the rest of the furniture already described, was carved and varnished.

One of the mirrors had a border of carved leaves gilded. Its glass was 28 inches high and 21 inches wide. The other two had a gilded border, 4 inches wide; the glass of each was 26 inches high and 20 inches wide. The three commodes were à la Régence, violet and rosewood veneered. Each was surmounted by a slab of Flemish marble, and contained one large and two small drawers. All the mounts, locks, friezes, ornamental chutes, and feet were of bronze gilt. They were 34 inches high, about 4½ feet long, and 22 inches deep. Two of the writing-tables were of violet-wood and rosewood veneered with cross-grained contrasts and on the right side each had a drawer with lock, that contained an inkstand and other writing materials. One contained in front a little shelf or flap, 2½ feet wide, covered with black leather and had gilt bronze feet; the other was ornamented outside with flowers applied and was 2 feet long, about 18 inches wide and 26 inches high. The other writing tables were 2 feet long, 15 inches wide, and 26 inches high. The night-table was of cherry-wood inlaid with threads of amaranth wood with a slab of Flemish marble. This was 27 inches high, 17 inches long and 11 inches deep. The bidet, 18 inches long, 15 inches wide and 10 inches high, was of cherry. 191Its top was a tabouret colored with red leather put on with gilt nails. The two corner cupboards were of various Indian woods veneered, and had tops of Flemish marble. In front were two doors that locked. The feet and ornamental metal and key-plates were of bronze gilt; these were about 30 inches high and were surmounted by a series of four shelves, 28 inches high and 11 inches square.

In 1729, a complete set of “Persian” furniture consists of hangings for the wall, a lit de repos, four fauteuils à bergère, two chairs with backs, two portières and a window-curtain. The “Persian” was a kind of figured chintz with a white background. The lit de repos en Ottoman was 10 feet long and 3 feet deep, and was equipped with a mattress, 2 bolsters and 6 square cushions, all covered with “Persian.” The two portières were of two lengths, each 7 feet, and were trimmed with a blue and white silk braid, and lined with white English taffeta. The window-curtain of the same was 7 feet, 10 inches long, containing three lengths. The seats were all covered similarly.

In 1730, a furnishing for a cabinet described as “mi-party of brocade of silver background on which are gold branches outlined in musk-colour, and crimson damask trimmed with gold,” consisted of wall-hangings, a niche, two portières, two lits de repos, an arm-chair, twelve folding-stools and six small and low folding-stools. The two portières were in two parts each; each half containing three half-lengths of brocade and two lengths of damask (3 ells long), trimmed all around with a deep gold braid and lined with crimson taffeta.

192“The niche, in the form of an armoire, serving as a shelter for a lit de repos,” was hung outside with five lengths of brocade and three of damask (8 feet, 7 inches high), trimmed at the top, bottom and sides with a golden braid. Inside were five lengths of brocade and four of damask. Two curtains hung before the niche, each containing three half-lengths of the brocade and two lengths of damask (8 feet, 4 inches high). These were trimmed with gold braid and fringe, and lined with crimson taffeta. There were also two valances for the niche, one outside and one inside. The outside one was of the brocade and damask mi-party, the inside one of crimson damask. They were bordered with gold braid and fringe. Above the niche were four carved vases of flowers to serve as “pommes.”

The lit de repos that was placed in the niche was 6 feet long and 2½ feet wide. It was furnished with two mattresses, two bolsters and two square pillows. The valances and coverings were of the brocade and damask, trimmed with gold braid and fringe. The cushions were ornamented with gold tassels. The other lit de repos, 7 feet long and 2½ feet wide, was similarly draped. The fauteuil and folding-stools were covered with a square of crimson damask, bordered with a band of the silver and gold brocade. The frames were painted red, picked out with gold.

A furnishing of 1730 was of lemon-coloured leather, framed in red leather in large compartments, bordered with a narrow braid and cord of silver. The furniture included a sofa, two forms, twelve tabourets and a folding-screen of six leaves. The sofa was 7 feet, 1938 inches long, 25 inches deep and 3 feet, 9 inches high from top to floor. The frame was carved and lacquered, and the leather was fastened to it by means of silver-headed nails. The screen was covered in the same fashion.

We also hear of a set of furnishings, dating from 1732, of white silk with a pattern of honeysuckle branches, with other ornaments forming cartouches of cut-out green taffeta. This was used for covering two arm-chairs, two square pillows, twelve folding-seats, and two screens, as well as for draping the bed and for the wall-hangings. The latter were 3 ells high in 27 lengths. The arm-chairs were trimmed with green silk braid, and the material was fastened by gilt-headed nails to the frames, which were carved and gilt, with curving arms and backs. They were furnished with square cushions, which were adorned with green silk fringe and green silk tassels. The bed was Impériale et à la Duchesse, and stood lengthwise. It was 12 feet high, 6 feet, 10 inches long, and 5 feet, 8 inches wide. It was draped with three outside valances, four inside valances, festooned, a headboard with sweeping top, inside and outside bonnes grâces, counterpane, three lower valances and two curtains of 16 lengths each. All of these were of the white silk with the honeysuckle pattern and green cartouches. The bonnes grâces were looped back and held by two ornamental hooks. On the top of the bed there were four consoles for “pommes,” bearing altogether eighty feathers.

This bed was equipped with four woollen mattresses, a down bolster, a red blanket, a white English blanket, 194a Marseilles counterpane piqué, a wadded quilt and a coverlet of white silk lined with taffeta.

The cabinet was furnished in the same material, which was used for two portières, two window curtains, a sofa, two arm-chairs, twelve folding-stools and two screens. The sofa was 6 feet long, with curving wings or cheeks, the frame carved and gilt. It had a mattress and two square cushions. The portières, 9 feet, 7 inches long, were lined with white silk, each containing three lengths of material. The windows were 12 feet, 10 inches high, and the curtains contained each two lengths.

The above detailed descriptions will enable anybody to furnish a Louis XV. room in the most fashionable and sumptuous style.

At no period in the history of art have the masters of decoration given proof of more science and skill in the technique of curves than during the Louis XV. period. Some of the skeletonized curves with which Meissonier and his school loved to adorn mouldings and the framework of all kinds of furniture are shown on Plate XXXII., Nos. 2, 3, 4 and 5. These elements were elaborated in a hundred various ways. This kind of curved ornament used on large pieces of furniture is exemplified in the sketch No. 1 on the same plate. This is a big china cupboard, or double-bodied buffet-vitrine. It is far more sober in its ornamentation than many objects of this class of the Louis XV. period. It was made in Liège.

On the same plate is a beautiful bras de lumière in gilded bronze by Caffieri, with arms for candles. The branches twisted in moulded volutes, enriched with acanthus, palm 195and oak leaves, flowers and buds, spring with masterly management from a central stem which is robust and in entire harmony with the dimensions of the whole. It is about 32 inches high.

The change from the Louis XV. to the Louis XVI. style, though marked, was by no means violent or sudden. Chairs and settees are often found with clearly defined transitional features in the mouldings and ornamentation of the framework. Some of the Fontainebleau furniture covered with tapestry from Boucher’s designs has the straight grooved leg and other Louis XVI. characteristics. On Plate XXXVI., Nos. 3, 4, 5 and 7 are shown the details of a charming causeuse of the transitional period. The general disposition preserves the undulous flexions of the Louis XV. style, and the details of the carving (bunches of flowers) obey the law that proscribes those parts that are too prominent and likely to form too sharp angles. The central cluster on the top of the back, No. 3, soberly follows in its flowers and leaves the Louis XVI. sweep, being in very low relief like the cluster No. 4 that heads the middle leg. The general interlacings that run round the entire framework are also in very low relief. This motive, borrowed from passementerie, harmonizes excellently with the surfaces covered by the woven stuff. No. 5 shows the sections, curves and deep grooves of the mouldings of the arms.

Towards the end of the Louis XV. period, the feet and general outlines of the chairs and other furniture become more restrained and less curved. The straight line that gradually asserts itself, and the knots of ribbon, shepherds’ 196and shepherdesses’ hats, crowns and garlands that appear as motives announce the coming style Louis Seize.

The bed was of many varieties. The great lit d’ange is still met with, but alcove and sofa-beds are far more popular. One of the new varieties of the latter was the lit d’anglaise, which seems to have come into fashion about 1750. This had three backs, or rather a back and a headboard and footboard. In his Principes de l’art du tapissier, Bimont says “the lit d’anglaise can be used as a sofa at need. Care must be taken that the backs fold exactly one over the other, which, of course, is a matter of mechanical excellence.”

The lit à la polonaise had four columns and a canopy. Sometimes the canopy was decorated with a little graceful carving. A “pomme” or a bunch of feathers, ornamented the centre and each corner of the canopy. Houdon, the sculptor, had a lit à la polonaise draped in yellow Indian damask trimmed with braid, the woodwork of which was carved and painted white. One of these beds, with a carved and gilt frame hung with crimson damask, was sold for 3,000 livres in 1770; another, for 2,500 livres in 1777; and a third for 1,100 livres in 1782. Sometimes the frames were made entirely of iron and draped.

The lit de duchesse was also popular. In 1743, when the Queen’s bedroom was refurnished for Marie Leczinska, a lit de duchesse was provided. The Duc de Luynes says: “This bed is of white silk, embroidered and painted. The bed is not composed of four posts, as all the Queen’s beds have been up to the present. It is what is called à la duchesse.”

197Another favourite was the lit en ottamane which dates from about 1765. One is described as a “lit en ottomane” of 5 feet, the dome and the rest of the woodwork carved and gilt and the counterpane, the curtains and the interior of cherry-coloured Indian damask.

Another, in 1770, was of “blue and white moiré, 3½ feet wide, en ottomane, the wood carved and picked out with blue.” The lit en ottomane was a variety of the lit de repos.

The lit à romaine, which became popular about 1760, had a canopy and four festooned curtains. The lit à tulipe was similar to the lit à arc, or lit à flèche; only, instead of an ornamental arrow fixed to its pavilion, its decoration was a bronze, copper or gilded tulip from the hanging bell of which the curtains seemed to fall. The lit à la Turque, in fashion from 1755 to 1780, was a sort of sofa with three backs; a variation was introduced about 1766. The lit à tombeau (see Plate XXXVI., No. 8) was also a favourite. The two posts at its foot were shorter than the two at the head, and the canopy had in consequence a somewhat sharp slant. It much resembles what in England was called a “single-headed couch or field bed.” The lit à double tombeau had posts of equal height and the curtains fell down the sides in equal slants.

We also find among the beds of the day (1751) a lit en baldaquin of crimson damask, composed of a little canopy, two small and one large valances, a large headboard, counterpane, two backs and two hooks. It was 3½ feet wide and 6 feet long, and was equipped with two wool mattresses, a feather bed and two feather bolsters.

198Another lit en baldaquin had its canopy, two small and one large valances and headboard hung in green and white stripes while the two large curtains (5 lengths each, 7½ feet long) were of green serge.

A lit à chassis (canopy bed) was draped entirely in a green and white striped material. It was composed of a canopy, four small and three large valances, two lower valances, a headboard and a counterpane. The frame was 9 feet, 8 inches high, and 4 feet wide.

Another lit en chassis en l’air had its four small valances, headboard, counterpane, two large curtains and two bonnes grâces of green serge and its three large valances and three lower valances of green and white stripes.

The lit de repos, a kind of chaise longue or couch, made for lounging upon and of which examples have already been given on Plates VIII., XIII., XVIII. and XX., becomes in this reign even of greater importance. Sometimes two of them occur in a bedroom or boudoir. One of these is represented in the niche or alcove on Plate XXIX.

A suggestion for a beautiful alcove bed may be taken from one dating from 1732. This was equipped with a mattress, two bolsters and two square pillows, and had three backs, all covered and draped with white satin embroidered in poppies of natural hues, and ornamented with a braid of silk embroidery. The feet of the bed were in the form of consoles, carved and varnished. The room in which this was placed, also contained a fauteuil of beech, carved, upon the cane back and seat of which was a cushion covered with the poppy-embroidered 199satin. Two similar cushions furnished a chair of acacia and fine straw, and the same material was used to cover two banquettes or forms, of beech, carved and varnished, and having hinds’ feet.

The first alcove beds were called lits en niche, and they were always lits de boudoir rather than beds for the sleeping room. In many old designs, curtains are lacking and the bed is adorned merely with a lambrequin, or a drapery across the façade of the niche or alcove, this drapery being similar to the covering of the bed itself, which is sometimes in the form of a lit de repos or a sofa.

Some alcoves under the reign of Louis XV. contained a bed vu de pied that stood very low and whose feet projected into the room. One of this kind was in the Hôtel de Soubise; and the model may be seen in many old designs.

An extreme example of the rococo decoration of a bed is shown on Plate XXXIV. This is by J. J. Schübler, who died in Nuremberg in 1741. Schübler, an architect, painter, sculptor and mathematician, was also one of the most famous masters of decorative design of his day. His original drawings include French beds, cabinets, alcoves, grates, mantel-pieces, writing-tables, toilette-tables, clock-cases, commodes, chaises longues, dining-room tables, candlestands, dressoirs, lustres, étagères, consoles, jewel-cases, buffets, fountains, garden-ornaments and grottoes. His collection of 150 plates passed through twenty editions. His works often resemble those of Paul Decker, another celebrated German master, who died in Nuremberg in 1713; and, 200just as Decker is a German exponent of the late Louis XIV. emerging from the influence of Bérain and Lepautre into the style of the Regency, so Schübler exhibits the transitional stage between the Regency and Louis XV. as filtered through a German mind. Two of Decker’s designs are shown on Plate XXXIII., Nos. 1 and 2.

A bed of the late Louis XV. period also appears on Plate XXXIV., No. 2, showing the correct arrangement of the canopy and draperies above the sofa.

Window-curtains were of great importance. They hung from a cornice which was carved, more or less ornately, in curves, scrolls and other characteristic motives. Occasionally the curtains were of muslin or gauze, but more frequently of silk, damask, brocatelle or “Persian.” They were of a solid hue, or a mixture of two or three colours. The designs of these rich materials were much smaller in pattern, as a rule, than those of the preceding reign and they were far gayer in colour, for all the crimson, gros bleu, gros vert and other dark shades gave place to the light hues of rose, pale green, pale blue, jonquil, yellow, etc.

The shapes and folds into which the curtains were cut and draped were spirited, fantastic, and even coquettish, in order to harmonize with the general character of the decorations and furniture, and it required the greatest skill on the part of the decorators to loop and tie them into the correct knots, shells, “choux,” “volants,” etc., to give them the proper effect and light, half frivolous air.

The lambrequin, which was extremely popular, differed 201from that in use in the reign of Louis XIV. It was less severe and straight, being cut more freely in order to accord with the cornice that surmounted it. Instead of the rounded scallop, it often terminated in points, to each of which a tassel was hung. Braids took the place of lace in trimming, and the favourite fringe consisted of twisted strands of mixed colours. The ravelled-out fringe, long so popular, at last disappeared. An example of the pointed drapery is shown in the Schübler bed on Plate XXXIV.

The commode was universally used in the bedrooms and boudoirs. It generally stood opposite the mantel-piece. It is now a superb piece of furniture, being, as a rule, richly decorated with gilt bronze or moulu and often painted and lacquered in the Chinese taste,—in Vernis Martin. It was the famous Cressent who made the Commode à la Régence, à la Chartres, à la Bagnolet, à la Charolais, à la Harant and à la Dauphine fashionable. One of Cressent’s commodes, sold in 1761, was thus described by himself: “A commode of a pleasing contour, made of violet-wood, having four drawers and ornamented with bronze gilt, or moulu. This commode is a work (with regard to the bronzes) of an extraordinary richness; they are very well executed and the distribution of them very fine; among other things, you notice the bust of a Spanish woman placed between the four drawers; two dragons, whose tails turned up in relief form the handles for the two upper drawers, and the stems of two great leaves of a beautiful form are also turned up in relief to make handles for the two lower ones: you must admit that this commode is a veritable curiosity.”

202Another of Cressent’s commodes owned by the Baron Rothschild in London “is of a most elegant form upon which the bronzes of an extraordinary richness represent, on the front, two children swinging a monkey.” Jean Jacques Caffieri also made superb commodes. One of his, ornamented with superb bronzes in the rocaille style, is in the Wallace Collection which also owns a commode by Cressent. Sometimes the commode was ornamented with panels of rosewood, or violet-wood, or some other exotic product, framed in spiky bronze work, or again, it was of lacquer, the designs being flowers, leaves, Chinese pagodas and landscapes.

Two commodes are represented on Plate XXXV. The lower one is made of violet-wood with ornaments of chiselled copper, Nos. 2a and 2b show the handles and the end of another by Pinaud. This dates from 1750. The decorative details are of gilt copper and show the mascaron and gracefully twining leaves. The handles and key-plates are hidden by the ornaments. The key-plates of the two drawers are different, as will be noted. On the upper one, a woman’s head is represented, while the lower one has a fine shell. The third ornament below these is a shell with the favourite device of dripping water. A commode dressing-table appears as No. 12 on Plate XXXVI. The foot of a chest-of-drawers with beautiful ornamentation of chased and gilded copper, is on the same plate, No. 11. At this date the Cabinet de toilette is often called the Cabinet à la Poudre, the name not needing a definition when we recall the numerous pictures and caricatures of the fashionable lady seated before her glass, with her coiffeur, or femme de chambre, mounted on a 203stool, or ladder, busy working on the towering headdress. The toilet table was a commode or a simple table spread with linen, silk, or lace over silk, and above which was hung a glass. Frequently lace, muslin, chintz, or silk, was looped over the table and caught back by knots of ribbon, artificial flowers, or gilded figures of Cupids, or dolphins, or some favourite device of the day. The small chiffonnier with drawers, made of marquetry, or Vernis Martin, and ornamented with gilt bronze or moulu mounts, dates from this period.

The armoire is still in use. In 1760, we hear of the lower part of a large armoire in the form of a bookcase, of violet-wood veneered in mosaics. It was 7½ feet long, 4 feet high, and 26 inches deep. The interior was divided into three compartments and a long shelf covered with crimson watered silk. In front were three doors, the middle one of which was enriched with a large medallion, bronze gilt or moulu, representing Minerva holding in her right hand a compass with which she is measuring a globe, on a background of lapis lazuli painted. The other doors were decorated with trophies in bronze gilt or moulu representing mathematical instruments. On the ends were cartouches of bronze gilt or moulu of various Chinese plants. The bookcase was ornamented with hasps and mouldings also of bronze gilt or moulu and stood on six feet, the four front ones being square and the two in the back round.

The form is still in use. In 1750, the archives of Versailles mention: “seven formes de moquette with coloured flowers on a white background, 5 or 6 feet long, and from 2 to 4 feet, by 18 inches high, and 15 inches 204wide, nailed with gilded nails, to serve the Queen at the grand couvert.”

These were also known as banquettes as early as 1732. In 1770, there is mention for the service of the King, of “nine banquettes covered with crimson plush 6 feet long and 17 inches wide to be used at the grand couvert” also, in the same year, to serve in the Salle de spectacle amphithéâtre, four banquettes each having two elbows, covered with blue velvet garnished with gold braid nailed on with gilt nails, the wood painted blue picked out with gold.

The frames of the chairs and arm-chairs of this period were not only carved and gilt, but were painted or lacquered as well. Sometimes one colour only was used, which was brightened by threads of gold, or white, or some gay hue harmonizing, or contrasting, with the upholstery. Sometimes the wood was painted in several colours, and often, too, another kind of painting, known as camaïeux,^[18] was used. Simpler arm-chairs, and chairs that were met with in the drawing-room were of natural oak, or beech, polished with an encaustic. In the same room with the large arm-chairs smaller ones are often found. These were known as cabriolets, probably owing to the ease by which they were moved about, as well as to their shape. In general design, the cabriolet was like the large arm-chair, but it was even more curved, more arched, and more exaggerated than its parent. The elbows too were more wavy and were always of a most 205graceful sweep. At the beginning of this period, the back was of the form of a violin, but later the medallion form became more popular. The upholsterers studied the proportions of the smaller chair as they did the large one, and gave the seats less thickness and a more square, or a rounder effect, according to the form and proportions of the seat and back, as well as the curves of the whole frame. The small arm-chair was placed in front of, or at the side of, one of the great arm-chairs in the drawing-room or boudoir. The cabriolet had to agree with its large companion either in its frame, or else its covering had to be of the same material.

These chairs and sofas were upholstered with many of the textiles used in the reign of Louis XIV. One of the most popular coverings was Gobelin or Aubusson tapestry representing the graceful designs of Watteau, or Æsop’s Fables. Utrecht velvet and Lyons damask with floral designs were also popular, as well as silk brocaded with coloured flowers. Sometimes a braid or lace (a very favourite pattern being the rat-tooth, “dent de rat”) was used to hide the nails; but the material was also tacked to the frames by gilt-headed nails placed so close together that they touched one another.

Turning now to special descriptions of chairs at Versailles, we find in 1722, “two fauteuils of varnished walnut and open-work cane; the manchettes (elbow-cushions) and backs upholstered in lemon-coloured 206leather,” the backs curved; three fauteuils of varnished walnut wood and cane with sweeping backs and console feet, and carved with several ornaments; twelve chairs with backs, of cherry wood and open-worked cane, the backs having sweeping curves and feet in consoles, carved with various ornaments, including shells. The latter stood 39 inches high, including back, the seats measured 16 inches. In 1729, “six fauteuils of cane and cherry-wood carved with several ornaments and varnished, the backs curved and the elbows cushioned.” They were upholstered in red leather with a braid of gold, nailed with gilt-headed nails. Also “four fauteuils of beech-wood, varnished and cane, had curved and carved backs ornamented with a carved border all around the seat, the arms also carved at the ends.” These were upholstered in lemon-coloured leather fastened with silver-headed nails placed close together.

In 1730, there were “fourteen chaises à la Reine, covered with crimson and gold damask, the frames carved and gilt.” Also “three chaises à la Reine covered with crimson and gold damask nailed to the frames with gilt-headed nails, very close together, the frames painted red and gold;” also “four fauteuils and two tabourets of walnut covered with black leather;” and finally a chaise d’affaires, the frame on a background of black lacquer and “aventurine de Japon,” with landscapes and birds in relief in colours and gilt in the borders, a mosaic of mother-of-pearl and copper wire à la Chinoise. The chair was lined with red lacquer, and the cushion was green velvet. This remarkable chair was 19 x 15 inches wide and 19 inches deep. The chaise à 207la Reine, mentioned above, had a very low seat with a very high back.

In the same year, there are two fauteuils, Chinese style, painted at the Gobelins, with cartouches, representing figures, birds, Chinese houses, etc. The border was of carved and gilt wood, the feet hinds’ feet, the backs ending in a shell, and the seats and backs covered with crimson damask.

In 1736, two banquettes of beech-wood, delicately carved and varnished, 24 inches long, 14 inches deep and 15 inches high, have seats of cane, each supplied with a hair cushion covered on both sides with crimson damask, tufted. There were also three tabourets like the above, only shorter,—16 inches long, 14 inches deep and 16 inches high.

In 1737, a tall chair of beech lightly carved appears, the curved back filled with cane, and the seat, lemon-coloured velvet fastened with silver-headed nails, standing on four hinds’ feet. Two little chairs of gilt cane, the backs curved, the wood delicately carved and gilt are also mentioned.

In 1751, six chairs of fine straw were made, each with two cushions for the seat, the back of crimson damask, tufted; and six folding-stools covered with crimson damask garnished with a gold fringe, the wood painted red picked out with gold, for M. le Dauphin.

Several arm-chairs of a new shape appear. One, usually placed by the hearth near the fire, is of the “gondola” form. The ornamentation, of course, followed the general style of the room. This is the period at which they began to take the name of fauteuil de bergère, 208or marquise (see Plate XXXVI., No. 1). The bergère, or “burjair,” played a very important part in the new styles put forth by Chippendale, Ince and Mayhew, Heppelwhite and others. It was, as a general rule, quite large, wider than it was deep, and the seat was not very high from the floor. The bergère was sometimes accompanied by a tabouret, which was placed immediately in front of the chair, and made of it a kind of chaise longue.

In this reign arm-chairs were also made, especially for desks. Until this time, they always used any ordinary chair, or arm-chair at the desk. The new arm-chair for this purpose was of the “gondola” form, usually with back and seat of cane, the elbows adorned with cushions (manchette) and covered with leather. This chair spread out even more generously, and the legs were balanced as follows: one was placed directly under each elbow, a third directly in front, and the fourth in the centre of the back. Some of these arm-chairs were equipped with a removable leather cushion.

The first chaises comfortables followed the model of the gondola arm-chairs; the wood, or rather the moulding of the back, served as a framework for more or less simple garniture. The feet were either grooved, or of sabre form.

Dining-room chairs were specially designed, and followed the general form of the drawing-room chairs. As a rule, they are covered with leather. Tapestry is met with also, and “Persian.”

A fauteuil de commodité of the period is described as having a little mahogany desk attached to the right of 209the chair by means of a gilded steel support nicely divided into compartments for pens, ink, etc. On each side of the chair, two sconce-arms for candles were adjusted. The chair and cushion were covered with blue leather.

Leather was quite popular for covering furniture. One set, consisting of a sofa, two banquettes, twelve tabourets and a six-leaved screen, were upholstered in red leather, with applied ornaments of yellow leather edged with a narrow gold cord.

Characteristic chairs are shown on Plate XXIX. and Plate XXXIII., Nos. 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7. These are by Meissonier.

The very handsome canapé shown on Plate XXXII. is also one of Meissonier’s productions. This was designed for Count Bielenski. The frame was gilt.

The canapé confident consisted of a sofa which had from two to four places, and at each end by the elbows, there was another seat at the corner rounded off. It was supplied with an elbow at the other side. The effect was as if an arm-chair had been placed at each end of the sofa at right angles. It was a very popular piece of furniture.

The chaise longue is sometimes composed of two sections; one, a kind of very deep fauteuil with two elbows; the other, a kind of tabouret, which also had a small back against which the lounger placed his feet.

210Typical mirrors appear on Plates XXX., XXXIII., and XXXV. The full drawing on Plate XXXV. is the earliest, being an example of late Louis XIV. It is surrounded with an ornate border of carved and gilt wood, showing leaves, branches, stems and an indented fronton, surmounted by shells. It is interesting to compare this mirror with Chippendale’s on Plate XLII., which also has panels of glass. Nos. 1 and 2 on Plate XXXIII. come next in chronological order. These are by the German, Decker, to whom reference has been made on page 199. Both are dated 1700. The lower one has the mascaron, shell and chute of leaves, or husks, for its chief ornaments, while the scroll somewhat timidly, although strongly, asserts itself. This has no sconces. On the one above it the scroll is more assertive. The mascaron surmounts it, and the chute of leaves is much heavier and shorter. The three sconces, two of which only are visible, spring from the shell, but they have not become as yet very branched. The sconces really belong to the whole design in the example No. 1 on Plate XXXV., the chief decorations of which are the mascaron, the shell and the scroll. A still more elaborate specimen, by Pinaud, appears on Plate XXX., No. 2. The curve here is delightfully exhibited, almost as if the presiding genius in the winged helmet had taken a mischievous pleasure in its convolutions. Here we have not only the leafy scroll playfully twined, but the old ear-motive known to the decorators of the Louis XIII. age (see page 5) appears, through which a winged serpent, or dragon, twists,—himself a series of curves. Below the head of Mercury is carved his emblem,—the Caduceus. Another “illuminary” 211appears on Plate XXXVI., No. 2. No. 3 on Plate XXX. represents the frame of a large toilet mirror by P. Germain.

Another finely carved and gilded frame is that of the screen on Plate XXX., which dates from the Regency. It is composed of shells and scrolls, and a monkey sits on the top of each upright. Unfortunately, the feet have been lost, and the screen is supported on ordinary blocks of wood. The covering is of the same period as the frame. It is brocaded silk, with flowers, leaves and peacock feathers.

The mirror was not the only ornamental wall-decoration that was made use of to carry candles. Sometimes the bracket that held a china ornament, or ornaments, was pressed into this service. The “console for porcelain,” by Pinaud (No. 4, Plate XXX.), is furnished with a sconce-arm on either side of the pedestal that supports the handsome piece of china, or vase. Another “console for porcelain,” also by Pinaud, appears on the same plate as No. 6. This is purely for decoration and has no branches for illumination. Upon it stand a beaker and two small cups. The chief decorations are the mascaron, which here seems to have horns, and a snake, which twists himself around the two scrolls, placed back to back, and threatens the mascaron with open jaws.

Another beautiful frame for a rich piece of porcelain is shown on Plate XXX., No. 5. This is a species of pier-table and is a fine example of Meissonier’s Regency work. The straining-rails form a kind of bracket for a china vase, while the shelves above afford opportunity for the exhibition of smaller treasures.

212Another handsome piece of furniture for the display of porcelain is the encoignure (No. 9, Plate XXXVI.), made to stand in the corner.

The tall torchère, or standing-candlestand, on Plate XXXI., No. 3, shows a well-balanced combination of the mascaron, scroll, shell and leaf.

Two superb examples of console-tables occur on Plate XXXIV. These are of carved and gilded wood. The full drawing is one of Cuvilliés’s designs, and shows a bewildering combination of scrolls as a background for the beautiful carving of flowers and leaves. In the foreground a dog attacks a very savage dragon, whose wings bristle with anger and who darts forth his forked tongue. The other frame, No. 1, is by Pinaud, and though far simpler, is quite as effective. The scroll is most gracefully combined with the shell, and here again we have the ear (see page 210), through which a winged dragon, with a most expressive face, has slipped himself. An early console support is shown on Plate XXXVI., No. 6.

The bureau, or desk, assumed great importance in the reign of Louis XV. The long bureau-table was still made, and sometimes at one end of it was placed a tier of ornamental shelves and pigeon-holes that was known as serre-papiers. Also in this reign the cylinder-bureau, with a roll top, came in to favour. It is sometimes said to have been invented by Prince Kaunitz. In contemporary writings, this special form of desk is frequently called “bureau à la Kaunitz.” The most famous desk of this period, however, is the “grand bureau secrétaire du roi Louis XV.” that was made for the King from the design of Œben, who died before it was finished. It was completed 213by Œben’s successor, Riesener, who had been his apprentice. This appears on Plate XXXI.

It is made of rosewood and amaranth and richly decorated with marquetry representing flowers, leaves and the attributes of royalty and poetry. Above the cylinder top that hides the pigeon-holes, is placed a horizontal ornament composed of rods twined with ribbons, and above this is an open-worked gallery, broken by figures of Cupids playing above a little clock. On each side of the cylinder, a figure of gilt bronze holds a girandole of two branches, each terminating in a floral cup for the candle, something like the bras de lumière on Plate XXXII. One figure is Apollo and the other, Calliope. The bronzes were modelled by Duplessis and Winant, and chiselled by Hervieux; and in addition to the ornaments already described, there are swags of leaves, knots of ribbon and decorations on the legs and feet,—all of or moulu. For many years these bronzes were attributed to Caffieri. This work is signed “Risener fa, 1769.”

A very interesting example of a low glass book-case and serre-papiers appears as No. 2 on Plate XXXI. The serre-papiers, surmounted by a clock, stands upon a very characteristic table. On either side of it is placed a low bookcase with glass doors, the top moulding of which suggests the shape of a wing, or bow. This is flanked by a panel, above which is another panel. The wall space above the bookcase and behind the serre-papiers is intended to be hung with tapestry, or damask.

A table, similar in general form to the one on which the serre-papiers just described stands, appears on Plate XXXI. This is a Regency piece, with its slightly curving 214legs, hinds’ feet, and or moulu ornaments. The arrangement of scrolls in the centre of the drawer is very characteristic. No. 1 on the same plate gives details of the ornamentation at the sides under the slab.

There were many varieties of desks, cabinets, jewel-cases, etc., designed especially for the boudoir. Some of these have already been described. A “petit-bureau,” however, is shown on Plate XXXIII. This is known as “bonheur du jour,” and is made of sycamore, ornamented with chiselled copper appliques and plaques of Sèvres porcelain. The foot is decorated with “leaf-shoe” of gilded metal, also characteristic of the age.

One of the many varieties of card-tables appears on Plate XXXVI., No. 10. This has the hollows for counters and candlesticks.

Nothing more impressively decorative in its proper surroundings can be imagined than the tall clock of the Regency and Louis XV. period. In houses of the present day, a tall clock is set up in some corner entirely irrespective of the wall-decoration of the hall, or room. The Regency clock was strictly in keeping with the general decoration, and deserves something better as a background than poor panelling, or vulgar printed paper. It requires a wainscot with solid mouldings, severe and well studied lines, and a high ceiling. A somewhat plain specimen of the period, in carved oak, is shown on Plate XXXII.

Two other clocks appear on Plate XXX. The full drawing is a pendule d’applique, the frame of which is most ornate. It stands on a console of carved and gilded copper. The detail No. 1 on the same plate is a clock 215appropriate to stand on a bracket, chimney-piece or table. Its frame consists of bold sweeps with a fine display of scrolls, leaves and shells.

The Duc de Bourgogne owned a very fine clock of black marquetry and copper, with ornaments of bronze in colour. On the top of the case, a satyr was seated on a rock, holding a pipe in his left hand. The base ended in rock-work, brightened with coloured copper ornaments. The dial was of copper, the hours were enamelled, and the clock struck the hour and half hour, and ran fifteen days. It was 2 feet, 11 inches high, and the dimensions of the foot were 9½ inches high by 13 inches wide. Juhel was the maker at Versailles.

Madame Henriette owned a clock in 1746 that was made by Jean-Baptiste Baillon. It was 1 foot high and 6 inches wide. The case was of bronze gilt or moulu and carved with leaves and ornaments. Among the latter were a lion’s head and a Cupid. The feet were of the console form. The dial was enamelled.

Another, by the same maker, is described in 1745 as “a beautiful gilt clock or moulu, the frame of which is enamelled and the hands of bronze gilt, standing on two consoles, ornamented with palms, in the centre of which is a woman’s masque. Mosaic ornaments decorate the sides, as well as two bouquets of flowers. The top is surmounted by a Cupid holding a scythe in his left hand. The foot is gilt bronze of rocaille work, flowers, plumes, two dragons and the head of Boreas. Including the foot, it is 4 feet high and 14 inches wide.”

About this time, two of the King’s daughters bought a clock of bronze gilt and porcelain, 21 inches high, 216made by Godin. On the front was a shepherd with his dog, and a parrot perched on a gold tree, from which hung several cherries. The base was an irregularly shaped cartouche framed in leaves. The dial was enamelled and surmounted by a little carved Bacchus.

The list of new furniture of Versailles for 1752 mentions a clock “in the form of a lyre of bronze gilt or moulu, the lyre surmounted by a sun and flanked on each side by two terms of women, ending in scrolls that united at the base to form a sort of shield or cartouche of rocaille, with festoons of leaves; the dial enamelled on copper gilt; 2 feet, 10 inches high, and 17 inches wide.”

In 1763, the King owned two splendid clocks, the cases of which were violet-wood and rosewood veneered. One of the clocks was solar, ornamented with attributes of Apollo in or moulu and surmounted by a perfume-box and ornamented with garlands. The other was lunar, with symbols of Diana. It was also surmounted by a perfume-box, and was ornamented by a star. Each clock was 7½ feet high and 21 inches wide.

In 1774, in Madame Sophie’s sleeping-room was a clock by Tolleverk of Paris, which could run for 15 days and which struck hours, and half hours, besides containing a chime of bells that played thirteen airs. The dial was 4½ inches in diameter and the hands were of gold. The case was surrounded by garlands of laurel held at the top by ribbon. On the right of the base was a celestial globe and the figure of a woman whose head was encircled by stars. She held a trumpet in her right hand, while her left rested on the clock; on the left, was a T-square, a compass, and other mathematical and scientific 217instruments, and three volumes besides. The whole was of bronze gilt or moulu and measured 16 inches in height, 16 in length, and 17 in depth.

16. 218A street where Eastern goods were specially on sale.

17. This was a bergère (see pages 207–208).

18. “Camayeu is a kind of painting of a single colour where light and shadow are seen on a background of gold or azure. A camaieu in grey is called grisaille, that in yellow is cirage. The richest camaïeux are brightened with gold or bronze.... It is what Pliny calls Monochrome.” (D’Aviler, 1755.)

All lovers of antique furniture are sufficiently familiar with the name of Thomas Chippendale, but this name has been of late years used so carelessly that it has become a generic term for all the mahogany furniture of the first half of the Eighteenth Century, and the “Chippendale chair” that is recognized as typical is the one with a pierced and carved back and claw-and-ball foot. This is an erroneous interpretation of the Chippendale style. Chippendale was a cabinet-maker, and doubtless made furniture for his patrons in the old style that had been in vogue since 1714; but the tastes for the Chinese and Gothic, as well as the Louis XV. rock-and-shell work had already been formed, and Chippendale claims more originality than he is entitled to when he says: “In executing many of the Drawings, my Pencil has but faintly copied out those Images that my Fancy suggested.”

222It is clear then that the only way to understand and define Chippendale is to go directly to his book, there to learn what kind of furniture he made and wanted to make. The first edition of The Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker’s Director was published in 1754. A third edition appeared in 1762, when some of the patterns of the first book were dropped and many new plates were added. The title-page of the latter shows very plainly that Chippendale had turned his attention to almost every object for household use.

“The Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker’s Director being a large collection of the most elegant and useful designs of Household Furniture in the most Fashionable Taste, including a great variety of Chairs, Sofas, Beds and Couches; China-Tables, Dressing-Tables, Shaving-Tables, Bason-Stands and Tea-Kettle Stands; Frames for Marble Slabs, Bureau-Dressing-Tables and Commodes; Writing-Tables and Library-Tables; Library Book-Cases, Organ Cases for private Rooms or Churches, Desks and Bookcases; Dressing and Writing Tables with Book-Cases, Toilets, Cabinets and Cloaths-Presses; China Cases, China-Shelves, and Book-Shelves; Candle-Stands, Terms for Busts, Stands for China Jars and Pedestals; Cisterns for Water, Lanthorns and Chandeliers; Fire-Screens, Brackets, and Clock-cases; Pier-glasses and Table-Frames; Girandoles, Chimney-Pieces, and Picture Frames; Stove-Grates, Boarders, Frets, Chinese-Railing and Brass-Work for Furniture, and other Ornaments.... The whole comprehended in Two Hundred Copper Plates, neatly engraved, calculated to improve and refine the present taste, and suited 223to the Fancy and Circumstances of Persons in all degrees of Life.” He ends his Preface to both editions as follows: “Upon the whole, I have given no Design but what may be executed with Advantage by the Hands of a skilful Workman, though some of the Profession have been diligent enough to represent them (especially those after the Gothick and Chinese manner) as so many specious Drawings, impossible to be worked off by any mechanick whatsoever. I will not scruple to attribute this to Malice, Ignorance and Inability; and I am confident I can convince all Noblemen, Gentlemen, or others, who will honour me with their Commands, that every Design in the Book can be improved, both as to Beauty and Enrichment, in the Execution of it, by Their Most Obedient Servant, Thomas Chippendale.”

Our accurate knowledge of Chippendale and of his work outside his own book is very meagre. He was evidently at work during the reign of George I. and was probably busiest when he published his book of designs in 1754. An examination of the plates contained in this collection of drawings shows that Chippendale cared more about the carving and ornaments than the forms themselves. He does not seem to have been an inventor of a style. Sheraton shares this view. The latter writes in 1791:

“I have seen one (book of design) which seems to have been published before Chippendale’s. I infer this from the antique appearance of the furniture, for there is no date to it; but the title informs us that it was composed by a society of Cabinet-makers in London.

“Chippendale’s book seems to be next in order to 224this, but the former is without comparison to it, either as to size or real merit. Chippendale’s book has, it is true, given us the proportions of the Five Orders, and lines for two or three cases, which is all it pretends to relative to rules for drawing; and, as for the designs, themselves, they are now wholly antiquated and laid aside, though possessed of great merit, according to the times in which they were executed. After Chippendale’s work, there appeared, in the year sixty-five, a book of designs for chairs only, though it is called The Cabinet-Maker’s real Friend and Companion, as well as the Chair-maker’s. The succeeding publication to this seems to be Ince and Mayhew’s Book of Designs in Cabinet and Chair Work, with three plates containing some examples of foliage ornaments, intended for the young designer to copy from, but which can be of no service to any learner now, as they are such kind of ornaments as are wholly laid aside in the cabinet-branch, according to the present taste. The designs in cabinets and chairs are, of course, of the same cast, and therefore have suffered the same fate; yet, in justice to the word, it may be said to have been a book of merit in its day, though much inferior to Chippendale’s, which was a real original, as well as more extensive and masterly in its designs.”

Strange to say, the book Sheraton thinks the earlier, came out six years after Chippendale’s and contains designs that differ little in general form from those in the Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker’s Director.

It cannot fail to strike any one who examines Chippendale’s designs carefully that he was beyond everything 225else a carver and a decorator. Although he was most particular about proportion and joinery, he took the greatest delight in ornamentation, caring far more for his ornate carving and swags of drapery than for his wood, or his materials. Indeed, he nearly always desires his handsome pieces to be gilded, or painted, or japanned; and he says nothing whatever about textiles, although his beds and sofas with canopies are so dependent upon festoons and curtains for their effect. The covers upon his “French chairs” often exhibit Chinese subjects, flowers, Æsop’s fables, or the gallant Watteau-like scenes; and we may conclude that the printed silks and satins of the day were too familiar to need any detailed description.

Ornate as his designs are, it will be noticed in the above Preface that Chippendale thinks further “enrichment” will add to the beauty of every design.

It will also be noticed that the descriptions of his plates contain very few references to mahogany. He far prefers furniture made of soft wood japanned in any colour, with the ornamental parts heavily gilt, and carved and gilt frames, to sombre walnut or mahogany. Rosewood he likes very much, but brightens it with gilt ornaments. Chippendale’s taste is very gay, even fantastic, and a room furnished and decorated by him must have been exceedingly brilliant.

Many of his plates were engraved by M. Darly, who lived in Paris in the first half of the Eighteenth Century; and some people think that Darly is responsible for all of Chippendale’s designs.

Whether Chippendale was ever in Paris or not, makes 226little difference: he knew the contemporary designs and he was saturated with the flavour of the Louis XV. taste. For instance, he was so familiar with Meissonier, that he quietly appropriated some of his designs and issued them in his book with little change as his own conceptions, without a word of acknowledgment. One of these, Chippendale labels “French chair,” but this is really a chair designed by Meissonier for Madame de Brezenval in 1735, the only change being a little extra carving. Another theft of Chippendale’s is a “sofa for a grand apartment.” The original was a canapé designed by Meissonier for the Grand Marshal of Poland, also in 1735. Chippendale put cushions upon the arms and added a little more carving,—and described it as follows:

“A Design of a Sofa for a grand Apartment, and will require Great Care in the Execution, to make the several Parts come in such a Manner that all the Ornaments join without the least Fault; and if the Embossments all along are rightly managed, and gilt with burnished Gold, the whole will have a noble appearance. The carving at the Top is the Emblem of Watchfulness, Assiduity and Rest. The Pillows and Cushions must not be omitted, though they are not in the Design. The dimensions are 9 feet long without the scrolls; the broadest part of the Seat from Front to Back 2 feet 6 inches; the Height of the Back from the Seat, 3 feet, 6 inches, and the Height of the Seat 1 foot 2 inches without Casters. I would advise the workman to make a model of it at large before he begins to execute it.” The massive frame is carved with shells, and on the top rail in a cloud is seated a Cupid with his arm in the strap of 227a buckler. Two large birds are carved below him on either side in the centre of the sweeping curves and near them are bunches of flowers. The arms are carved, and upholstered in a silk or damask the pattern of which is a combination of flowers and large scrolls. One of the arms ends in a grotesque head,—a kind of gnome with a long peaked beard.

Neither does Chippendale scruple to avail himself of one of Meissonier’s trophies consisting of a hunting-horn, stag’s head, gun and net, designed for the King’s portrait and the Royal Hunt; and Meissonier’s Livre de Légumes and Livre d’Ornements have been attentively studied for the shell-work, fountains, balconies, balustrades, swags of bell-flowers and laurel, colonnades, flowers, acanthus leaves, fruits, animals, birds, human beings, dripping water, cascades, feathers, flags, scrolls, musical instruments, fragmentary peristyle effects, implements, weapons, vegetables, icicles and spiky effects.

The japanning and lacquering that Chippendale so frequently recommends is doubtless inspired by the Vernis Martin; and all the gilded ornaments, handles, shoes for legs of his pieces, from the French or moulu work.

Let us first examine the beds. We find “Dome Beds,” “Canopy Beds,” “Gothic beds,” “Chinese Beds,” “Field” and “Tent Beds,” and “Couch” and “Sofa Beds,” besides numerous designs for “Bed Posts” and “Cornices.” His four-post bedsteads are, as a rule, 7 feet, 6 inches high; 6 feet, 4 inches high; and 5 feet wide. The canopy is generally surmounted by a carved cornice furnished with an intricate arrangement of laths and pulleys by which the curtains are drawn up. As the curtains 228and valances are sometimes required to fall in symmetrical festoons and loops when drawn up, the mechanical devices require detailed description. In one “Gothic Bed with a drapery curtain,” the four posts of which are “made into eight cants and indented,” has pullies fixed at each corner to draw up the curtains. This bed appears as No. 2 on Plate XXXVIII.

No. 3 on Plate XLVIII. is a favourite with Chippendale. It appears in his first edition as Plate XXXI. and in his third as Plate XXI. This is more than 6 feet high, over 6 feet long, and 5 feet, 6 inches wide. He says this “is a dome bed, the side of the dome and the cornice I have form’d into an elliptical form, to take off the seeming weight which a bed of this kind has when the cornice runs straight. There are four dragons going up from each corner; the curtains and vallens are all in drapery. The head-board has a small Chinese Temple with a joss, or Chinese God; on each side is a Chinese man at worship; the outside of the dome is intended to be japan’d and Mosaic work drawn upon it; the other ornaments to be gilt; but that is left to the will of those who shall please to have it executed.”

Of the full drawing on the same plate, Chippendale gives no description. The dimensions that he gives are 6 feet, 4 inches for the length; 7 feet, 6 inches for the height; and 5 feet for the width. The long and tightly rolled and covered bolster below the ornamental head-board is the style he required for all his beds. Pillows never appear. This bed, as well as the Dome Bed just described, is dated 1753. This bed can be greatly simplified by substituting for the carved cornice and headboard 229plain ones following the same general outlines covered with the same materials as the curtains, and plain feet may be covered with a deep valance that touches the floor. Chippendale himself suggests such treatment when his beds are thought too difficult of execution. However, he prefers the wood to show, as is natural to a carver, because in his ten very handsome designs for bed pillars he says “they are all designed with pedestals, which must certainly look better than Bases of stuff around the Bed, and the Pillars seem to be unsupported.”

Another bed has pillars “composed of reeds with a palm branch twisting round,” the pillars being 8 feet, 6 inches high; and the bedstead 6 feet, 7 inches long and 6 feet wide.

The “Field” or “Tent beds are heavily draped, but the curtains and festoons are made to take off, and the laths are hung with hinges for the convenience of folding up.”

Another, is a “Chinese Bed,” the “curtains and vallens are tied up in drapery, the tester is canted at each corner, which makes a sort of an elliptical ornament or arch, and if well executed will look very well.” Another bed “may be gilt, or covered with the same stuff as the curtains.”

Before dismissing the four-post beds, the question of cornices must be considered. Chippendale gives numerous designs for “Cornices for Beds or Windows.” These are carved and are supposed to be gilt, or painted, or japanned, brightened with gold. Such designs as the scroll and leaf are frequent, as shown in No. 1 on Plate XL. while other ornaments are the crown, the urn, 230the shell, the eagle, the draped urn, the grotesque dog or monkey’s head holding the ends of two garlands in his mouth, the long-tailed and open-beaked bird.

Turning now to the Canopy, Couch and Sofa beds, we find Chippendale describing a “Couch with Canopy. The Curtains must be made to draw up in Drapery, or to let down, when it is occasionally converted into a Bed. This sort of Couch is very fit for alcoves, or such deep Recesses as are often seen in large Apartments. It may also be placed at the end of a long gallery. If the Curtains and Valances are adorned with a large gold Fringe and Tassels, and the ornaments gilt with burnished gold, it will look very grand. The Crane at the top of the Canopy is the Emblem of Care and Watchfulness: which I think it not unbecoming in a place of rest. The length of the bed cannot be less than 6 feet in the clear, but may be more if required. The Breadth is 3 feet or more, in proportion to the length. The height may be determined by the place it is to stand in.”

Another “Couch bed,” he tells us, “was made for an alcove in Lord Pembroke’s house, at Whitehall.” This bed is a sofa of sweeping curve, three short cabriole legs supporting it in front. A stiff rolled bolster is placed at each end of the sofa crosswise. Four slender posts hold a canopy draped and decorated with a Chinese feeling, only tassels are used for ornaments instead of bells. The drapery is arranged in four symmetrical festoons, caught back gracefully at the sides and falling nearly to the short leg of the sofa. This was really a kind of lit de repos rather than a bed properly speaking; but there is one that can be used either as a sofa or a bed. He describes 231it as follows: “A Chinese Canopy with Curtains and Valances tied up in Drapery, and may be converted into a Bed by making the front part of the seat to draw forward, and the sides made to fold and turn in with strong iron hinges and a proper stretcher to keep out and support the sides when open. The curtains must be likewise made to come forward, and when let down will form a Tent.”

Another of his designs is a “Chinese Sopha with a canopy over it, with its curtains and vallens all tied up in drapery. This design may be converted into a bed, by having the Sopha so made as to come forward, the curtains to draw to the front of the Sopha, and hang sloping, which will form a sort of a tent, and look very grand. The ornaments are designed for burnished gold.” Another “is a Chinese Sopha, intended for the same use as the former; the design is different from the other, and if well executed by an ingenious workman, it cannot fail of giving content.”

Another “Chinese sopha” is represented on Plate XLI., which is purely a sofa and not a bed. This has a pagoda-shaped canopy decorated with bells and the drapery arranged in formal festoons. At the back is a piece of silk ornamented in the style of Boucher, and the sofa, which is a French canapé, bears a design reminiscent of Watteau,—a “gallant scene” showing a lady in a large hat and flowing gown seated on a bank while her companion is a gentleman in a cocked hat.

Specific directions accompany four designs of Sofas. “When made large, they have a bolster and pillow at each End,” and Cushions at the Back, which may be 232laid down occasionally and form a mattress. The upper sofa is designed to have the Back Corners Circular, which must look well. The Sizes differ greatly; but commonly they are from 6 to 9 or 10 feet long; the Depth of the Seat from Front to Back from 2 feet, 3 inches, to 3 feet; and the Height of the Seat 1 foot 2 inches with casters. The scrolls are 18 to 19 inches high. Part of the carving may be left out, if required.

The chaise longue also appears, and of it the designer says: “This is what the French call ‘Péché Mortel.’ They are sometimes made to take asunder in the middle: one part makes a large easy chair and the other, a stool, and the feet join in the middle, which looks badly.” This, of course, is the duchesse, consisting of a fauteuil and a tabouret (see pages 208 and 209). Chippendale recommends for this a “thick mattress, 6 feet long in the clear; and 2 feet, 6 inches to 2 feet broad.”

Turning now to the chairs, a close examination will show almost double the number actually represented; because Chippendale often gives different motives for carving on the two sides of the special chair. He draws French chairs, Gothic chairs, Chinese chairs, Garden chairs, Hall chairs and his favourite “Ribband Back chairs.” The latter, one variety of which appears to the reader’s left on Plate XXXVIII., is one of “three Ribband-back Chairs, which, if I may speak without vanity, are the best I have ever seen (or perhaps have ever been made). The Chair on the left hand has been executed from this Design, which had an excellent effect, and gave satisfaction to all who saw it. I make no doubt 233but the other two will give the same content, if properly handled in the execution.”

The length of the front leg is 19 inches; the rail of the seat (upholstered with small nails touching one another) is 22¾ inches; the seat is 18 inches square; and the back from seat to top rail 22 or 23 inches high. “If the seats are covered with red morocco,” Chippendale assures us, “they will have a fine effect.”

Describing a series of eighteen chairs, Chippendale says these “are various designs of Chairs for patterns. The front feet are mostly different for the greater choice. The seats look best when stuffed over the rails and have a Brass Border neatly chased; but are most commonly done with Brass Nails, in one or two Rows; and sometimes the Nails are done to imitate Fretwork. They are usually covered with the same stuff as the Window Curtains. The Height of the Back seldom exceeds twenty-two inches above the Seats.”

“Eight designs of French chairs, which may be executed to advantage. Some of them are intended to be open at the Back; which makes them very light, without having a bad effect.” (The Dimensions are the same as those given above, “only that the highest Part of the Back is 2 feet, 5 in.”) But sometimes these Dimensions vary according to the Bigness of the Rooms they are intended for. A skillful workman may also lessen the carving without any Prejudice to the Design. Both the Backs and Seats must be covered with Tapestry, or other sort of Needlework.

234“Four designs of French chairs with Elbows and for the greater Variety, the Feet and Elbows are different. The little moulding, round the Bottom of the Edge of the Rails, has a good Effect.” The Backs and Seats are stuffed, and covered with Spanish leather or Damask, etc., and nailed with Brass Nails. The seat is 27 Inches wide in front, 22 Inches from the Front to the Back and 23 Inches wide behind; the Height of the Back is 25 Inches, and the Height of the Seat 14½ including Casters.

The “French chair” is the fauteuil, and the designs of the covers as represented in his third edition show design, in the “Chinese taste,” flowers, birds, pagodas, balustrades, mandarins and jars, or designs from Æsop. For example, one dated 1759, shows the dog crossing the brook with a bone in his mouth.

Of “Six Designs of Chairs for Halls, Passages, or Summer Houses,” he says: “They may be made either of Mahogany or any other Wood, and painted, and have commonly wooden Seats. The Height of the Gothic Back is two Feet, four Inches, and the others one Foot, eleven Inches, and the Height of the Seat seventeen or eighteen Inches. If you divide the Height of the Backs in the Number of Inches given, you will have a Measure to take off the Breadth of the circular Parts of each Back. Arms, if required, may be put to these chairs.”

Again, he gives “two designs of Chairs for Gardens and a long Seat.” One, considered “proper for Arbours,” has a branch for a leg, garden tools crossed form the back, which is surrounded by blades of grass bent in an oval form. The seat, which “may be placed in Walks or at 235the Ends of Avenues,” is 7 feet and has in the centre a leaf or shell. The second chair, “proper for grottoes,” is composed of two shells, one forming the back, the other the seat, the legs are dolphins standing on their tails, the cabriole leg formed by the arch of the dolphin’s neck.

Four plates give “a variety of new pattern chairs, which, if executed according to their designs, and by a skillful workman, will have a very good effect. The fore feet are all different for your better choice. If you think they are too much ornamented they can be omitted at pleasure. The proper dimensions of those chairs are 1 foot, 10 inches in the front; 1 foot, 5½ inches behind; and 1 foot 5 inches from the front of the back foot to the front rail; the back, 1 foot, 10½ inches high; the seat 1 foot, 5 inches high; but that is made lower according as the seat is to be stuffed.”

Two plates present “six new designs of Gothic Chairs; their feet are almost all different, and may be of use to those that are unacquainted with this sort of work. Most of the ornaments may be left out if required. The sizes are the same as in the preceding chairs, and may be lessened or enlarged, according to the fancy of the skillful artist.”

“Nine Designs of Chairs after the Chinese Manner ... are very proper for a Lady’s Dressing-Room: especially if it is hung with India paper. They will likewise suit Chinese Temples. They have commonly Cane-Bottoms, with loose Cushions; but, if required, may have slipped Seats and Brass Nails.”

236The backs and legs are of fret work. The seat is 19 inches deep, 17 inches long; the back, 20 inches high, and the legs from floor to seat, 17 inches, and those made of pierced fretwork are 2½ inches wide.

Three plates show “nine Chairs in the present Chinese manner, which I hope will improve that taste, or manner of work; it having yet never arrived to any perfection; doubtless it might be lost without seeing its beauty: as it admits of the greatest variety, I think it the most useful of any other. The sizes are all specified on the designs. The three last I hope will be well received, as there has been none like them yet made.”

The width of the square leg was 2½ inches, seat front rail, 1 foot, 10 inches; back of seat, 19 inches, depth, 17½; height of back, 19½ inches. Another leg, 1½ inches wide; 17 inches high; (or 2½ if carved in open-work fret) front seat rail, 22½ inches; back of seat, 19 inches; depth, 17 inches; height of back from seat, 20 inches.

Four plates give “eight different designs of French Elbow Chairs, of various patterns, which I hope will be of great use, if properly applied. Some of those chairs are design’d to be open below at the seat, which greatly lightens them, and has no ill effect. The common sizes are as follows: 2 foot, 3 inches in front, 1 foot, 11 inches over behind; 1 foot, 10 inches from the front of the back to the front of the seat rail. The seat is 1 foot, 2½ inches high; the height of the back, from the seat, is 2 feet, 3 inches; but those dimensions differ according as the rooms are larger, or smaller: the ornaments on the backs and seats are in imitation of tapestry, or 237needlework. The carving may be lessened by an ingenious workman without detriment to the Chair.”

The full drawing to the reader’s right on Plate XXXVIII. shows a Gothic chair. Nos. 5, 6, 7 and 8 are typical chair backs, No. 5 being “Chinese,” as is plainly shown by its fret-work and mandarin hats. Nos. 3 and 4 are the legs of “Chinese chairs,” and No. 9 the leg of a “French chair.”

In not one of Chippendale’s drawings of chairs does the simple ball-and-claw foot occur. In one or two instances, however, there is a lion’s claw, or paw.

We find the straight, square leg; the straight leg carved with a chute of husks and resting on a square base; the cabriole leg, ending in a kind of scroll and resting upon a leaf; a leg resting upon a shell; a leg formed of a bunch of reeds wrapped with a ribbon; a leg ending in a hoof, with a ram’s head carved on the spring of the cabriole knee, a lion’s claw holding a very flat ball; and a leg upon which a curious sort of wingless dragon is crawling. (See Plate XXXVIII., No. 9.)

Another leg shows a dolphin’s tail gracefully carved upon a cabriole curve, while his head is used for the foot. In another chair the dolphin’s tail is used for the foot. Fret-work is used in the Gothic and Chinese designs.

The Chinamania had by no means subsided in Chippendale’s day. The case or shelf full of choice bits of porcelain was to be met with in many rooms, and always in the lady’s boudoir and dressing-room. In Chippendale’s first book, a number of china cases, Chinese cases, Chinese hanging shelves and Chinese shelves standing 238on feet appear, and even one labelled “India cabinet” shows the same style of treatment, which is, of course, either fret-work or a conglomeration of pagodas, mandarin hats, Chinese figures, bells and turned-up edges mingled with leaves and scrolls and dripping water. In the first edition of Chippendale’s book (Plates CV., CVI., CVII., CVIII. and CIX.) are china cases. “The latter,” he says, “is a very neat china case upon a frame, with glass doors in the front and ends; betwixt the middle feet is a stretcher, with a little canopy which will hold a small figure. This design must be executed by the hands of an ingenious workman, and when neatly japann’d will appear very beautiful.” This is the china case that is shown on Plate XXXVIII., and is dated 1753. The glass doors are enriched with ornate vines thick with leaves and flowers and dripping water. The ornaments of the top and sides are decorated with little bells, and there is a generous use of fret-work. Plate CX. of the first edition also shows a “china case with glass doors;” and Plate CXI. another, of which Chippendale seems to be very proud. He says it is “not only the richest and most magnificent in the whole, but perhaps in all Europe. I had a particular pleasure in retouching and finishing this design, but should have much more in the execution of it, as I am confident I can make the work more beautiful and striking than the drawing. The proportion and harmony of the several parts will then be view’d with advantage and reflect mutual beauty upon each other. The ornaments will appear more natural and graceful, and the whole construction will be so much improv’d under the ingenious hand of a workman 239as to make it fit to adorn the most elegant apartment.”

China cases on which to place the china are most elaborately carved; one of these in the Chinese style “may be soft wood and japanned, or painted and partly gilt.” A china case very proper for a lady’s dressing-room may “be made of any soft wood and japanned any colour.”

Hanging shelves for china are shown in Nos. 3 and 4 on Plate XLII. The latter is confessedly “in the Chinese taste.” In some of his highly ornamental cabinets the ornaments are intended to conceal the joining. He says: “They may be brass or silver finely chased and put on, or they may be cut in filligree work in wood, brass or silver.”

Chippendale fills four plates with a variety of Chinese railings, “very proper for gardens and other places, and may be converted (by the ingenious workman) to other uses.”

It is not likely that any confessed admirer of the French would neglect the commode. Sometimes he labels them “buroe dressing tables,” “commode bureau tables” and “French commode tables.” This is what he calls one design, dated 1753, which appears on Plate XLII., which has drawers at the top and in the middle and doors at the ends. “The ornaments should be carved very light,” he remarks, and these are a delicate kind of fret-work below the three top drawers and a profuse display of dripping water with leaves in the ovals of the doors, while the bottom is ornamented with leaves and the feet are leafy scrolls. Nos. 6 and 7 (Plate XLI.), are 240also portions of French commode tables, the former has drawers at the side and is enriched with the rocaille work of which Chippendale was so fond and the favourite dripping water. No. 7 shows only the leg.

The lady’s dressing-table received much attention from Chippendale. As a rule, he made it of rosewood ornamented with rich brass-work, and further decorated it with festoons of drapery. One, dated 1761, is described as a kind of commode. On top was a glass that came forward on hinges, on either side was a cupboard plain or silvered (i. e. quick-silvered); inside were drawers and pigeon-holes. “Two have been made of rosewood, which have given entire satisfaction,” adds Chippendale. All the ornaments were gilt and the dressing-drawer was full of compartments for all the little trinkets that are so necessary to women.

A Toilet, or Dressing-Table, for a lady is described as follows: “The Dressing Drawer under the glass should be divided. On the top is a large looking-glass which comes to the front with joint hinges, and over it a compartment, and on each side, and parts with doors that represent drawers. The ornaments should be gilt in burnished gold, or the whole work may be japanned and the drapery may be silk damask with gold fringe and tassels.”

Another toilet for a lady’s dressing-room is thus described: “The glass, made to come forward with folding Hinges, is in a carved frame, and stands in a compartment that rests upon a plinth, between which are small drawers. The drapery is supported by Cupids, and the Petticoat goes behind the Feet of the Table, 241which looks better. The ornamental parts may be gilt in burnished gold or Japanned. A China case in the Chinese style, may be of soft wood and Japanned, or painted and partly gilt.” A china case “very proper for a lady’s dressing-room may be made of any soft wood and Japanned any colour.” Chippendale’s convenient shaving-tables, and basin-stands, dressing-boxes and all other furniture for the dressing-room with their folding glasses and compact arrangement of drawers and partitions, prove that many years before Sheraton’s time there was a demand in England for such articles. Clothes-presses, wardrobes, chests, etc., also show that in Chippendale’s book nearly every article of furniture for every kind of a room is to be found.

One of his shaving-tables has rigid, simple lines, very like Sheraton, with “a folding top and a glass to rise out with a spring catch.” “There are places for soap, razors, bottles,” and there is a device “to bring the glass forward when the gentleman is shaving.” With it is a bason stand with a glass to rise on the shaving table. Three other bason stands are merely frames for the bason to stand in.

The bookcase received a great deal of attention from Chippendale. The “Gothic Library Bookcase,” a good example of which is shown on Plate XXXIX., seems to be one of his favourite types. Others he describes as “a rich Gothic Library Book-Case, with Gothic columns fix’d upon the doors to open with them; the doors are different, but may be made alike if required. This design is perhaps one of the best of its kind and would give me great pleasure to see it executed, as I 242doubt not of its making an exceeding genteel and grand appearance. The upper doors are to be glazed.”

Again we have “a Desk and Book Case in the Chinese taste: the doors are intended for glass, and will look extremely well. The small columns on the canopy above the cornice project forwards. The fret-work at the bottom of the Book-Case is for two small drawers.” There is also “a small desk and Book Case in the Gothic taste.”

For these he gives numerous designs of trimmings for ornamental glass-doors, a specimen of which appears on Plate XLII., No. 2. Other bookcases were combinations of bookcases and writing-desks. Some of them he calls “bureau desk and bookcase.” Two examples of the desk and bookcase are shown as Nos. 2 and 3 on Plate XXXIX. One of these has many of the so-called “Gothic” characteristics, with its pinnacles and crockets, although the inverted C and shell-like scroll is in evidence, while the other is quite “Chinese,” with its fretwork and umbrella-shaped ornaments despite the dripping-water decoration upon the glass doors. Sometimes another combination appears of a dressing-table with a bookcase, and a table and bookcase is not uncommon either. A writing-table and bookcase for a lady has “the middle feet come out with the drawer, which hath a slider covered with green cloth or Spanish leather for writing upon.”

Chippendale designed convenient library furniture, the forms of which are solid and intended for comfort. His “buroe tables” usually consist of two square tiers of drawers hollowed out in the centre and covered by 243a large slab. Sometimes he makes a sweeping line as in No. 1 on Plate XXXIX. On the same Plate, No. 5 exhibits the knee-hole of another “buroe table” ornamented with a little carving. No. 5 on Plate XLI. shows one end of a “library table.” Other tables are described as follows:

“A Gothic Writing-Table, with one long drawer at the top, doors at each end, drawers in the inside, and a recess for the knees.... The columns are fixed to the doors and open with them.... This table has been made more than once from this design, and has a better appearance when executed than in the drawing.”

“A Gothic Library Table, the corners canted, and a Gothic column is fixed at each corner; that fixed upon the doors, and opens with them.”

Another writing-table “hath a writing Drawer which draws out on one end and has Term feet to support it.” The top “rises with a double horse to stand to read or write upon.” Another plate shows a Library Table with circular doors at each corner.

A writing-table in the Gothic taste has a “recess for the knees, and the pillars are fixed to the Doors and open with them.”

“A Library table” has “drawers and doors on both sides with upright Partitions for Books and Drawers for Works.”

Of another Library table he says: “The ends form an oval with carved terms fixed to the Doors and which 244must be cut at the astragal, base mouldings to open with the Doors.”

Another writing-table has drawers in the under part, small drawers and “pigeon-holes” and a place for books in the upper. In another writing-table “half of the front feet come out with the Drawer,” and in one corner is a “quadrant drawer for ink and sand.”

Frames and brackets for marble slabs, picture frames and frames for looking-glasses, girandoles, sconces, etc., etc., appealed very naturally to the carver. The very charming bracket, No. 1 on Plate XLII. with its frets, its scrolls, shells, roses, and leaves, which was, of course, intended for gold leaf, is very simple when compared with the girandoles and mirrors, of which Chippendale has given so many examples. One frame for a marble slab (really a console table) he evidently likes. It is “supported by two piping Fauns, leaning against two vines, intermingled with foliage, etc. It will have a grand appearance,” he adds, “if executed with judgment and neatly gilt.” Æsop and mythology and Chinese subjects afford Chippendale plentiful suggestion for other consoles. The pier glass on Plate XLII. shows Chippendale when he is most himself. This is 44 inches high and 28 inches wide, and the frames fairly bristle with spiky tufts of grass, scrolls, leaves, flowers, dripping water and long-tailed, open-mouthed, excited birds, while at the top under a small canopy stands a Chinese holding a tray of fruit. The mirror is in three panels: a large central one with a smaller one on each side.

245The girandole was also subject to the most fantastic kind of carving, out of which the sconce arms emerged in graceful sweeps. One of great interest is carved with the fox and grapes from Æsop while another represents a piece of ruins intermingled with various ornaments, and another shows a squirrel eating nuts.

No sideboard nor buffet appears in any edition of Chippendale’s designs. He gives a number of sideboard-tables, however, which are long, heavy tables that stand on four legs. These he carves ornately in either the Gothic or Chinese style, and specimens are shown on Plate XLI., Nos. 1, 2, 3 and 4.

“Chandeliers,” Chippendale says, “are generally made of glass and sometimes of brass. But if neatly done in wood and gilt in burnished gold, would look better and come much cheaper.”

A standing-candlestand appears on Plate XLI. This is delicately and gracefully carved in wreathing leaves and scrolls, blossoming flowers and dripping water. Other articles for illumination are “lanthorns” for halls, passages and staircases; some of them are square, some have six sides and others are egg-shaped. These he directs to be “made of brass cast from wooden moulds.”

The chimney-piece afforded Chippendale the greatest scope. He published many designs far more ornate than the one that appears in Plate XXXVII. Indeed, it is sometimes difficult to follow out all the details of carving bestowed upon them. One very ornate example, he says, “requires great care in the execution. The Imbossments must be very bold and the Foliage neatly laid down, and the whole properly relieved. The 246top may be gilt, as likewise some other ornamental parts.”

Grates, ornamental parts of grates of wrought brass and fire-screens also receive attention. The cornice, wall decorations, borders for paper-hangings, designs for frets that may be applied to various uses, patterns for “handles and escutcheons for brass-work” appear among all the miscellaneous articles. Chamber organs, book shelves, china shelves, terms for busts, stands for tall china vases and beakers and fire-screens are all included. Among the latter we may note that those that stand on four legs are commonly called “horse fire-screens.” Some of them slide up and down, others stand on the horse-leg, and others fold.

Clock-cases also appear; one is ornamented with Gothic columns, and one with a serpent running around the oval dial, “representing Time lasting to Eternity, and the Wings on the sides show how swiftly it flies away.” Table clock-cases also occur.

One of his handsome cisterns, or wine-coolers, which always stood beneath the sideboard table, was cut in the form of a shell supported by cherubs with tails that rose out of the grass. This was to be executed in “wood or marble and cut out of the solid.” The other designs “may be made in parts and joined with the Brass-work.” Tea-kettle stands of delicate proportions, tea-trays and tea-chests received much attention. Some of them had brass or silver ornaments and some were in the Gothic or Chinese taste. The breakfast table and the china table, intended both for use and the display of porcelain, are represented.

247No. 1 on Plate XXXVII. is a breakfast table. Its height is 28 inches and its leaves 45 inches. Its carved straining-rails are interesting. No. 2 on the same plate is a china table, the straining-rail of which drips profusely with icicles or falling water.

From a careful study of the Gentleman’s and Cabinet-Maker’s Director we find that Chippendale’s favourite ornaments are the shell, the fret, the endive and acanthus leaves, the dolphin, the wyvern, the ram’s head holding swags, the squirrel, the crow, the fox, the long-tailed and long-billed bird, the dog, the lion, the masque, the quatrefoil, ribbons, flowers of various kinds, the spiky thorn, bells, the Chinese mandarin, the Chinese pagoda, the Chinese umbrella, the Chinese canopy with bells at the corners, the monkey’s head, the cockatrice, the pine cone, Cupids, satyrs, Bacchantes, boys blowing horns, the rising sun, the two cɔ, the eagle, the horn, violin, pipes, and the lion’s head. We also note an occasional use of the fluttering ribbon, attributes of music, poetry, hunting, emblems of war, the sea, the bull’s head, the serpent among flowers, the caduceus, and Venus rising from the sea in her shell.

In his Analysis of Beauty, Hogarth says: “There is scarce a room in any house whatever where one does not see the waving line employed in some way or other. How inelegant would the shape of our movables be without it! How very plain and unornamental the mouldings of cornices and chimney-pieces without the variety introduced by the ogee member, which is entirely composed of waving lines!”

The above was printed in 1753, just at the height of 248the Louis XV. period and the year before Chippendale published his designs. In a few years all that Hogarth so justly admired was destined to pass away, for, as we shall see in the following chapter, the reaction against the graceful and fantastic curve had already begun.

The Louis XVI. style is easily recognizable. In every kind of furniture whether viewed from the full face or profile, the straight line strikes the eye. It is everywhere, in all the uprights, in the leg and backs of tables and chairs, and parallel lines are close together. Another striking object is a peculiarly slender oval that appears in medallions and vases and all kinds of ornaments. Oval medallions are to be met with on panels and wood marquetry in light tints. These medallions, in which the favourite device is a basket of flowers, are surrounded by a frame, or border, of a straight row of eggs, itself bordered within by a row of pearls. At the top of the medallion is a knot or bow of ribbon, from which falls on either side a little bunch of flowers.

The indications of the coming Louis XVI. style really began between 1745 and 1750, and developed at the same time that the rococo was in full flower. The discoveries 252made in Pompeii and Herculaneum are responsible for the enthusiasm of certain masters of decoration for the straight line and the regular forms of Greek art. Madame de Pompadour greatly favoured this new style.

This period is characterized by a peculiar liking, or pretended liking for everything relating to the fields and to nature. Books of Idylles and Bergeries are multiplied; l’homme de champs has appeared in literature; and the word “sensible” is very fashionable. The works of J. J. Rousseau, Berquin and Bernardin de Saint-Pierre are now being widely read. Ornamentation includes all the pastoral attributes (such as shepherds’ crooks, shepherds’ and shepherdesses’ hats, scythes, rakes, spades, watering-pots, pipes, flutes, Basque drums, and bird-cages), knots of ribbon, wreaths of roses, bunches of flowers, baskets of flowers, falling garlands, sheaves of wheat, architectural eggs and pearls, or beads, parallel groovings, the thyrsus, quivers, torches, the lyre, the broken column, the grooved shaft, the little open galleries or rails on the tops of pieces of furniture (see Plates XLVIII. No. 1; XLVII. and XLIV.) and round, oval, elliptical, or long square medallions containing pastoral subjects. Acanthus scrolls with slender stems support the tablets; and the mouldings are almost invariably bordered with pearl headings. The laurel leaf in the form of a wreath, or a swag, is often used; and the husk, or bell-flower, drops down the pilasters and legs of furniture. (Typical legs appear as Nos. 6 and 7 on Plate XLVII.) The vase is exceedingly prominent. Sometimes it holds flowers, sometimes a pine cone or a flame; 253the shield is also evident; the woodwork is often oak painted white; the walls are divided up by pilasters delicately carved and painted in colours, and often the mouldings are gilt. The chairs and sofas are covered with rich silk or tapestry. Pastoral subjects, flowers and trophies are worked for the backs and seats. Cabinets and tables are inlaid with woods of various colours: tulip-wood, rosewood, pear, holly and ebony are all in use; and bright colours are obtained by chemical treatment.

A critic has asked: “How is this? Should a decorator lose all sense of appropriateness and invite you to sit down upon a pigeon, to obliterate a love scene, and lean your back against a panier of fruit, or a basket of flowers?” The answer was: “Is it not as absurd to eat from a plate decorated with flowers which will mingle with the sauces, or to drink from a cup decorated with butterflies which might fly down your throat! If the pigeons, baskets of flowers and pastoral scenes delight the eye, that is sufficient.”

The materials used in this style are principally white marble, bronzes covered with a soft burnished gold, woods painted white, or in pale delicate hues, such as grey, with which is mixed a little blue, green, or red. To these numerous shades of grey the name “celadon” was given.

“The effort was everywhere made to substitute straight lines for curved and broken lines and unsymmetrical forms, so that simultaneously a right principle of construction was recognized and ornament was no longer required to serve constructive ends. It recovered its place 254as mere decoration, and as such was added or applied to furniture, though not always happily, for chairs and tables were adorned with freely modelled festoon and floating ribbons and garlands, which were too loosely connected with the objects decorated, and stood in too slight connection with them. Not only were the structural parts of furniture once more made rectilinear, but their profiles and dimensions were decidedly more delicate, and the legs of chairs and tables tapered downward to a point. Although this is essentially right in principle, as it gives furniture a more portable appearance, still it can be carried too far. This was so much the case with the furniture of this period that tables, chairs, high-legged secretaries and cabinets look poor and thin, stiff and stilted,—an effect which is not condoned by their elegant prettiness.”

“That which was new in the style of Louis XVI. consisted in the employment of antique ornamental designs, which, having lately been made known through the excavations at Pompeii, had become fashionable; we mean those flowery, conventional, and charming arabesques interspersed with many graceful animal forms, with which the decorators of the time skilfully and pleasingly added an approach to the realistic use of natural forms, quite opposed to the system of Rococo ornament. Perfectly preserved examples of this style of ornament, which was used at the Petit Trianon, still exist in the above-mentioned boudoir of Marie Antoinette at Fontainebleau, as well as in the palace at Haga,^[19] both 255painted on and carved in the woodwork, although the latter is not left in its natural colour, but is gilded in various shades.”

Pollen describes the interior decoration of the rooms of this period as follows:

“The panelling of rooms, usually in oak and painted white, was designed in severe lines with straight moulding and pilasters. The pilasters were decorated with well designed, carved work, small, close and splendidly gilt. The quills, that fill the fluted columns still seen round so many interiors, were cut into beads or other subdivisions with much care. Fine arabesque works in the style of the Loggie of Raphael, partly carved in relief, partly drawn and painted, or gilt, with gold of a yellow or a green hue, the green being largely alloyed with silver, and with silver leaf as well.... The houses built for members of the brilliant court of Marie Antoinette at Versailles and Paris, were filled with admirable work in this style, or in the severer but still delicate carved panelling in wood plainly painted. The royal factories of Gobelins and of Sèvres turned out their most beautiful productions to decorate the rooms, the furniture, and the table service of the young Queen and her courtiers. The former of these factories produced the tapestries for wall hangings.... Gobelins tapestry was used for chair backs and seats, and for sofas. Rich silks from the looms of Lyons, and from those of Lucca, Genoa and Venice were also employed for this kind of furniture, both in France and Flanders, Germany, Italy, and Spain, as well as in our own country. But in all these matters France led the fashions.”

256One of the specialties of this period is the great use of porcelain applied to the front of furniture; these placques are round or oval, and frequently a long rectangle. This fashion had already become popular during the former reign; but it was carried to excess in the days of Louis XVI. Jacquemart says:

“We again repeat that no classification exists that is not defective; between the end of the reign of Louis XV. and the beginning of that of Louis XVI. there is certainly no marked transition; the sobered furniture in the style à la reine is still seen with its chequered marquetry and delicately chased bronzes. Louis XV., the founder of the Porcelain manufactory of France, no doubt caused Sèvres plaques with bouquets, bordered with turquoise blue to be inlaid in the furniture he had around him, or which he offered as gifts. And yet it is more particularly in the reign of Louis XVI. and at the time when Amboyna wood and spotted mahogany were replacing marquetry mosaic, that porcelain and Wedgwood cameos were incrusted in panels, friezes, and the drawers of furniture; it may be permitted, therefore, for the sake of clearness, to call the overlaying of furniture with china by the name of the sovereign who so especially admired and patronized it. In fact, the period of Louis XVI. is that in which cabinet-making employed its resources most largely and multiplied its styles.”

Among the designers who are classed under the epoch of Louis XVI., but whose works are a mixture of Louis XV. and Louis XVI. styles, are Roubo, Lucotte, Watelet, Jean Baptiste Pierre, Dumont, Demontigny, Charles 257de Wailly, Le Lorrain, Choffart and Neufforge. The latter, a native of Liège, was one of the most prolific designers of the age. His eight books of architecture with supplement give examples of interior decorations. The fifth volume, which appeared in 1763, is devoted exclusively to mantel-pieces, ceilings, tables, stoves, commodes, parquet floors, vases and other furniture; and many designs of sofas, cabinets, buffets, armoires, clocks, consoles and commodes are included in the eighth volume published in 1768. Although Neufforge published all his designs during the reign of Louis XV., they form a complete illustration of both the exterior and interior decoration of houses of the Louis XVI. style. However, Neufforge did also produce some designs in the style Louis XV. A mirror by Neufforge appears on Plate XLVII., No. 2.

The most important designers of the Louis XVI. period are: Delafosse, Ranson, Forty, De Lalonde, Salembier, Fragonard, Boucher fils, de Cuvilliés fils, Marillier, Moreau le jeune, Prieur, Petitot, Cauvet, Fay and Le Canu. Others of reputation include: Boulanger, Simon Challe, Houel, Bellicart, Saint Non, LePrince, Bachelier, Liard, Robert, St. Aubin, Renard, Queverdo, Fonlanieu, Pariset, Moreau, Houdan, Beauvais, Le Geay, Bertren, Janel, LaRue, Parizeau, Bonnet, Duplessis fils, Fossier, Huet, Demarteau, Percenet, Pouget, Tibesar, Gardette Ponce, Moithey, Panseron, Desvoyes, Taraval, Charton, Aubert Parent, and Normand.

Delafosse (b. 1721) designed every species of interior decoration, and every kind of furniture and ornament in use, besides innumerable trophies, pastoral attributes, and 258attributes of music, painting, science, hunting, fishing, etc., etc. His furniture includes sofas, canapés and fauteuils in the picturesque taste, and chairs in the antique taste, Turkey ottomans and beds, gondola sofas, French, Italian and Chinese beds, and couches and settees in all the novel forms of the day, as well as window-seats, secretaries, corner-cupboards, candlestands, pedestals, stoves, and chimney-pieces. In some of his designs there are reminiscences of the Louis XV. style, but he is regarded as one of the exponents of the Louis XVI. style and their individuality has given them the name “genre de la Fosse.”

Fragonard (b. 1733; d. 1806) has among his designs bas-reliefs gay with fauns and Bacchantes in luxuriant foliage, panels and over-doors, and charming studies for ceilings, especially adapted for boudoirs.

Forty, designer, engraver, carver, etc., worked in Paris from 1775 to 1780; and in taste and execution his works are perfect examples of the time. In addition to books of vases, iron work for balconies, gratings, stairways, and designs for goldsmiths, he published eight books entitled Œuvres de Sculptures en bronze, in which are designs for girandoles, lustres, clocks, candelabra, dials, barometers, etc., and a “design for Two Toilettes,” representing everything that is appropriate to the use of a lady, and ornamented with the proper figures and allegorical attributes. Jewel-boxes, powder-boxes, comb-trays, etc., are included.

De Lalonde’s first publications, in the Louis XVI. style, are addressed “to artists and persons who wish to decorate with taste”; and he assures them that everything is in the newest style. They include borders and frames, 259both square and round, feet for furniture, tables and consoles, doors, cornices, entablatures, girandoles, lustres, candelabra, trophies, soffits, vases, mantel-pieces, over-doors, ceilings and rosettes for ceilings, fire-places, locks and knobs for the use of doors and furniture, chimney-pieces and sconces. His thirteen books of furniture represent sofas, lits de repos, bergères, duchesses, banquettes confidents, ottomans and other varieties of beds and sofas, fauteuils of both the square and gondola form, billiard and card-tables, desks of the cylinder and tomb shapes and desks with hind’s feet, commode desks, commodes of marquetry, square commodes and commodes with hind’s feet, corner-cupboards, screens, chiffonniers, bookcases with pilasters, little toilette commodes, demi-toilettes, flower-stands, etc., etc. Other books show numerous designs for the table service. The later publications of De Lalonde approach the new Classic taste. In these there are numerous plates for the decoration of apartments, cornices, consoles, ceilings, doors, alcoves, windows, chimney-pieces, girandoles, lustres, sofas, canapés, fauteuils and beds, most of which are “in the antique taste.” Among the chairs there is a chaise renversée à bergère, a fauteuil à griffon, a chaise élastique, a fauteuil à tête renversée, and a fauteuil à chimère antique.

De Lalonde’s designs were exceedingly popular. His beds and sofas à la duchesse, à la polanaise, à colonnes, à trois dossiers, à la turque, etc. are legion, and his chairs, arm-chairs, bergères, screens, tabourets, consoles, etc. appeared at Trianon and Fontainebleau, and many of them survived the Revolution. De Lalonde continued his work under the Directoire and so slavishly followed the fashion 260that his work leads directly into the style of the Empire as expressed by Percier and Fontaine.

De Lalonde is fond of the ribboned leg (see No. 3, Plate XLVI.) and the grooved leg; and his favourite ornaments are the quiver, the urn, the lyre, the garland, the burning torch, and, in his combinations of trophies, the ribbon plays an important part. Specimens of De Lalonde’s works are shown on Plate XLVI., Nos. 1, 2, 3, 5 and 7.

Ranson was particularly fond of trophies and flowers. He composed many designs and motives for the embroidery of arm-chairs. His books give all sorts of trophies and floral designs for various kinds of decoration. He also designed a great deal of furniture, particularly beds. Among the varieties exhibited in his plates are: Lit à Impériale à colonnes, lit à chaire à prêcher. Lit à la Polonaise à tombeau, lit à l’antique, front and side view, lit à la duchesse, lit à la chinoise, lit à la Romaine, lit à la militaire, lit à la Panurge, lit à la Polonaise à tombeau retroussé à la chinoise.

Ranson was particularly fond of the pastoral accessories; and he groups large hats, shepherds’ crooks, spades, trowels, and bird-cages, and throws around them garlands and ribbons. The round or oval frames of his chairs are generally surmounted by a garland of roses wherein doves sometimes bill and coo, or a quiver of arrows is set. An example of the latter design appears as No. 3 on Plate XLIV. Two sofas by Ranson are shown on Plate XLIV., Nos. 1 and 2. The first is a “sofa with drapery and cushions,” the second is an “ottomane à la reine.”

Salembier’s publications are chiefly devoted to the study of ornaments, particularly trailing foliage and arabesques, the acanthus and the thistle leaf. He designed no large pieces of furniture, but there are a few plates of consoles, guéridons, sconces, chandeliers, clocks, feet and corners of tables; friezes and panels for doors are also included.

In Salembier’s designs, the foliage is not very luxuriant, and the acanthus leaf takes the place of the shell. The figures of Cupid that he uses are more like the Greek in treatment; and although his ornaments are plentiful, they grow slenderer. His arabesques are very ornate, although they are composed of light elements, mingled with branches, mosses and grass.

Petitot’s best book contains many views and studies of a salon in the purest Louis XVI. taste. He also published sets of vases.

Jules François Boucher (b. 1736, d. 1781), the son of the famous painter, published various decorations for panels, elevations for alcoves, windows, buffets, details of armoires and commodes, libraries, drawing-rooms, cabinets, bath-rooms, dressing-rooms, boudoirs, bedrooms, dining-rooms, vestibules, etc. His work is particularly valuable; for the decorations, like those of Neufforge, give a more correct idea of the general ornamentation of the Louis XVI. period than the very rich and elaborate designs of Cauvet, Salembier and others.

Cuvilliés (b. 1734, d. 1805) was for a time architect of the Bavarian court, and his stay in Germany greatly 262influenced his taste. His works deal chiefly with ornamentation, but designs for stoves, terms, vases and fountains are found among his drawings; and “niches in two Gothic styles” were published about 1770.

Marillier (b. 1740, d. 1808) chiefly designed flowers, trophies and cartouches. He also produced “new ornament composed in the most modern taste to be made in gold, silver, copper and other metals.” These include trimmings for commodes, buffets and other pieces of furniture, besides lamps, candelabras, sconces for mantel-pieces, hearth furniture, etc. Marillier’s work shows the best characteristics of the Louis XVI. style.

Prieur’s taste led him to arabesques, but, among his large collection of designs, one book is devoted to the decoration of apartments. Its six plates comprise a round dining-room, drawing-room, bedroom, boudoir, vestibule door and two ceilings.

A number of Beneman’s signed works exist, and are of massive and severe form. His heavy commodes of rigid lines are ornamented with handsome metal mounts; and many of his pieces announce the coming Empire style.

At Fontainebleau and the Louvre, are preserved many articles by Dugourc, whose favourite ornament was the quiver.

Cauvet (b. 1731, d. 1788) designed ornaments, chiefly arabesques. Typical trophies and arabesques are shown on Plate XLV. Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5.

A great number of painters, decorators and designers devoted their attention to the urn and vase forms: innumerable volumes entitled “vases composed in the antique 263taste or suite des vases,” were published by Vien, Jacques, Saly, Watelet, Pierre, Wailly, La Live de Juilly, Simon Challe, Saint Non, Petitot, Cauvet, Houdan, Beauvais, Bertren, Gachet, La Rue, Bonnet, Joly, Duplessis, fils, Percenet, Scheemakers, Moithey l’ainé, Nicolet, Dupuis, Courture l’ainé, Marchand, Perault, Pannier, Doré and Normand.

Others gave great attention to designing iron-work for balconies, locks, bolts and mounts for furniture; and even stoves received much consideration. Bosse, for instance, gives eighteen models in his Collection des dessins de Poêles de formes antiques et modernes, de l’invention et de la manufacture du sieur Olivier, rue de la Roquette, faubourg Saint-Antoine.

Other designers published books of arabesques, trophies, flowers and other ornaments for the use of interior decorators. Among the most interesting of these is Charton’s Collection de douze cahiers de plantes étrangères en fleurs, fruits, corail et coquillages, published in 1784.

One of the most prolific designers of textiles was Pillement (b. 1728; d. 1808), and his plates show all the popular motives and subjects of the day: branches, ribbons, stripes mingled with flowers, and those patterns of winding ribbons alternating with straight stripes bespangled with flowers called Dauphines, which were introduced at the time of the Dauphin’s marriage with Marie Antoinette in 1770. From the time that the Princesse de Lamballe assumed charge of the Queen’s household, feathers were much used as a design for textiles; and the affected pastoral life at Trianon gave rise to the gayest sort of materials in which the winding 264stripes and interlacing ribbons are not only sprinkled with flowers, but all the pastoral attributes. About 1780, the round medallions came in and lasted till the beginning of the Nineteenth Century. Of course, the growing taste for the antique had its effect upon the decoration of materials, and the columns, volutes, lyres, heads of Minerva and other Classic ornaments became more and more popular. However, amidst all the changes, one thing persisted. This was the stripe. At first, it was hidden under ribbons and flowers, branches and feathers, but all the scattered ornaments became smaller and less noticeable until they disappeared altogether, and left the dominating stripe. Mercier wrote in 1788: “Everybody in the King’s cabinet looks like a zebra.”

The Marquise de Pompadour, who favoured the new styles, was fond of the stripe. Her bed at Marly was quite in advance of the style associated with Marie Antoinette. It was draped in a rich silk composed of blue and white stripes sprinkled with bouquets of flowers.

Fay was a famous designer of textiles, and wall paper which imitated them in pattern and colour. The material known as quinze seize, a kind of taffeta, whose name was derived from its width was much used for curtains, and also a heavy silk, called gros de Tours. They remained fashionable during the Empire. Another favourite material was the toile de Jouy, which was a kind of printed linen or cretonne made at the factory of Jouy in Josas, which Oberkampt established in 1759. 265His productions there became enormously popular, and the designs were printed from the best talent that could be engaged,—such as Huet, for instance.

It is singular that the two most famous cabinet-makers of the Louis XVI. period were Germans,—Riesener and Roentgen. Riesener (b. about 1730) came from his native town near Cologne to Paris, and, as we have seen, worked in Œben’s shop. When the latter died in 1768, Riesener carried on his business, and up to the outbreak of the Revolution, produced a great deal of furniture. He became “ébéniste du Roi” and worked for the Royal family until they left Versailles. Of course he began to work under Louis XV., his most important production having been made for that King himself (see page 213); but as the greater part of his work was accomplished during the following reign, he is always classed among artisans of the Louis XVI. period. Many of his pieces are from designs by De Lalonde. They include tables, chairs, cabinets, chests-of-drawers and corner-cupboards that are now prized. Riesener is particularly noted for his marquetry. He was fond of inserting a panel of a single piece of wood bearing in its centre a gay and graceful bunch of flowers, a wreath, or trophy, and enriching the border with a diaper pattern of three or four quiet colours. He often stamped his name upon the panel itself. His favourite woods for inlaying were: tulip, rosewood, holly, maple, laburnum, and purple-wood (copaifera pubiflora). Riesener also made furniture, particularly chests-of-drawers and cabinets of snake-wood, or other brown woods in which the grain is waved or curled, and also worked in plain 266mahogany and letter-wood, depending upon Gouthière’s metal mounts for the decorative effect. Fashion also forced Riesener to introduce, somewhat against his will, painted porcelain into his furniture in place of his inlaid panels. One of his productions of this class appears on Plate XLVII. It is a chiffonnier-secrétaire of mahogany with ornaments of chiselled copper, and plaques of Sèvres porcelain. The subjects of the latter are birds. The two lower plaques are apparently held by knots of ribbon made of copper chased and gilt. A little open-worked gallery runs around the back and sides of the top, the front moulding of which is ornamented with the festoon. The commode on Plate XLVIII. is also one of Riesener’s works.

David Roentgen is often known as “David.” He was born near Coblentz, and seems to have kept his shop there, visiting Paris to dispose of his wares; and, obtaining the interest of Marie Antoinette, he established a shop in Paris. He introduced a new kind of marquetry, in which the shadows and shading were actually done by pieces of wood; and, as a journalist of the period said, was done like “stone mosaic.” The woods he used for his marquetry work were lighter and gayer than Riesener’s. He employed various white woods, such as pear, lime, and other light-coloured woods, and frequently tinted them other shades by burning them, or by chemical processes. Like Riesener, he worked also in plain mahogany and letter-wood, and also veneered furniture with these woods. His productions were also brightened by Gouthière’s chased and gilt handles and key-plates. Roentgen was particularly 267clever about introducing mechanical devices into his furniture. His greatest period of activity was between 1780 and 1790.

Among other noted cabinet-makers were Leleu, Saunier, Carlin (who made many articles for Marie Antoinette), Levasseur, Avril, Pafrat (who worked with Carlin), Philippe-Claude Montigny (who copied the works of Boulle), Benman, Stockel, Weisweiler, and Schwerdfeger. Quite a colony of German cabinet-makers, attracted by the success of Riesener and Roentgen, as well as the hope of gaining the interest of the young Austrian Queen, settled in the faubourg Saint-Antoine.

Although some of the beds popular during the last reign survived, particularly the alcove and niche beds, many new varieties were introduced, and the books of such designers as Ranson, Delafosse, and Salembier, contain many drawings of beds. The canopy generally becomes smaller and smaller, until it dwindles into a crown or ring to hold the curtains, and is known as lit à couronne,—a variety that continued popular throughout the Empire. The great four-post bed and the lit en housse, occasionally recorded in inventories and sales, are survivals of the past; most of the new beds take some form of the sofa. The favourite lit à l’anglaise is really nothing but a square sofa. Indeed the dividing line between the beds and sofas is not clearly marked, for the “bed with three backs,” as they still defined it, is draped and furnished with the customary two bolsters and a decorative canopy and curtains. The distinction was not very rigidly observed even at the time. For example, in 1773 we read: “For sale at M. Carré’s, 268rue d’Enfer a lit à l’anglaise of yellow damask that forms a sopha 5 feet wide and 6 feet long; the frame of carved walnut.” In 1785, “a cane bed with three backs that may serve as an ottoman in a summer drawing-room,” is offered for sale.

Columns rarely appear now, and when they do, they are usually light. Sometimes, indeed, they are of iron, and covered with the same material as the curtains. It is preferred to place the bed sideways (vu de face) against the wall. In this case, the headboard and footboard are of equal height and exactly alike. (See Plates XLIV. and XLV.) Often the headboard and footboard are covered with the curtain-material; they are also left plain and printed, or lacquered or gilded. Natural wood ornamented with bronze gilt or moulu decorations is used. The use of veined woods gradually did away with the practice of covering the head and footboards. When the headboard was higher than the footboard, the head was placed against the wall (vu de pied), or it stood in the corner. Muslin, Persian, silk, and other materials were used for draperies, and these were trimmed with bows of ribbon, fringe, cords and tassels. The curtains and counterpane were subject to a formal arrangement of loops and festoons, and feathers still decorated the canopy. Among the most popular varieties were lit à la Polonaise, à la Turque, à la Chinoise, à tombeau, à double tombeau, and à l’anglaise. There was another new bed called à la dauphine, which did not long remain in fashion. Ranson designed one in 1780. This was a lit à impériale or à dôme, which was light and rather graceful. Instead of being supported by columns the 269dome was held by an iron armature. The lit à l’Italienne, so named on account of the draping of the curtains, was very popular in 1775; and the lit à couronne had a round or oval canopy, surmounted by a festoon drapery, trimmed with ball fringe. Two curtains, similarly trimmed, fell from the canopy on either side of the bed to the floor.

The forms, colours, and styles of the beds in use during the Louis XVI. period may be gathered from the following list: lit à housse, crimson velvet, trimmed and embroidered with gold, Maréchal Duc d’Estrées, 1771; lit à la polonaise, blue damask and moiré, Boucher (the painter), 1771; lit à housse, green damask, Madame Favart, 1772; bed of embroidered muslin, the Duc de Bouillon, 1772; lit de Perse, white background with various cut-out decorations, Duchesse de Brissac, 1773; bed of Indian damask, Chevalier d’Hestin, 1775; crimson velvet with gold braid, Duke of Saint-Aignan, 1776; yellow satin embroidered with gold flowers, Marquise de Courcillon, 1777; Indian damask, Mme. le president Talon, 1779; bright yellow damask (worth 24,000 livres), unknown, 1779; crimson damask, Marquise de Saint Georges, 1779; and crimson and white moiré, la Comtesse de Bérulle, 1779. In 1780, crimson seems to be the favourite hue, but there are also fine beds of blue and white damask, crimson and white brocade, and yellow damask, and in 1781–1782, yellow and white damask, green damask, blue damask, blue and white watered silk, blue and white brocade, Persian, tapestry and blue satin embroidered with gold and silk. Yellow camlet and damask in three colours occur in 1784, 270and in 1787 Oriental stuffs and imitations of them are the rage. In 1787, the Marquis de Ménars had a beautiful bed of embroidered blue moiré; the Duc d’Orléans, a lit à la duchesse of flowered silver velvet, trimmed with gold braid and fringes; and the financier, Beaujon, a large canopy bed hung with Gobelin tapestries.

In addition to these, we may call attention to the following folding-beds: a “lit d’ante-chambre in the form of a secretary” was offered at the sale of the Marquise de Vigean’s effects in 1783; and at the sale of Mme. Le Gros’s articles in 1784 “a bed of crimson damask enclosed in an armoire en secrétaire.” A French newspaper also offered for sale in 1785 “a pretty bed enclosed in a secretary made of mahogany with trimmings of gilded or moulu, 7 feet high and 3½ feet wide, proper for both city and country”; and four years earlier a “bed in the form of a commode and garnished with copper” was also offered for sale.

The lower drawing on Plate XLIV. represents a lit de repos, or “causerie,” such as was used at Trianon. The wood is walnut, gilded all over. A carved garland of flowers decorated the top of the head and foot-board, and the grooved columns are surmounted by a carved pineapple. The drapery is a light Florentine silk, green in hue, trimmed with cords and tassels and fringe of white, green and pink.

The bed on Plate XLV. is from a water-colour design by Rousseau de la Rottière.

The window-curtains and draperies have also changed, to be in sympathy with the furniture. They are far more studied than ever before, and it is the cutter whose 271abilities are required rather than the graceful draper. Every bit of material must count, and the shape is determined upon by the scissors. The straight line is insisted upon, and festoon, scarf and lambrequin are combined in a precise and formal manner. When a lambrequin is cut in denticulated ornaments, sometimes the teeth end in a point, and sometimes they are rounded. The cantonnière has entirely disappeared, and the scarf is now an obligatory accompaniment to bed curtains and window-curtains. The curtains are heavily wadded and lined, and beneath them thin muslin or taffeta curtains hang. The draperies are trimmed with braids, cords, fringes, small bell-shaped balls, and long or short but rather slender tassels.

Gilded and lacquered cornices are used, and cornices of white and gilt whose flowers and other ornaments are painted in appropriate colours. The latter style was known as camaïeux. On Plate XLIV., Nos. 3 and 4, specimen cornices with the correct drapery are shown. The central ornament of each is a composition of garlands, quivers and burning torches. Another arrangement of window drapery appears in Plate XLIII.

The lyre clock (No. 3, Plate XLVII.), and the screen (No. 4, Plate XLVIII.), are also typical examples.

The commode becomes more popular than ever. The bombé commode of the preceding reign is succeeded by a piece of furniture in which the straight line predominates, and which usually stands on grooved feet. Some commodes have doors and others long drawers, with two simple handles on either side of the key-plate. When five drawers are placed one above the other, the 272feet naturally become lower than those of the Louis XV. period. Commodes were made of plain mahogany, amaranth and violet-wood. Marquetry work gradually yielded to plain panels bordered with a delicately chased bronze moulding, and the top was covered with a marble slab. Doors and drawers, however, were sometimes ornamented with inlays of flowers or trophies in the centre of the panel. Very few lacquered commodes were made. The commode on Plate XLVIII. is a transitional piece by Riesener. It is of marquetry, ornamented with chased gilt bronze mounts. The legs show the Louis XV. influence. Above it, on the same Plate, is another piece that retains sympathy with the former period. This is a “demi-toilette.” Its curving hind’s feet are ornamented with a bronze gilt acanthus, and delicate metal-work decorates the moulding above the three drawers. (See detail No. 5).

The chiffonnier, or tall case of drawers, occurs in the inventories of this reign. It was used in the dressing and bedrooms.

The console, or pier-table, still holds its place under the mirror between the windows. It bears little resemblance to the superbly carved and decorative console of the former reign. It is composed of straight lines, a straight grooved leg, or a leg grooved and tapered, as shown on Plate XLVIII., No. 1. The ornaments are slight, merely a little gilded metal gallery around the top and base, a small ornament, a rosette or trophy, in the centre under the slab, and sometimes a little decoration on the legs. The straining-rails sometimes unite to form a sort of basket or tray to hold flowers or a piece 273of porcelain, and sometimes the legs are united by a solid piece of wood, as appears on Plate XLIII., which also shows the favourite style of standing upon it a single Sèvres vase. The console was not only made of mahogany and brass work, but it was frequently painted in a light colour. Grey or celadon was a favourite hue. At the sale of the Versailles furniture, during the Terror, “two consoles, painted in pearl-grey, elegantly ornamented with carving and having very handsome slabs of Carara marble,” were sold.

A console in which the characteristics of the approaching Empire style are evident is shown as No. 5 on Plate XLVII. In the original, a double eagle sits upon the straining-rail directly below the chubby cherub. The eagle is accompanied by a branch of laurel. It will not be long before the classic head of the term leg is succeeded by the sphinx.

Typical drawing-room tables are shown on Plate XLIII. It is very rarely that a table of gilded wood is met with in a drawing-room or petit salon. Solid or veneered tables of rosewood, amaranth, violet-wood or mahogany, decorated with brass-work or gilded copper, are the favourites. Sometimes the top consists of a marble slab, and sometimes a square of velvet or cloth is framed in a border of wood ornamented with a metal moulding; but the table-cloth is rigorously avoided.

In the boudoir, tables painted and lacquered in the Vernis Martin style are met with. In the boudoir as well as in the drawing-room, the “flower table” also occurs. This must have been a jardinière, because Percier uses the word table à fleurs for his jardinières. Growing flowers 274were greatly preferred to cut flowers for decoration, and were placed on tables or stands in vases and baskets made of gilded metal or gilded osiers. The flower table, however, was arranged purposely for growing plants. It resembled the pier-table, and was often ornamented with porcelain plaques. In 1777, a Parisian advertisement reads: “For sale, a beautiful table à fleurs, now being made, of satin-wood lined with lead, the four feet in scrolls ornamented with shoes gilded or moulu, as also the rings that form the handles; with a drawer also lined with lead to drain the water.”

Writing-tables with desks that lift up and down at pleasure to any height required, by means of mechanical devices, were also placed in the boudoir. Work-tables were sometimes combined with the writing-tables.

Numerous kinds of card-tables were in use and tables called “de bouillote,” which were round, folding or fixed, and stood on four feet.

The extension dining-table, mounted on four, six or eight feet and opening at the middle, appears in this period, and a very useful article is introduced into the dining-room. This is the table servante, a species of dumb-waiter, with drawers and shelves arranged in tiers and supported on four feet. Some of the drawers are large enough to hold bottles or a carafe, while others are intended for corkscrews and small articles. The feet, which are grooved, are mounted on casters. This piece of furniture is represented in the caricatures by Charlet, Grandville and H. Monnier.

A kindred article is represented in the upper right-hand corner of Plate XLVIII. This is a breakfast table 275made by Carlin and Patrat. It is now in the South Kensington Museum.

Desks or bureaux, like the commodes, became heavier and approached the sarcophagus in shape. The rolltop cylinder was the most popular design. One of these is represented on Plate XLVII., No. 4. The cabinet was also in use, and sometimes it was constructed especially for the corner of a room. A corner cabinet is shown on Plate XLVII., No. 1, with its panel inlaid with a floral design, and its grooved column at the side that is of the vase shape, and supports a small urn with a burning torch. It was considered proper to place a vase on the top of the cabinet. The tall vase was greatly used as a decoration, and was placed not only on cabinet and pier-table, but a pedestal was frequently provided for it. (See Plate XLIII.)

Another specimen of a cylinder desk is represented on Plate XLIV. It is in the style of Riesener, and is made of mahogany with delicately chased metal trimmings. The frieze is a combination of scrolls, griffins and leaves; the panels of the doors and the cylinder are also bordered with metal; the foot is encased in a metal leaf; and the key-plates are ornately worked. The legs and pilasters are grooved. The top is covered with a marble slab surmounted by an open-worked metal gallery.

The seats differ greatly from those of the former period. In these, the curved outline entirely vanishes. During the transitional period, the feet are of the console outline, ending in a scroll or shell, or peg-top shape that succeeded the leaf shoe; and before the medallion 276was used for the back of the chair frame, the violin shape was employed. The next change was a sort of projecting square, then the shape of the handle of a basket, until the form is reached that shows a perfect square between two straight columns, each ending in a steeple ornament and making a kind of frame for the covering. (See Plates XLVI. and XLVIII.) The small arm-chairs were called cabriolets, but the frames of each were similarly ornamented with beads, winding ribbons, laurel leaves, etc. The richest chairs had a carved and gilt ornament in the centre of the top rail, usually a bow of ribbon, a bouquet of flowers, or a garland of small blossoms or leaves.

Plain woods, such as mahogany, walnut, or amaranth, are often used for the frames, but far more universal is the use of wood carved and gilded, or carved and painted according to fancy. Some mahogany and rosewood arm-chairs are brightened by the application of chased and gilded bronze ornaments. The upholsterers of the day furnished the chairs with round, flattened or half round cushions. The projection of the back cushion was regulated by the material with which it was covered, so that the latter should be exhibited to its best advantage. Many arm-chairs had removable cushions that fit into the frame of the chair. The cushions were sometimes tufted.

The old damask of the past used for furniture coverings now gave place to figured and embroidered satin, the designs representing birds, vases full of flowers, Cupids, quivers smothered with garlands of flowers, a bouquet held by a bunch of ribbon, and, finally, stripes. 277The tones were light: two colours, one of which in two or three shades, were often employed, the favourites being pale blue, rose, yellow, lilac and grey. The manufactories of the Gobelins, of Beauvais and Aubusson produced the same designs and pictures in their tapestries which were in great vogue for chairs and sofas. Garlands, shepherds and shepherdesses, subjects from Boucher and Fragonard and trophies were reproduced most exquisitely upon light backgrounds. Persian, Chinese and Polish subjects witness how the decorators tried to study the designs of foreign and Oriental countries. The stamped velvets of Utrecht had smaller patterns and very frequently were striped. Braids were of innumerable varieties, and tassels and ball-fringe were universally used for trimmings. Arm-chairs were ornamented also with festoons of drapery, and were called fauteuils à la polonaise, à la turque, à la chinoise, and in all probability matched the beds and sofas of these names. Radel, De Lalonde, Salembier, and others give many designs of the draped arm-chair. Typical chairs are represented on Plates XLVI. and XLVIII. The arm-chairs on Plate XLVI. are by De Lalonde. Nos. 2 and 3 are drawings of the same chair, No. 2, showing the correct projection of the cushion of the back, which was a subject of so much study. No. 5 is a “voyelle,” also by De Lalonde. The plan of its seat appears as No. 4. No. 2 on Plate XLVIII. is an arm-chair of walnut and gold. The arm-chairs for the desk were made of mahogany, or painted wood. They were of the gondola form, and were supplied with cushions for the back and seat, which were not unfrequently of cane. The third 278foot placed directly in front now seems to have been given up. The fauteuil bergère still belongs to the drawing-room, but its lines are straighter than its parent (see Plate XXXVI., No. 1), and the elbow is more aggressive. A typical Louis XVI. fauteuil bergère is shown in No. 3 on Plate XLVIII. This is also called fauteuil confessional. In this reign the cushions of seat and back are often stuffed with hair instead of feathers, and tufted. Like the specimen on Plate XXXVI., this fauteuil bergère is often supplied with a separate cushion for the seat, covered like the rest of the chair.

Another typical chair was the “voyeuse,” the back of which was shaped like a lyre, and reached from the seat to the top rail. The latter was stuffed. Men sat astride the seat, and rested their arms upon the rail. This chair was generally in the card-room.

The dining-room chairs usually had cane backs and seats, or rush. The frames of oak or ebony followed the forms of the dining-room chair, or had turned bars or carved splats. Mahogany was also used, and often the frames were painted. As a rule, the chairs were furnished with removable cushions, but sometimes they were covered with velvet or leather.

The form of the sofa, or canapé, was similar to that of the chair, as will be noticed by an examination of Plate XLV. Sofas were of the gondola, basket, or medallion form, and were slightly lower and deeper of seat than those of the former reign. Sometimes they had high wings or cheeks at the ends, something after the shape of No. 3, on Plate XLVIII., which gave them a cosy, comfortable appearance. A typical canapé 279is represented on Plate XLVI. The frame is of carved and gilded wood, and it is covered with tapestry in the style of Boucher. The central medallion represents a pastoral subject,—a child with a dog, cock, and birdcage with a border of roses and daisies, and on either side are two trophies of musical instruments. The seat is similarly covered. The sofa, No. 7, on the same plate, is one of De Lalonde’s. This has a good deal of metal work, and the familiar patera that is placed at the head of the leg, and, in fact, wherever the wood is joined. This “sopha” has four front legs. Like the model below there is an open space under the arm. The omission of the cushion stamps it of a later date.

The little rounded and low sofa was often called an ottoman; but this name is also applied to large pieces. For instance, No. 2, on Plate XLIV., is called “Ottoman à la reine.” This is by Ranson, who is also responsible for the sofa above it. The latter permits the square pillow as well as the round bolster. The varieties of the draped sofa, known variously as lit de repos, chaise longue, duchesse, bergère, à la turque, à la polonaise, à la chinoise, etc., are too numerous to mention, and merge into the bed. It is hard to tell even from the contemporary drawings what is a sofa and what is a bed, as both appear with and without canopies. For example, No. 6, on Plate XLVI., is called “sofa bed à l’antique.” The frame is of plain mahogany, and the drapery is arranged in scant festoons. This piece is very close in feeling to the Empire sofas, and the scroll end sofas of the early Nineteenth Century that exactly follow the outline produced by the bird, cushion and roll of No. 6. The 280duchesse is still composed of the fauteuil and tabouret. Sometimes it is made in three instead of two divisions.

The apartments of the Princesse de Lamballe consisted of an ante-chamber, a dining-room, a dressing-room, a billiard-room, a bedroom and a boudoir. They display the Louis XVI. furniture in full flower (1785). Some idea of the height of the rooms can, of course, be gained from the length of the curtains.

The ante-chamber contained twelve square chairs covered with yellow bazanne,^[20] the frames painted white; a six-leaved screen covered with red cloth, 6 feet high; and a sofa-bed.

The dining-room was furnished with twenty chairs, three screens and a commode. The curtains, 14 feet, 6 inches high, were of heavy crimson silk trimmed with gold braid. The woodwork of the chairs was painted yellow, and they were covered with crimson panne velvet fastened by gilt nails on a gold braid. Two of the screens had six leaves and were 6 feet high. One was covered with crimson panne fastened by gilt nails on a gold braid; the other with crimson silk velvet, fluted and nailed similarly. The third screen was covered with crimson damask; its frame was carved and gilt. The commode was à la Régence, 4 feet long, of veneered wood with a marble slab on top, and two long drawers with lock-plates, rosette handles, chutes and shoes of copper gilt. The room was lighted by a splendid lustre of Bohemian crystal, with eight gilded branches (2 feet, 7 inches high and 2 feet wide); and a pair of arms, 281each with three rocaille branches (22 inches high and 15 inches wide). The heat was supplied by a grate.

The drawing-room was hung with green and white damask. It had a frieze of carved wood, partly gilt and partly painted white. Two large square arm-chairs, eighteen square chairs of gilded wood, four voyeuses, and two little chairs were covered with the same green and white damask as the hangings. The framework was carved and painted white. There were also twenty-four mahogany chairs with lyre backs, the seats of which were covered with green leather fastened by gilt-headed nails that touched one another. The window-curtains, of two lengths each (9 feet, 8 inches long), were of heavy green silk, trimmed with silk braid. A rich carpet covered the floor. The light was obtained by means of a Bohemian crystal lustre, over 3 feet high, with six silver branches and three pairs of sconce-arms. The fire-place was highly ornamental, and the tongs and shovel had gilded knobs.

The billiard-room was hung with green damask, and the curtains were of heavy green silk. Here were twelve chairs and four voyeuses, and a banquette covered with green Utrecht velvet, fastened with gilt-headed nails. The framework of these seats was painted white. There were also several stools and benches covered with green morocco.

The bedroom had a moquette carpet (14 feet, 6 inches by 25 feet) of a white background on which were ovals of green, upon which flowers tied with ribbons were represented. A very ornamental grate furnished the heat.

282The boudoir reflected the taste of the age. The hangings and furniture coverings were of heavy silk with a white background, on which a lozenge design was represented, as well as bouquets of flowers tied with blue ribbons framed in a kind of trellis-like border. The frames of the furniture were carved and gilt. The seats consisted of a settee, with a square cushion, two pillows and two round bolsters; six square arm-chairs, a bergère with a square cushion, and a screen. The niche (6 feet wide and 9 feet, 9 inches high) was hung with the same material as the rest of the boudoir, and was lined with white silk. The window-curtains matched the alcove and bed draperies. There was a handsome lustre of rock-crystal with eight branches of copper gilt, a screen of crimson damask with a beech frame; an “ottoman en gondole” painted white, covered with crimson damask, fastened with gold nails to the frame, and equipped with a square hair pillow and two feather pillows with tassels; seven crimson damask arm-chairs and a walnut writing-table with drawer.

The apartments of Mlle. Guimard, the actress, in 1786, give excellent hints for furnishings of this period. In the ante-chamber, on the ground floor, were twelve chairs covered with green moquette, two buffets, a fountain with a filter, a stove, a wooden coffer and figures in the niches.

In the dining-room, there were three tables for ten, fifteen, and thirty covers. The eighteen chairs were upholstered in green and white Utrecht velvet.

The greenhouse contained five banquettes, or forms, covered with green Utrecht velvet, and three girandoles 283carried by plaster figures standing on white marble pedestals.

The boudoir was furnished with two settees, two bergères, and two chairs covered with tapestry; and a desk stood in a counterfeit doorway. The window-curtains were of green taffeta, and a carpet covered the floor. In the bedroom, two large pictures took the place of hangings. A sofa-bed stood in the niche, draped with crimson and white Genoa velvet. The niche was hung with the same material. Two sofas, six square-backed arm-chairs, and a two-leaved screen and two banquettes were covered similarly, but the four cabriolets were upholstered in brocade. Another screen was covered with tapestry. There were also a foot carpet, an open fire-place with rich hearth furniture, pictures, and two lily-shaped girandoles of copper gilt, or moulu. A moquette portière screened the passage to the garde-robe. The “Baths” occupied three rooms. The bath-room and its niche were hung with Persian; the window curtains were white, and here stood a canapé and four cabriolets. The cabinet next to the bath contained a settee, four cabriolets, and two window-curtains, all in “painted Pekin.” The furnishings of the fireplace were gilt or moulu. The dressing-room was hung in damask paper, and its six cabriolets were upholstered with crimson and white velvet.

Mlle. Grimard’s suite upstairs consisted of antechamber, dining-room, drawing-room, dressing-room, bedroom, writing-room, and garde-robe. The ante-chamber 284was furnished with six cane chairs and a faïence fountain. The dining-room seats, covered with blue and white velvet, comprised six chairs and two arm-chairs.

The salon, or drawing-room, contained five tables: one stood in each corner and one in the centre. There were six square arm-chairs, four chairs, and a settee of green and white damask, and the one tabouret was covered with tapestry. The walls were hung with watered silk, and the curtains were green taffeta. The dressing-room contained four arm-chairs, and four chairs covered in blue and white damask; and the window-curtains were of blue taffeta. The arm-chair used at the toilette was upholstered in leather. The chimney-piece was “à la Prussienne,” and the hearth furniture was gilt or moulu. The bedroom was lighted by two windows, which were hung with curtains of green taffeta. The lit en niche and the alcove draperies were of Indian dimity. The four arm-chairs and four chairs were covered with toile de Jouy. (See page 264.) The fireplace furnishings were gilt or moulu. In the writing-room, the two curtains were of green taffeta; and the desk arm-chair was covered with green velvet. Two china corner-cupboards stood in the garde-robe.

The Cabinet des Modes from 1786 to 1790 gives many examples of furniture and interior decorations that are excellent records of the taste of the last years of the Louis XVI. style. The volume for 1786 gives designs for a clock and candelabra; bed in the form of a pulpit, front and side view, lit de repos, or causeuse, arm-chairs “in the latest fashion,” bergères, chaise à chapeau and 285chaise à resaut, “temple flambeaux and cassolettes for the decoration of a mantel-piece,” bed “à la Turque,” and decoration for a boudoir.

A lit à la Polonaise, a decoration for a bedroom with alcove with columns, cabinet clock, sofa with three backs, or “sofa pommier,” large arm-chair for a drawing-room, two voyeuses for a card room, and a chair appear in the second volumes. The third contains mantel-pieces, girandoles, clocks, a cylinder desk, a console, and the decoration for a salon. Another decoration for a salon appears in the volume for 1789, also a clock, girandoles, a Chinese lantern, pots pourris, or perfume-burners, a sofa of three divisions, a fauteuil à chapeau et à colonnes, a hearth and a settee. The volume for 1790 leads directly into the Directoire style, as the plates for the “lit à la fédération,” “new arm-chairs of antique form,” “antique arm-chair,” “Etruscan chair,” candelabra, and “salon nouveau” plainly show. Most of these designs are by Charpentier.

19. 286Copy of the Little Trianon built by Gustavus III., of Sweden, in his park at Haga near Stockholm.

20. A kind of dimity.

Reaction from the rococo style doubtless marched with the same gradual and certain steps in England as in France. The Louis XVI. style crossed the channel and brought with it all its bitter contempt for “rock and shell,” its passion for the straight line, and its love for mortuary urns and arabesque ornamentation. In English decorative art, this style is known as “Adam.”

Although Robert and James Adam had great influence in creating and strengthening the “taste for the antique,” they were not the only ones who made war upon the rococo, Gothic and Chinese. One of these was George Richardson, who, like Adam, travelled in Italy. He published A Book of Ceilings composed in the style of the Antique Grotesque, in 1776; A New Collection of Chimney-Pieces in the style of the Etruscan, Greek and Roman Architecture, in 1781; and A Series of Original Designs for Country Seats or Villas, containing Plans, 290Elevations, Sections of Principal Apartments, Ceilings, Chimney Pieces, Capitals of Columns, Ornaments for Friezes, and Other Interior Decorations in the Antique Style, in 1795.

Placido Columbani published A New Book of Ornaments, in 1775; and A Variety of Capitals, Friezes, Cornices and Chimney-pieces, in 1776. These are designs for the interior decoration of rooms, chiefly of panels to be made in wood, or stucco, or painting.

John Crunden was another. He issued Designs for Ceilings, in 1765; Convenient and Ornamental Architecture, in 1768; The Joiner and Cabinet-Maker’s Darling, in 1770; and, with Thomas Milton and Placido Columbani, The Chimney-Piece Maker’s Daily Assistant, or a Treasury of New Designs for Chimney-Pieces.

N. Wallis published, in 1771, A Book of Ornaments in the Palmyrene Taste, which was followed by The Carpenter’s Treasure and The Complete Modern Joiner, which contain designs for ceilings, panels, pateras, mouldings, chimney-pieces, door-cases, friezes, tablets for the centre ornaments, chimney-pieces, and door-cases and ornaments for pilasters, bases and sub-bases. The greater number were of allegorical subjects. Wallis was fond of the “Raffle” leaf (indented foliage, such as the acanthus). J. Carter was another designer in the Adam taste. His ceilings greatly resembled Richardson’s. The latter describes one of his own chimney-pieces as follows: “The plain ground round the pilasters and architrave may be of jasper, or antique green; and the ornaments of the frieze and pilasters 291might be done of scagliola,^[21] and should be executed in wood; the ornaments will produce a fine effect if painted in the Etruscan manner—in various colours.” A Triumph of Venus is a tablet of another chimney-piece, “suitable for an elegant gallery or Drawing-room. She is sitting in a shell drawn by Dolphins guided by Cupid, in the air and accompanied by a Triton blowing his shell trumpet, and holding Neptune’s trident. The plain ground round the pilasters with termes may be of variegated colours, but all the rest should be of plain white marble.” Of the ceiling for a dressing-room he says: “The oval picture represents Diana bathing attended by her Nymphs. The small circles contain figures representing hunting-pieces and sacrifices, which may be painted in chiaro-oscuro, or executed in stucco in the manner of antique bas-reliefs.” A chimney-piece, suitable for a Parlour or Dining-room, is thus described: “The ornaments of the frieze may be of white marble, laid on dark grounds. If the cornice, with the frieze and back pilasters, be carved in wood, the moldings of the architraves in marble, might be quite plain.”

It will therefore be seen that the “Adam style” was a fashion. Taste was running its natural course and the reaction to the antique, from the curve in favour of the straight line, had set in.

The social position of the Adam brothers helped them greatly in towering above the other English designers 292and decorative artists of the day. Their father, William Adam, was an architect of reputation in Scotland; and sent his second son, Robert, to the University of Edinburgh, where he formed important friendships. In 1754, he went to Italy with a French architect and made a careful study of the ruins of the Emperor Diocletian’s palace at Spalatro in Dalmatia. He was made F.R.S. and F.S.A. while abroad; and, on his return to England, in 1762, become royal architect. His brother James was closely identified with him in all his work. The nobility and gentry not only patronized them, but received them socially; and when Robert died in 1792, and was buried in Westminster Abbey, the state of his funeral and the high rank of the persons who attended and officiated, prove the regard in which he was held. Adam, therefore, is of a very different class from Chippendale, Heppelwhite and Sheraton; and, although he designed much furniture to accord with the rooms that he altered and decorated, he never made any. The Adam brothers were purely designers: they employed special artists to work for them. These were Angelica Kauffman, and her husband, Antonio Zucchi, and Cipriani; also Pergolesi, whom they brought from Italy, and who Mr. Heaton says “beyond doubt was the unacknowledged author of most of the beautiful details of Adam’s book.”

Among their most important works that include interior decoration were: Sion House, the Duke of Northumberland’s seat in Middlesex; Kenwood, Lord Mansfield’s house near Hampstead; Osterley House, near Brentford; Shelburne (now Lansdowne) House, 293Berkeley Square, London; Keddlestone, Derbyshire; Luton House, Bedfordshire; and Compton Verney, Warwickshire.

“Whatever were the architectural defects of their works, the brothers formed a style, which was marked by a fine sense of proportion, and a very elegant taste in the selection and disposition of niches, lunettes, reliefs, festoons, and other classical ornaments. It was their custom to design furniture in character with their apartments, and their works of this kind are still highly prized. Amongst them may be specially mentioned their sideboards with elegant urn-shaped knife-boxes, but they also designed bookcases and commodes, brackets and pedestals, clock-cases and candelabra, mirror-frames and console tables of singular and original merit, adapting classical forms to modern uses with a success unrivalled by any other designer of furniture in England. They designed also carriages and plate, and a sedan-chair for Queen Charlotte. Of their decorative work generally it may be said that it was rich but neat, refined but not effeminate, chaste but not severe, and that it will probably have quite as lasting and beneficial effect upon English taste as their architectural structures.”^[22]

Like Chippendale, they claimed more originality than they were entitled to when they wrote in their preface:

“We have not trod in the path of others, nor derived aid from their labours. In the books which we have had the honour to execute we have not only met with the approbation of our employers, but even with the imitation of other artists, to such a degree, as in some 294measure to have brought about in this country, a kind of revolution in the whole system of this useful and elegant art. These circumstances induced us to hope that to collect and engrave our works would afford both entertainment and instruction.”

“We have thought it proper to colour with the tints used in the execution, a few copies of each number, not only that posterity might be enabled to judge with more accuracy concerning the taste of the present age, and that foreign connoisseurs might have it in their power to indulge their curiosity with respect to our national style of ornament; but that the public in general might have an opportunity of cultivating the beautiful art of decoration hitherto so little understood in most of the countries of Europe.”

The Adams tell us they intended to prefix to their book a dissertation regarding the rise and progress of architecture in Great Britain, “to have pointed out the various stages of its improvements from the time that our ancestors relinquishing the Gothic style, began to aim at an imitation of the Grecian manner, until it attained that degree of perfection at which it has now arrived.”

Thus the Gothic had no more admiration from the Adams than it had when Evelyn denounced it.

It is interesting to let them exhibit their own taste and rating of British architects.

“Michael Angelo, Raphael, and other Italian architects of the Renaissance boldly aimed at restoring the antique. But in their time the rage for painting became 295so prevalent, that instead of following these great examples, they covered every ceiling with large fresco compositions, which, though extremely fine and well painted, were very much misplaced, and must necessarily, from the attitude in which they are beheld, tire the patience of every spectator. Great compositions should be placed so as to be viewed with ease. Grotesque ornaments and figures in any situation are perceived with the glance of an eye, and require little examination. Inigo Jones introduced them into England with as much weight, but with little fancy and embellishment. Vanburgh, Campbell, and Gibbs, followed too implicitly the authority of this great name. Kent’s genius for the picturesque, and the vast reputation he deservedly acquired, made him in some measure withstand this prevalent abuse; he has much merit in being the first who began to lighten the compartments and to introduce grotesque paintings with his ornament in stucco; his works, however, are evidently those of a beginner. Mr. Stuart, with his usual elegance and taste, has contributed greatly towards introducing the true style of the antique decoration; and it seems to have been reserved for the present times to see compartment ceilings, and those of every kind, carried to a degree of perfection in Great Britain that far surpasses any of the former attempts of other modern nations.

“Inigo Jones, who had long studied in Italy, rescued this art (architecture) in a considerable degree from the Gothicism of former times, and began to introduce into his country a love of that elegance and refinement which characterize the productions of Greece and Rome.

296“Instructed and encouraged by his example, Sir Christopher Wren became more chaste; and having the felicity to be employed in executing the most magnificent work of English architecture, he was enabled to display greater extent of genius.

“Vanburgh understood better than either the art of living among the great. A commodious arrangement of apartments was therefore his peculiar merit. But his lively imagination scorned the restraint of any rule in composition; and his passion for what was fancifully magnificent, prevented him from discerning what was truly simple, elegant, and sublime.

From their own testimony we can, therefore, not agree with them, when they write elsewhere:

“Inferior to our ancestors in science, we surpass them in taste.” However, they insist that at the time they write, “greater variety of form, greater beauty in design, greater gaiety, and elegance of ornament are introduced into interior decoration.”

They were greatly in demand, as we have seen, and not only altered the interiors and exteriors of many English mansions, but designed the decorations. Chimney-pieces, ceilings, walls, niches, the handles of doors, locks, key-plates, cornices, draperies, furniture, gold and silver ware, and even damask for the table. Nothing seemed too great, nor too slight for their hands. The attitude they had towards their work may be appreciated by the following words:

“If we have any claim to approbation, we found it 297on this alone. That we flatter ourselves we have been able to seize, with some degree of success, the beautiful spirit of antiquity, and to transfuse it, with novelty and variety, through all our numerous works.”

The pictures on Plates L., LI., and LII. are taken from the book by the Adams. No. 1, on Plate L., is the curtain cornice of the Earl of Derby’s Etruscan Room; No. 2 on the same plate is another cornice with drapery, which, with the mirror below it, were made for Sion House. No. 4 is the leg of a table and No. 5 is the upper part of the frame of a pier-glass. The lower drawing is a sideboard table, under which, in the original drawing, a wine-cooler stands. No. 3 is a table, also from Sion House.

The sofa appearing on Plate LI. is of mahogany, the woodwork fluted and mounted with brass reliefs. The legs are characteristic of Adam. The cover is woolen work on canvas.

The table on the same plate is inlaid and has a border of inlaid brass and wood around the top. The two drawers under the top have borders of brass and are decorated with brass lions. In the centre of each crosspiece there is a decoration of leaves surrounding a rosette. The legs are gilded at intervals, and are ornamented with gilt lion’s heads and end in claw feet. This dates from about 1780.

The screen on the same plate is supported on a stand of wood fluted and gilded, out of which rises a brass rod. The oval frame encloses a piece of silk embroidery said to have been made by Queen Caroline. The little picture in the centre is painted. No. 1 is a curtain cornice, 298of which Adam says: “These curtains were intended as an attempt to banish absurd French compositions.” No. 2 is a ewer, that also appears in the Adam book. Plate XLIX. is a library after the Adam style. The full drawing on Plate LII. is a commode from the Countess of Derby’s dressing-room; it is richly decorated. No. 2 is a detail. No. 3 on the same plate from it is a girandole, made for a niche in the Earl of Derby’s Etruscan Room. The full drawing is “a design of a vase for candles to be fixed to the wainscoting of a room”; the central vase is a perfume-burner. No. 1 is a tripod of gilded wood, intended to support a base with candles.

Among the ornaments used by the Adam brothers were mythological subjects, lozenge-shaped panels, octagons, ovals, hexagons, circles, wreaths, fans, husks, medallions, draped medallions, medallions with figures, the sphinx, the faun, goats, drapery, ribbons, eagle-headed grotesques, griffins, sea-horses, the ram’s head, the patera, the rosette, caryatides and other Classic motives.

The ornaments of the ceilings and walls were stucco picked out with different tints, frequently pink and green. In handsome rooms, the chimney-piece was of statuary marble, the overmantel carved in wood and gilt, or painted. The drawing-room ceiling was coved and the compartments painted. Pilasters were often used to divide the rooms and the ornaments of these, like the arches and panels of the doors, were painted. The frieze was stucco. Ornaments in the niches were frequently gilt, as well as the girandoles and stucco ornaments of the ceilings. The Adams also recommended ornaments 299printed on papier maché and “so highly japanned as to appear like glass.” Damask and tapestry were used for hanging the drawing-room, but not the dining-room.

They assert that within the past few years there has been “a remarkable improvement in the form, convenience, arrangement and relief of apartments; a greater movement and variety, in the outside composition and in the decoration of the inside, an almost total change. The massive entablature, the ponderous compartment ceiling, the tabernacle frame almost the only species of ornament, formerly known in this country, are now universally exploded, and in their place we have adopted a beautiful variety of light mouldings, gracefully formed, delicately enriched and arranged with propriety and skill. We have introduced a great diversity of ceilings, frieze and decorated pilasters, and have added grace and beauty to the whole, by a mixture of grotesque ^[23] stucco 300and painted ornaments, together with the flowing rinceau,^[24] with its fanciful figures and winding foliage.

“A proper arrangement and relief of apartments are branches of architecture in which the French have excelled all other nations; these have united magnificence with utility in the hôtels of their nobility, and have rendered them objects of universal imitation.

“To understand thoroughly the art of living, it is necessary, perhaps, to have passed some time among the French, and to have studied the customs of that social and conversible people. In one particular, however, our manners prevent us from imitating them. Their eating-rooms seldom or never constitute a piece in their great apartments, but lie out of the suite, and in fitting them up, little attention is paid to beauty or decoration. The reason of this is obvious; the French meet there only at meals, when they trust to the display of the table for show and magnificence, not to the decoration 301of the apartment; and as soon as the entertainment is over, they immediately retire to the rooms of company. Not so with us. Accustomed by habit, or induced by the nature of our climate, we indulge more largely in the enjoyment of the bottle. Every person of rank here is either a member of the legislature, or entitled by his condition to take part in the political arrangements of his country, and to enter with ardour into those discussions to which they give rise; these circumstances lead men to live more with one another, and more detached from the society of the ladies. The eating-rooms are considered as the apartments of conversation, in which we are to pass a great part of our time. This renders it desirable to have them fitted up with elegance and splendour, but in a style different from that of other apartments. Instead of being hung with damask, tapestry, etc., they are always finished with stucco, and adorned with statues and paintings, that they may not retain the smell of the victuals.”

The Adam brothers now describe what seems to them a correct arrangement of a suite of apartments. These they themselves planned and decorated for the Duke of Northumberland’s estate, Sion House, near London. “The hall, both in our homes and in those of France, is a spacious apartment, intended as the room of access where servants attend. It is here, a room of great dimensions, is finished with stucco, as halls always are, and formed with a recess at each end, one square and the other circular, which have a noble effect and increase the variety.

“The ante-rooms on each side are for the attendance 302of the servants out of livery, and also for that of the tradesmen, etc. These are relieved by the back stairs in the towers. That on the side of the great apartment is square, and is decorated with columns of verd antique marble, which serve to form the room and heighten the scenery. The ante-room, on the side of the private apartment, is formed into an oval, a figure seldom or never used by the ancients, but has been sometimes introduced by the moderns with success, and was here in some respect necessary from the oblong shape of the room.

“Next to the ante-rooms are the public and private eating-rooms; the public one is a room of great extent, finished with stucco and adorned with niches and statues of marble; it is formed into a great circular recess at each end and decorated with screens of columns. The private one has also its recesses and stucco-finishing, and is relieved by a back-stair for the use of the servants.

“Next to the great eating-room lies a splendid withdrawing room, for the ladies, or salle de compagnie, as it is called by the French; this is varied from the other rooms by the form of its ceiling, which is coved and painted in compartments. It gives access into a gallery of great length, though rather too narrow and too low to be in the just proportion we could have wished. It is, however, finished in a style to afford great variety and amusement, and is, for this reason, an admirable room for the reception of company before dinner, or for the ladies to retire to after it: For the withdrawing-room lying between this and the eating-room, prevents the 303noise of the men from being troublesome; and for this reason we would always recommend the intervention of a room in great apartments to prevent such inconvenience.

“The little closets or cabinets, the circular one for china, and the other square one for miniatures, at each end of the gallery, serve only for an additional ornament. The gallery itself, as well as the private apartments, is relieved by the circular back stairs, and gives access to the ranges of apartments on both sides.

“The great circular saloon is a noble room entering from the hall, and leading into the gallery and great stairs, relieves all the other apartments: this serves also for a room of general rendez-vous, and for public entertainments, with illuminations, dancing and music. The form is new and singular; it is a circle within a circle, the smaller opening into the larger, by eight piercings adorned with columns and terminated with niches and statues, so that the scenery, like the decorations of a theatre, apparently increases the extent, and leaves room for the imagination to play.

“The private apartments are now the only part of the plan remaining undescribed; on one hand is the Duchess’s bed-chamber, an ante-chamber for the attendance of her maid; her toilet or dressing-room, her powdering-room, water-closet and outer ante-room, with a back stair leading to the intersols for the maids’ bedrooms and wardrobes, etc. On the other hand is a dressing-room for the Duke, a powdering-room, writing-room, with closet and stairs to intersols for His Grace’s valet-de-chambre, and wardrobe, etc.”

304The Adams also made changes at Kenwood in 1774, introducing their plans and decorations into an addition. “The great room with its ante-room was begun by Lord Mansfield’s orders in 1767, and was intended both for a library and a room for receiving company. The circular recesses were therefore fitted up for the former purpose, and the square part or body of the room was made suitable to the latter. The whole is reckoned elegant in its proportions and decorations, and the ceiling in particular, which is a segment of a circle, has been greatly admired.”

This ceiling is in “imitation of a flat arch, which is extremely beautiful and much more perfect than that which is commonly called the coved ceiling,” and Adam thus continues to describe it: “The stucco-work of this ceiling and of the other decorations is finely executed by Mr. Joseph Rose. The paintings are elegantly performed by Mr. Antonio Zucchi, a Venetian painter of great eminence; and the grounds of the panels and friezes are coloured with light tints of pink and green, so as to take off the glare of white, so common in every ceiling till of late. This always appeared to me so cold and unfinished, that I ventured to introduce this variety of grounds, at once to relieve the ornaments, remove the crudeness of the white, and create a harmony between the ceiling and the side walls with their hangings, pictures and other decorations.”

The Adams were very fond of this combination of colour. Osterley Park, the seat of the Earl of Jersey and one of the finest specimens of the Adam style extant, 305had its dining-room similarly painted by Zucchi. It is thus described:

“The dining-room at Osterley Park, owned by the Earl of Jersey, was decorated by Zucchi in the Adam style. The walls of this apartment are in tints of the tenderest green and the very palest pinks, these colours being panelled by delicate scroll-work and artistic designs in the white composition which was known only to the Adam brothers. Three large pictures and several smaller ones, all being scenes and landscapes by Zucchi, are framed in this white scroll-work, while the same curving lines, with grapes and vine leaves, outline the pink and green panels of the ceilings, the design of which corresponds with the design of the neutral-tinted carpet. The tiny scroll patterns of the window mouldings are repeated in the ornamentation of the mahogany doors with their artistic brass locks and are again found in the designs of the buffets and side tables, where the ram’s head is introduced, which occurs more than once in both furniture and ornaments. Even the tablecloths were made to correspond in their woven pattern, and some are still in use bearing the date 1779. This careful and minute arrangement of detail is found only in an Adam House.”^[25]

W. Thomas was another designer in the Adam style; but of far greater importance was Michael Angelo Pergolesi, who was employed by the Adam brothers, and whose designs are equal to theirs. Pergolesi also employed Zucchi, Cipriani and Angelica Kauffman. His 306books of designs came out in parts from 1777 onward. One of Pergolesi’s rooms “has a low dado rail, plain plaster walls, panelled round with a moulding, a fine mantel-piece and a narrow ornamental compo frieze and plain ceiling.” Angelica Kauffman painted ceilings, table-tops, and furniture-panels, which, like Cipriani’s productions, represent cherubs, maidens, gods and goddesses, and amorini.

21. Scagliola, mentioned above, was a kind of plaster made of gypsum and Flanders glue. It was coloured to imitate marble. The Adam brothers made great use of it, as well as plaster of Paris pressed in metal moulds.

22. Cosmo Monkhouse.

23. “By grotesque is meant that beautiful light stile of ornament used by the ancient Romans in the decoration of the palaces, baths and villas. It is also to be seen in some of their amphitheatres, temples and tombs; the greatest part of which being vaulted and covered with ruins, have been dug up and cleared by the modern Italians, who, for these reasons, give them the name of grotte, which is perhaps a corruption of the Latin Criptæ, a word borrowed from the Greeks, as the Romans did most of their terms, in architecture; and hence the word grotesque, and the English word signifying a cave.

“In the times of Raphael, Michael Angelo, Julio Romano, Polidoro, Giov. d’Udine, Vasari, Zuchero and Algardi, there is no doubt but there was much greater remains of the grotte, than what are now to be seen, and in imitation of them were decorated the loggias of the Vatican, the villas Madama, Pamfili, Caprarola, the old palace at Florence; and indeed whatever else is elegant and admirable in the finishings of modern Italy. The French, who till of late never adopted the ornaments of the ancients, and jealous as all mankind are of the reputation of their national taste, have branded those ornaments with the vague and fantastical appellation of arabesque, a stile which, though entirely distinct from the grotesque, has, notwithstanding, been most absurdly and universally confounded with it by the ignorant.

“This classical stile of ornament, by far the most perfect that has ever appeared for inside decorations, and which has stood the test of many ages, like other works of genius, requires not only fancy and imagination in the composition, but taste and judgment in the application; and when these are happily combined, this gay and elegant mode is capable of inimitable beauties.

“Vitruvius with great reason condemns an over-licentiousness in compositions of this kind, and blames the painters of his time for introducing monstrous extravagances. We mean not to vindicate anything that deserves such appellations, but surely in light and gay compositions, designed merely to amuse, it is not altogether necessary to exclude the whimsical and bizarre.”

24. “Rainceau, apparently derived from rain, an old French word, signifying the branch of a tree. This French term is also used by the artists of this country, to express the winding and twisting of the stalk or stem of the acanthus plant, which flowing round in many graceful turnings spreads its foliage with great beauty and variety, and is often intermixed with human figures, animals and birds, imaginary or real; also with flowers and fruits.

“This gay and fanciful diversity of agreeable objects, well composed and delicately executed in stucco or painting, attains a wonderful power of pleasing.”

25. E. Balch, Glimpses of Old English Homes.

Quite different from the sumptuous book by Robert and James Adam is the one that was published in 1788 by the firm of “A. Heppelwhite & Co., Cabinet-Makers.” This is a collection of three hundred designs by cabinet-makers for cabinet-makers and gentlemen. The title-page, which is also a table of contents, reads as follows:

“The Cabinet-Maker and Upholsterer’s Guide, or Repository of Designs, for every article of Household Furniture, in the Newest and most approved Taste, displaying a great variety of patterns for Chairs, Stools, Sofas, Confidante, Duchesse, Side Boards, Pedestal and Vases, Cellerets, Knife-Cases, Desk and Book-Cases, Secretary and Book-Cases, Library-Cases, Library-Tables, Reading-Desks, Chests-of-Drawers, Urn-Stands, Tea-Caddies, Tea-Trays, Card-Tables, Pier-Tables, Pembroke-Tables, Tambour-Tables, Dressing-Glasses, 310Dressing-Tables and Drawers, Commodes, Rudd’s Table, Bidets, Night-Tables, Bason-Stands, Wardrobes, Pot-Cupboards, Brackets, Hanging-Shelves, Fire-Screens, Beds, Field-Beds, Sweep Tops for Ditto, Bed-Pillars, Candle-Stands, Lamps, Pier-Glasses, Terms for Busts, Cornices for Library-Cases, Wardrobes, etc., at large, Ornamented Tops for Pier-Tables, Pembroke-Tables, Commodes, etc., etc., in the Plainest and most Enriched Styles.”

“To unite elegance and utility, and blend the useful with the agreeable, has ever been considered a difficult, but an honourable task.

“It may be allowable to say, we have exerted our utmost endeavours to produce a work which shall be useful to the mechanic, and serviceable to the gentleman. With this view, after having fixed upon such articles as were necessary to a complete suit of furniture, our judgment was called forth in selecting such patterns as were most likely to be of general use—in choosing such points of view as would show them most distinctly—and in exhibiting such fashions as were necessary to answer the end proposed, and convey a just idea of English taste in furniture for houses.

“English taste and workmanship have, of late years, been much sought for by surrounding nations; and the mutability of all things, but more especially of fashions, has rendered the labours of our predecessors in this line of little use: nay, at this day, they can only tend to mislead those Foreigners, who seek a knowledge of the 311English taste in the various articles of household furniture.

“The same reason, in favour of this work, will apply also to many of our own Countrymen and Artisans, whose distance from the metropolis makes even an imperfect knowledge of its improvements acquired with much trouble and expense. Our labours will, we hope, tend to remove this difficulty; and as our idea of the useful was such articles as are generally serviceable in genteel life, we flatter ourselves the labour and pains we have bestowed on this work will not be considered as time uselessly spent.

“To Residents in London, though our drawings are all new, yet, as we designedly followed the latest or most prevailing fashion only, purposely omitting such articles whose recommendation was mere novelty, and perhaps a violation of all established rule, the production of whim at the instance of caprice, whose appetite must ever suffer disappointment if any similar thing had been previously thought of; we say, having regularly avoided those fancies, and steadily adhered to such articles only as are of general use and service, our principal hope for favour and encouragement will be, in having combined near three hundred different patterns for furniture in so small a space, and at so small a price. In this instance we hope for reward; and though we lay no claim to extraordinary merit in our designs, we flatter ourselves they will be found serviceable to young workmen in general and occasionally to more experienced ones.”

From the above quotation, it will be noticed that the 312firm of Heppelwhite and Company eschews extravagant designs, and aims to represent at the same time what is newest and most fashionable. We see, too, that previous publications sold, such as Chippendale’s, Ince and Mayhew’s, Edwards and Darly’s, and others that we have mentioned, are considered entirely out of date.

As far as Heppelwhite is concerned, neither the Chinese nor Gothic style ever existed. The straight line is insisted upon, and he prefers to any other the tapering and slender “term” leg ending in the “spade” foot. (See full drawings on Plates LIV., LV., LVI., and LVII., and Nos. 2 and 3 on Plate LIV.) The legs are frequently inlaid with the husk, or bell-flower, in satin-wood. His favourite ornamentations, whether carved, inlaid, or painted and japanned, are the bell-flower in swags and chutes, the lotus, the rosette, the acanthus, the shell, the urn with and without drapery, and the three feathers of the Prince of Wales’s crest. (See Plate LVI., Nos. 1, 3, 4, 6 and 8.) The brass-headed nail is always used for fastening the material to the frames of his seats. These are always placed close together, and are sometimes arranged in the form of festoons, or scallops, around the seat. The stripe is his favourite design for coverings. The festoon and the ornamental tassel he greatly admires.

The Heppelwhite chair has attained great fame. Generally speaking, its proportions are as follows: height, 3 feet, 1 inch; height to seat frame, 17 inches; depth of seat, 17 inches; and width of seat in front, 20 inches. Many chairs, however, are recommended to be made “according to the size of the room or pleasure of the purchaser.” For coverings of drawing-room chairs, such 313as Nos. 1, 5 and 8 on Plate LVI., silks and satins of light colours with printed oval medallions, or floral designs were used, and more particularly stripes, which were becoming more and more fashionable in France. Blue, or red, morocco leather, put on with ornamental brass nails, is another popular method of upholstering these articles. One of Heppelwhite’s instructions is that “leather backs or seats should be tied down with tassels, of silk or thread.” For the open back and carved chair, such as Nos. 2, 3, 4, 6 and 7 on Plate LVI. silk, satin, and leather are used, and horsehair, figured, checked, plain, or striped, is also popular.

No. 7 on Plate LVI., which may be of mahogany, or japanned, has a cane bottom in the original design, and “should have a cushion of linen, leather, etc.”

Some of Heppelwhite’s carved chair-backs are square, and anticipate those of Sheraton represented on Plate LXII.; but he was fonder of the shield form. Backs of this shape were covered as in No. 5, Plate LVI., or had carved and open-backs, as the other examples shown on the same Plate.

“Chairs in general are made of mahogany, with the bar and frame sunk in a hollow, or rising in a round projection with a band or list on the inner and outer edges. Many of these designs are enriched with ornaments proper to be carved in mahogany. Mahogany chairs should have the seats of horsehair, plain, striped, chequered, etc., at pleasure, or cane bottoms with cushions, the cases of which should be covered with the same as the curtains.

314“For chairs, a new and very elegant fashion has arisen within these few years, of finishing them with painted or japanned work, which gives a rich and splendid appearance to the minuter parts of the ornaments, which are generally thrown in by the painters. Several of these designs are particularly adapted to this style, which allows a framework less massy than is requisite for mahogany, and by assorting the prevailing colour to the furniture and light of the room, affords opportunity, by the variety of grounds which may be introduced, to make the whole accord in harmony, with a pleasing and striking effect to the eye. Japanese chairs should have cane bottoms, with linen or cotton cases over cushions to accord with the general hue of the chairs.”

The full drawing on Plate LVI. is “an easy chair,” which Heppelwhite calls also a “Saddle Check,” the “construction and use of which is very apparent: they may be covered with leather, horsehair, or have a linen case to fit over the canvas stuffing, as is most usual and convenient.”

Chairs with stuffed backs he called “cabriole.” No. 5, on Plate LVI., is labelled a “cabriole chair.” Heppelwhite assures us that it “is of the newest fashion.” It consists of a shield-shaped back; a little cushion upon the arm, fastened by means of tiny nails; and a leg composed of reeds bound with ribbon, surmounted by the square patera that hides the joining.

Twelve designs of chair backs, resembling chairs of the Sheraton style, are “proper to be executed in mahogany or japan; some of them applicable to the more elegant kind of chairs with back and seats of red, or blue, 315morocco leather; in these backs, which are sometimes made a little circular, are frequently inserted medallions, printed or painted on silk of the natural colours; when the backs and seats are of leather, they should be tied down with tassels of silk or thread.”

“Stools,” he says, “should match the chairs, the framework should be of mahogany, or japanned, and of course should be covered like the chairs.” His “window stools” are particularly graceful. They are intended to be placed directly under the window, and their “size must be regulated by the size of the place where they are to stand; their heights should not exceed the heights of the chairs.” Two of his designs, which he considers “particularly adapted for an elegant drawing-room of japanned furniture,” are covered in “taberray or morine of pea-green or other light colour.” The one represented on Plate LV. is of “carved mahogany with furniture of an elegant pattern.” He assures us that this “will produce a very pleasing effect.” Another one he recommends to be “japanned and covered with striped furniture;” and two others are “covered with linen or cotton to match the chairs. One is tufted and ornamented with buttons and the other has a scalloped valance trimmed with fringe. A tiny tassel hangs in the centre of each scallop.”

The general characteristics of the stuffed Heppelwhite sofa appear in the full drawing on Plate LIV., which also shows the correct covering fastened to the frame by a border of gilt nails. The dimensions of the sofa vary according to the size of the room, but the “proportion in general use” is as follows: length 316from 6 to 7 feet; depth about 30 inches; height of the seat frame, 14 inches; and total in the back, 3 feet, 1 inch. “The woodwork should be either mahogany or japanned, in accordance to the chairs, and the covering also must be of the same.” A long square sofa he calls “the newest fashion,” and recommends that “the frame should be japanned, with green on a white ground and the edges gilt; the covering of red morocco leather.”

French forms and names were just as popular with Heppelwhite as with Chippendale. On Plate LIV., No. 5, is shown a confidante of Heppelwhite’s design. He writes:

“This piece of furniture is of French origin, and is in pretty general request for large and spacious suits of apartments. An elegant drawing-room, with modern furniture is scarce complete without a Confidante, the extent of which may be about nine feet, subject to the same regulations as sofas. This piece of furniture is sometimes so constructed that the ends take away and leave a regular sofa; the ends may be used as Barjier Chairs.” The last name refers to the bergère.

“This piece of furniture also is derived from the French. Two Barjier chairs of proper construction, with a stool in the middle, form the Duchesse, which is allotted to large and spacious ante-rooms; the covering may be various, as also the framework, and made from 6 to 8 feet long. The stuffing may be of the round manner as shown in the drawing, or low-stuffed with a loose squab, or bordered cushion, fitted to each 317part; with a duplicate linen cover to cover the whole, or each part separately. Confidantes, sofas and chairs may be stuffed in the same manner.”

Another variety is the “bar back,” which appears as if four open-back chairs (similar to No. 7, Plate LVI.) are placed side by side, the two end ones being supplied with an elbow, the general outline of which follows that of No. 8, or No. 5, on Plate LVI. We are told that this kind of sofa is of modern invention; and “the lightness of its appearance has procured it a favourable reception in the first circles of fashion. The pattern of the back must match the chairs; these also will regulate the sort of framework and covering.”

Heppelwhite’s beds are much lighter in general appearance than Chippendale’s, both with regard to framework and the hangings. “Beds are an article of much importance,” he thinks, “as well on account of the great expense attending them as the variety of shapes and the high degree of elegance which may be shown in them. They may be executed of almost every stuff the loom produces. White dimity, plain or corded, is peculiarly applicable for the furniture, which, with a fringe or gymp-head, produces an effect of elegance and neatness truly agreeable. The Manchester stuffs have been wrought into Bed-furniture with good success. Printed cottons and linens are also very suitable, the elegance and variety of patterns of which afford as much scope for taste, elegance and simplicity as the most lively fancy can wish. In general, the lining to these kinds of furniture is a plain white cotton. To furniture of a dark pattern, a green silk lining may be used with a good effect.” 318One of Heppelwhite’s beds on the general model of the one represented as Nos. 1 and 2 on Plate LVII. was hung with dove-coloured satin curtains with a lining of green silk. “The Vallance to this bed,” he writes, “is tied up in festoons. The cornice of mahogany may come so low as to hide the curtain rods.” He also gives designs of “Venetian, or waggon top beds,” “dome top beds,” “square dome top beds,” “press beds” and “field beds,” and gives the following instructions with regard to the richest kinds:

“In staterooms where a high degree of elegance and grandeur are wanted, beds are frequently made of silk or satin figured or plain, also of velvet with gold fringe, etc. The Vallance to elegant beds should always be gathered full, which is called a Petticoat Vallance. The Cornices may be either of mahogany carved, carved or gilt, or painted and japanned. The ornaments over the cornices may be in the same manner; and carved and gilt, or japanned, will produce the most lively effect.

“Arms or other ornaments to Stuffed Head Boards should be carved in small relief, gilt and burnished. The Pillars should be of mahogany, with the enrichments carved.”

The field-bed, of which a design dated 1787 appears on Plate LVII., is the French lit à tombeau and lit à double tombeau. In England it was known as the single-headed and double-headed field-bed. A single-headed bed of this kind appears on Plate XXXVI., No. 8; and this Louis XV. model was copied by Chippendale for his later plates, in which many varieties of the field-bed appear. 319The bed represented on Plate LVII. needs no explanation. The cornice, or “sweep,” is delicately carved. Urns surmount the bed-posts. Below it, on Plate LVII., are “sweeps for field-bed tops” dated 1787 (Nos. 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7). Another design in Heppelwhite’s book for a bed with a sweep top is intended to be made of plain mahogany or with gilt ornaments. The headboard and draperies are quite elaborate. “The drapery may be the same as the furniture or the lining, the ornaments gilt, the headboard is stuffed and projects like the back of a sofa. The addition of stuffed headboards gives an elegant and high finish to the appearance of beds.”

The “press bed” is nothing more or less than a folding-bed in the shape of a wardrobe, with two big doors beneath which are drawers. Heppelwhite says:

“Of these we have purposely omitted to give any designs: their general appearance varying so little from wardrobes, which pieces of furniture they are intended to represent, that designs for them are not necessary.

“The upper drawers would be only sham and form part of the door, which may be made to turn up all in one piece, and form a tester; or may open in the middle, and swing on each side; the under drawer is useful to hold parts of the bed furniture; may be 5 feet 6 inches high, 14 feet wide.

“Nine designs for Cornices which are suitable for beds or windows are here shewn; these may be executed in wood painted and japanned, or in gold. A mixture of these two manners produces an elegant and grand effect. The foliage may be gilt, and the groundwork painted; or the reverse.” One of these appears as 320No. 4 on Plate LIV. This exhibits the curtain and toothed lappets, or points, of the lambrequin below the cornice.

The sideboard with Heppelwhite is quite different to that of Chippendale. The latter merely designs a long plain table with carved legs and no drawers. Heppelwhite’s sideboard is a far more highly developed piece of furniture. Sometimes the drawers were arranged in compartments, for various uses, and the sideboard had a cavity between the front legs to accommodate a wine-cooler. Pieces of plate and knife-cases stood upon its wide slab. The sideboard represented on Plate LIV. has Heppelwhite’s characteristic inlay of the husk or bell-flower done in satin-wood and the characteristic “spade” foot. An inlaid floral ornament decorates the corners below the front drawer.

“The great utility of this piece of furniture has procured it a very general reception; and the conveniences it affords render a dining-room incomplete without a sideboard.” The one represented on Plate LIV. has several drawers. The right-hand drawer “has partitions for nine bottles. Behind this is a place for cloths or napkins, occupying the whole depth of the drawer.”

“The drawer on the left hand has two divisions, the hinder one lined with green cloth to hold plate, etc., under a cover; the front one is lined with lead for the convenience of holding water to wash glasses, etc., there must be a valve-cock, or plug, at the bottom, to let off the dirty water; and also in the other drawer, to change the water necessary to keep the wine, etc., cool; or 321they may be made to take out. The long drawer in the middle is adapted for table linen, etc.

“They are often made to fit into a recess, but the general custom is to make them from 5½ to 7 feet long, 3 feet high, and 28 to 32 inches wide.”

He also gives designs for “sideboards without drawers; the ornaments to the front of which may be carved, painted, or inlaid with various coloured woods.” This kind is merely the old sideboard table.

“Pedestals and vases are much used in spacious dining-rooms, where the last-described kind of sideboards are chosen; at each end of which they are placed. One pedestal serves as a plate-warmer, being provided with racks and a stand for a heater; and is lined with a strong tin; the other pedestal is used as a pot cupboard.

“The vases may be used to hold water for the use of the butter, or iced water for drinking, which is inclosed in an inner partition, the ice surrounding it; or it may be used as knife-cases, in which case they are made of wood, or of copper japanned. The height of the pedestal is the same as the sideboard and 16 or 18 inches square; the height of the vase about 2 feet, 3 inches.”

“The universality of this piece of furniture renders a particular description not necessary. It may be made of mahogany inlaid, or of satin or other wood at pleasure.”

Four designs of vase knife cases are given. “They are usually made of satin, or other light-coloured wood, and may be placed at each end on the sideboards, or on a 322pedestal; the knives, etc., fall into the body of the vase, the top of which is kept up by a small spring which is fixed to the stem, which supports the top; may be made of copper, painted and japanned.”

“Cellerets,” he tells us, “called also gardes de vin, are generally made of mahogany, and hooped with brass hoops lacquered; the inner part is divided with partitions, and lined with lead for bottles; may be made of any shape. These are of general use where sideboards are without drawers.”

Plate LIII. shows all of these articles except the celleret. The sideboard is similar to that on Plate LIV. and upon it stand knife boxes and a lustre. Pedestals supporting the vases described above stand on either side. Above is an ornate mirror.

“Candlestands are very useful in large suits of apartments, as the light may be placed in any part at pleasure—in drawing-rooms, in halls and on large staircases, they are frequently used. These designs may be executed in mahogany or wood japanned.” A very graceful example appears as No. 6 on Plate LV. It has five branches, three of which only are shown in the sketch here. This is to be made in mahogany or japanned wood and the branches are lacquered brass.

No. 1 on Plate LIV. represents a little urn-stand “to set the teapot on.” This is about 26 inches high and can be painted or varnished or inlaid with various coloured woods.

The “Pole fire screen,” a specimen of which is shown on Plate LV., No. 5, “may be ornamented variously, 323with maps, Chinese figures, needlework, etc. The screen is suspended on the pole by means of a spring in the eye, through which the pole goes.” These articles are made of mahogany or japanned wood.

The Horse fire-screen is supported by uprights standing on feet. The screen slides up and down in grooves in these uprights. The framework is usually of mahogany and the screen is covered with green silk needlework, etc. Heppelwhite’s lamps are often ornamented with brass work. He gives, however, a square one to be made in mahogany. Of great importance are his mirrors with sconce arms, which he calls “Girandoles,” and remarks: “This kind of ornament admits of great variety in pattern and elegance; they are usually executed of the best carved work,—gilt and burnished in parts. They may be carved and coloured suitable to the room.” A very graceful example is shown as No. 3 on Plate LV. The mirror fills the entire oval. Girandoles also hang on the walls of the room shown as Plate LIII.

Pier-glass frames are “almost invariably of good carved work, gilt and burnished.” The square shape is most fashionable, Heppelwhite says, and directs that “they should be made nearly to fill the pier. They must be fixed very low, and the panels of the sides are frequently made of various coloured glass.” What he means by this will be understood by referring to the large mirror over the sofa in Plate LIII.

Pier tables “are made to fit the pier and rise level with, or above the dado of the room, nearly touching the ornaments of the glass.”

“Tables in general,” we learn, “are made of the best 324mahogany. Their size is various but their height should not exceed 28 inches.”

“Card-tables may be either square, circular or oval: the inner part is lined with green cloth; the fronts may be enriched with inlaid or painted ornaments; the tops also admit of great elegance.”

Specimen card-tables are shown on Plate LIV., Nos. 2 and 3. Pembroke tables are the most useful of this species of furniture; they may be of various shapes. The long, square and oval are the most fashionable. These articles admit of the greatest elegance in the workmanship and ornaments. The tops “are inlaid, painted or varnished.” A beautiful example is shown on Plate LV. This table is supplied with a drawer below the top, the leaves of which fall at the two sides of the drawer.

Heppelwhite made a great variety of other tables, such as “tambour writing tables,” “night-tables” shaving-tables, and dressing-tables of all kinds. His dressing-tables were the result of much thought. In them we see the convenient mechanical and folding arrangements that Sheraton carried so far in his various devices. In one of Heppelwhite’s dressing-tables, the drawer is divided into compartments for pins, combs, essences, etc., and the looking-glass rises from the drawer on hinges, or it can be made to lie flat. “Rudd’s Dressing Table” also appears, which Heppelwhite says is “the most complete dressing-table ever made, possessing every convenience which can be wanted; or mechanism, or ingenuity supply. It derives its name from a once popular character, for whom it was reported it was 325invented.” Here the drawers can be made to swing around in any desired position, and the looking-glasses also swing on pins after they are elevated.

Another ladies’ dressing-table is a simple table, the slab of which lifts up or can be opened out. In the centre of it is the dressing-glass which can be made to rise and stand. Around it are little compartments for articles of the toilet. Then he makes also what he calls dressing-drawers. This is an “ordinary chest-of-drawers, one drawer of which is fitted up as a dressing-drawer.” Some varieties have serpentine fronts. Two of his mahogany bason-stands appear as Nos. 1 and 2 on Plate LV. Hanging-shelves for books or china are made of mahogany and are suitable for ladies’ rooms.

Commodes are often richly inlaid; some of them indeed are made of satin-wood and are shaped like half a drum. Chests-of-drawers, double chests-of-drawers and wardrobes are of the plainest forms and made of plain mahogany with a simple ring handle or knob.

The long bookcase of the type on Plate XXXIX. Heppelwhite calls library case. Describing these, he says: “They are usually made of the finest mahogany; the doors of fine waved or curled wood. May be inlaid on the panels, etc., with various coloured woods. The ornamental sash bars are intended to be of metal which, painted of a light colour, or gilt, will produce a light, pleasing effect.” The dimensions are determined by the place where it is to stand.

The dimensions of Heppelwhite’s desk and book-case are length, 3 feet, 6 inches; depth, 22 inches; height of desk, 3 feet, 2 inches, including 10 inches for the inside 326of the desk; total height about 6 feet; depth of bookcase, about 12 inches. These are “usually made of good mahogany. The drawers and internal conveniences admit of much variation. The designs show three different ways of making them: the patterns of the book-case doors may also be very much varied. On the top, when ornamented, is placed between a scroll of foliage, a vase, bust, or other ornament which may be of mahogany, or gilt, or of light-coloured wood.”

A tambour writing-table and bookcase appears on Plate LVII. This requires little explanation except to note that it has three drawers and a cylinder tambour shutter that rolls back and reveals all the pigeon-holes, nests of drawers and writing-table, while the upper part consists of shelves enclosed by two doors.

Of the latter, Heppelwhite says: “Tambour writing-table and bookcase, the doors to which are intended to be made of and ornamented with metal frames; these painted of a light, or various colours, produce a lively and pleasing effect. The reeds are here drawn forward to shew the appearance when shut.”

The library table is from 3 to 4 feet long and 3 feet deep. It is of mahogany, and covered on top with leather or green cloth. Some of them have cupboards in front for books, papers, etc.

The room on Plate LIII. is an arrangement of Heppelwhite’s own plan, regarding which he remarks: “Having gone through a complete series or suit of Household Furniture, we were strongly advised to draw out a plan, which should shew the manner of properly disposing of the same: with this intent, aided by the 327advice of some experienced friends, we here shew, at one view, the necessary and proper furniture for a Drawing-room, and also for a Dining-room or Parlour, subject to the following variations: If the object of this plan was a Drawing-room only, on each side of the chimney-piece there should be a sofa, and on the opposite side, instead of a sofa, should be a confidante: the sideboard also should be removed, and an elegant commode substituted in the place. The remaining space may be filled up with chairs. For a dining-room, instead of the pier-tables, should be a set of dining-tables. The rest of the furniture, and the general ordonnance of the room is equally proper, except the glass over the sofa, which might be omitted; but this is mere opinion, many of the Dining Parlours of our first nobility having full as much glass as is here shewn.”

The proper furniture for a Drawing-room and for a Dining-room or Parlour, being thus pointed out, it remains only to observe, that the general appearance of the latter should be plain and neat, while the former, being considered as a State-room, should possess all the elegance embellishments can give.”

The side of the room which the reader cannot see contains four windows, furnished with window stools and lambrequins; and, between each window, pier-glasses and pier-tables stand. These semi-circular tables were used, when necessary, to extend the square table in the centre of the room: one being placed at each end, for the extension table had not come into fashion.

Thomas Sheraton, an English journeyman cabinet-maker, settled in London about 1790. From that date until his death in 1806, he seems to have stopped working at his trade and to have spent his time writing practical books on furniture. His first publication, The Cabinet-Maker and Upholsterer’s Drawing-Book, appeared in 1791; but he had previously published eighty-four Designs for Furniture. In 1803, he issued The Cabinet Dictionary; and in 1804–7, The Cabinet-Maker, Upholsterer and General Artist’s Encyclopædia appeared.

How many of the models in Sheraton’s books are his own it is hard to tell. He claims very few of them, and remarks in the Cabinet-Maker and Upholsterer’s Drawing-Book that “it is intended to exhibit the present taste of furniture and at the same time to give the workman some assistance in the manufacture of it.” Sheraton, like Chippendale, whose “designs,” he says, “are now 332wholly antiquated and laid aside, though possessed of great merit according to the times in which they were executed,” and like Heppelwhite also, therefore exhibits the fashions of his time—fashions that came from France. From what he himself writes, it would seem that he gathered designs from various sources and worked for popularity. He says:

“In conversing with cabinet-makers, I find no one individual equally experienced in every job of work. There are certain pieces made in one shop which are not manufactured in another, on which account the best of workmen are sometimes strangers to particular pieces of furniture. For this reason, I have made it my business to apply to the best workmen in different shops to obtain their assistance in the explanation of such pieces as they have been most acquainted with. And, in general, my request has been complied with, from the generous motive of making the book as generally useful as possible.”

He then informs the reader of “the difficult task I have had to please all.... I find some have expected such designs as never were seen, heard of, nor conceived in the imagination of man; whilst others have wanted them to suit a broker’s shop, to save them the trouble of borrowing a bason-stand to shew to a customer. Some have expected it to furnish a country wareroom, to avoid the expense of making up a good bureau and double chest-of-drawers, with canted corners, etc., and though it is difficult to conceive how these different qualities could be united in a book of so small a compass, yet, according to some reports, the broker himself 333may find his account in it, and the country master will not be altogether disappointed; whilst others say many of the designs are rather calculated to shew what may be done, than to exhibit what is or has been done in the trade. According to this, the designs turn out to be on a more general plan than what I intended them, and answer, beyond my expectation, the above various descriptions of subscribers. However, to be serious, it was my first plan, and has been my aim through the whole, to make the book in general as permanently useful as I could, and to unite with usefulness the taste of the times.”

This taste changed gradually from the Louis XVI. style to that of the Empire. Sheraton, consequently, covers these two periods. Sheraton had his own tastes and his own ideas, however, and his books are full of his individual fancies and instructions. He was a great admirer of carving. When we read: “Having possessed a strong attachment and inclination for carving in my youth, I was necessarily induced to make attempts in this art, and on succeeding in some degree, I was employed in the country occasionally in it,” this explains the many graceful designs that he gives for carved splats and bannisters of chairs. He was also fond of inlaid and painted furniture, and greatly liked the new fashion of inlaying with brass, especially for black woods. Satin wood, too, particularly of a “fine straw colour,” which has a “cool, light and pleasing effect in furniture,” he also admired, and thought tulip-wood and zebra-wood (of the “scarce brown and white streaked variety”), beautiful for cross-banding.

334Mahogany he uses for dining-room, library and bedroom furniture, and for chairs with carved backs. He brightens much of his mahogany with such brass ornaments, as handles, key-plates, columns, rails and claw-feet, and often inlays it with a few small lines of brass, as he does rosewood. Rosewood he recommends for choice pieces, such as work-tables, secretaries, etc. Brass beads is another form of ornament that he likes to use. The straight line appears in the forms of the Sheraton furniture. The chair leg is frequently reeded, or turned and decorated with twisted flutes and fillets. The tambour shutter Sheraton makes much use of, and he likes to introduce all kinds of mechanical devices into his furniture.

Among his favourite ornaments are the husk, or bell-flower, the swag, or festoon, the column, the lyre, the lotus, the acanthus, the urn, the vase and the patera, the latter being used especially to hide the screws of beds and joining of chair-frames (see Plate LXIII. and Nos. 10 and 11, Plate LXII.). Like Chippendale, he gives an immense number of book-case doors composed of panes arranged in ornamental designs, and behind these he flutes green silk curtains. During his last period, the wire door appears for commodes, cabinets and other pieces.

Sheraton’s drawing-room furniture was of white and gold, of satin-wood, wood painted and japanned, or of rosewood. The coverings for the drawing-room chairs were silk or satin, the designs being stripes or the oval medallion. In 1803, he advocates cane.

Sheraton has very little to say about textiles or colours. He speaks of printed cottons, and silks and taffeta 335of all colours, plain, striped, checked, flowered and mixed with gold and silver. The only colour about which he has any thing to say is blue: “Blue and white, blue and black, very light blue and yellow will harmonize. Blue kills some colours; and on which account before any be used to join with another colour, they should be compared together; and if the more brilliant colour to which it is joined becomes therefore less vivid, some other colour should be chosen.”

“As the entrance, or hall, of any well built house ought always to be expressive of the dignity of its possessor, so the furniture ought to be designed in a manner adapted to inform the stranger, or visitant, where they are, and what they may expect on a more general survey of every apartment.

“As the hall is a general, or ought to be a general opening to all the principal apartments, it should be furnished so as not to be mistaken for the most superb division of the structure, or where they may expect to meet the nobler person who resides in it. The furniture of a hall should therefore be bold, massive and simple: yet noble in appearance and introductory to the rest.”

It is interesting to note that the Adam stucco-work has had its day and that there is a return to the Boucher treatment of the ceiling. Sheraton remarks: “Plastered ceilings are supposed to be more common in Britain than in other countries. The manner of finishing ceilings has been various, at different times, in this country. 336A sort of very heavy ornamented plaster work was formerly introduced, together with pannelled work in heavy mouldings. Within about thirty years since, this kind of ceiling work has been composed in a much lighter style, and variegated with painted panels, often from the heathen mythology, or other poetical subjects. At present some of the most elegant rooms have no plastered ornaments in their ceilings, but are painted to imitate an open sky, with some faint scattering of clouds.”

The window generally reached to the floor, with small panes of glass, from four to eight in a sash. The window was also furnished with a blind. “The most fashionable blinds,” Sheraton assures us, “are of wood painted green all except the frame which is of mahogany. The blind part is either composed of upright or horizontal narrow laths ⅛ of an inch thick painted a bright green and which move by means of a lever to any position for admitting more or less light.”

The cornice was painted and japanned, or carved and gilded, and from it hung the draperies.

“Festoon window-curtains,” says Sheraton, “are those which draw up by pullies, and hang down in a swag. These curtains are still in use in bedrooms, not withstanding the general introduction of the French rod curtain in most genteel houses. A festoon window-curtain consists generally of three pulls, but when a window is extensive they have four or five.”

An example of the French rod is shown on Plate LIX., No. 1, dated 1803. Sheraton says: “The French 337window rod is made of brass about ¾ of an inch diameter, having a pulley at the left end and two at the right, one of which is fixed on a pin perpendicular to the rod. At present, they frequently make the French rods of satin wood two to a window to lap past each other about three inches in the centre; so that the curtain draws half on each side separately, or only half of it may be drawn at once; and when they are both drawn out they lap over each other.” The chimney is invariably furnished with a glass. Sheraton says:

“In elegant rooms, the chimney-glass is usually carried to the under side of the cornice of the ceiling; but to reduce the expense of the plate, sometimes a broadish panel is introduced at the top of the glass with a frieze and cornice above all, included in the frame of the glass.

“The most generally approved pilasters for chimney and pier-glasses are those of 3, 5, or 7 reeds, worked bold; but which, in my opinion, still look better by being parted with a ground one-third of the width of the reed which may be matted to relieve the burnished reeds. It is not unusual to have a twisting branch of flowers, or a ribband round the reeds rising upwards, and terminating in some sort of Composite, Corinthian, or Ionic capital. The panel above the glass is sometimes made quite plain and covered with silk as a ground for drapery, tacked under the cornice of the glass to match that of the windows.”

“Glasses for chimney-pieces run various, according to the size of the fire-place, and the height of the wall above. To save expense, they are sometimes fitted up in 338three plates, and the joints of the glass covered with small gilt mouldings or pilasters. At other times with the naked joint only. When they are of one plate, the frame in general is made bolder and more elegant.”

The floor is completely covered with a carpet having a border which has to be neatly mitred at the corners.

“The kitchen, the hall, the dining-parlour, the ante-room, the dining-room, the library, the breakfast-room, the music-room, the gallery of paintings, the bedroom and dressing apartments, ought to have their proper suits of furniture, and to be finished in a style, that will at once, show, to a competent judge, the place they are destined for.

“The library should be finished in imitation of the antiques; and such prints as are hung in the walls ought to be memorials of learning, and portraits of men of science and erudition.

“The music-room may be conducted in a more gay style; and the paintings or prints of the muses and masters of music may consistently make a part of furnishing; and chairs and stools of a richer variety of colours may be admitted with propriety.”

“The ante-room is an introduction to the drawing-room and partakes of the elegance of the apartment to which it leads, serving as a place of repose before the general intercourse be effected in the whole company. Here may be placed a number of sofas of a second order with a pianoforte or harp or other matters of amusements till the whole of the company be collected.

“The tea-room, or breakfast-room, may abound with 339beaufets, painted chairs, flower-pot stands, hanging bookshelves or moving libraries and the walls may be adorned with landscapes and pieces of drawings, etc., and all the little things which are engaging to the juvenile mind.

“The lodging-room admits of furniture simply necessary, but light in appearance, and should include such pieces as are necessary for the accidental occasions of the night. Here should be a small book-shelf with such books as should tend to promote our pious resignation of body and soul to the care of the great author of the universe and divine superintendent of human happiness.

“The dressing-room exhibits the toilet-table and commode with all the affairs requisite to dress as bason stands, stools, glasses, and boxes with all the innocent trifles of youth.

“The drawing-room is to concentrate the elegance of the whole house, and is the highest display of richness of furniture. It being appropriated to the formal visits of the highest in rank, and nothing of a scientific nature should be introduced to take up the attention of any individual, from the general conversation that takes place on such occasions. Hence, the walls should be free of pictures, the tables not lined with books, nor the angles of the room filled with globes; as the design of such meetings are not that each visitant should turn to his favourite study, but to contribute his part towards the amusement of the whole company. The grandeur then introduced into the drawing-room is not to be considered as the ostentatious parade of its proprietor; but the respect he pays to the rank of his visitants.” He also informs us that:

340“The furniture used in a drawing-room are sofas, chairs to match, a commode, pier-tables, elegant fire-screens, large glasses, figures with lights in their hands and bronzes with lights on the cap of the chimney-piece, or on the pier-tables and commodes, and sometimes a mirror with lights fixed at the end of the room, or the side, as may best suit for the reflection or perspective representation of the room, on the surface of the mirror.”

“A drawing-room is of that sort which admits of the highest taste and elegance; in furnishing of which, workmen in every nation exert the utmost efforts of their genius. To assist me in what I have here shewn, I had the opportunity of seeing the Prince of Wales’s, the Duke of York’s, and other noblemen’s drawing-rooms. I have not followed any one in particular, but have furnished my ideas from the whole, with such particulars as I thought best suited to give a display of the present taste in fitting up such rooms.”

“In the drawing-room here (see Plate LVIII.), everything will appear easily understood to a workman in town, who is accustomed to see such apartments; but for a stranger, and those workmen who reside in the country, it will be proper to point out a few particulars.

“The pier tables have marble tops and gold frames or white and gold. The glasses are often made to appear to come down to the stretcher of the table; that is, a piece of glass is fixed in behind the pier table, separate from the upper glass, and by reflection makes the table appear double. The small piece of glass may be fixed either in the dado of the room, or on the frame of the table.

341“The arches above the windows are merely artificial, being only wooden frames put up, strained with canvas; after which the same kind of stuff which the curtains are made of is formed to appear like a fan, and drapery tacked on to it.

“Panelling on the walls are done in paper with ornamental borders of various colours.

“The figures above the glasses are paintings in clare-obscure. The sofas are bordered off in three compartments, and covered with figured silk or satin. The ovals may be printed separately, and sewed on. These sofas may have cushions to fill their backs, together with bolsters at each end. In France, where their drawing-rooms are fitted up in the most splendid manner, they use a set of small and plainer chairs, reserving the others merely for ornament.

“The commode opposite the fire-place has four doors; its legs are intended to stand a little clear of the wings; and the top is marble to match the pier tables. In the frieze part of the commode is a tablet in the centre made of an exquisite composition in imitation of statuary marble. These are to be had of any figure, or on any subject, at Mr. Wedgewood’s, near Soho Square. They are let into the wood, and project a little forward. The commode should be painted to suit the furniture, and the legs and other parts in gold to harmonize with the sofas, tables, and chairs.”

“The dining-room is one of the principal apartments of a house, and ought always to be of a bold and an accommodating proportion. In noblemen’s dining-rooms, where the windows are all on the side opposite 342to the fires, there may then be a recess at each end of the room in which a sideboard may stand, with columns before it placed at the extremities, which produces a very august appearance and renders the service considerably more easy at dinner than where there is but one sideboard. The furniture of a dining-room ought to be bold, substantial and magnificent, in proportion to its dimensions.

“The dining-parlour must be furnished with nothing trifling, or which may seem unnecessary, it being appropriated for the chief repast, and should not be encumbered with any article that would seem to intrude on the accommodation of the guests. The large sideboard, inclosed or surrounded with Ionic pillars; the handsome and extensive dining-table; the respectable and substantial-looking chairs; the large face glass; the family portraits; the marble fire-places; and the Wilton carpet are the furniture that should supply the dining-room.”

The Prince of Wales’s dining-parlour in Carlton House is recommended as a good type.

“The Prince’s has five windows facing St. James’s Park. His windows are made to come down to the floor, which opens in two parts as a double door, leading to a large grass plot to walk in. If I remember right, there are pilasters between each window, but this is intended to have grass. In his is a large glass over the chimney-piece. To these glass frames are fixed candle branches. At each end is a large sideboard, nearly twelve feet in length, standing between a couple of Ionic columns, worked in composition to imitate fine 343variegated marble, which have a most beautiful and magnificent effect. In the middle are placed a large range of dining-tables, standing on pillars with four claws each, which is now the fashionable way of making these tables. The chairs are of mahogany, made in the style of the French, with broad top rails hanging over each back foot; the legs are turned, and the seats covered with red leather.”

“Many dining-rooms of the first nobility have, however, only two columns and one sideboard, and those of less note have no columns.”

Correct drawing-room seats are shown on Plate LXII. The central one is purely Louis XVI. in style, painted in any colour and is covered with silk, but Sheraton recommends that the chair-frame be “finished in burnished gold, the seat and back covered with printed silk. In the front rail is a tablet with a little carving in its panels. The legs and stumps have twisted flutes and fillets done in the turning, which produce a good effect in the gold.”

Another parlour arm-chair, which he says can be made of carved mahogany or of black rosewood and gold, “will produce a lively effect,” particularly if “a brass beading is put round the stuffing to hide the tacks.” Specimen backs of chairs that may be of carved mahogany or painted are shown on Plate LXII., Nos. 1 to 9. These are dated 1792, Nos. 10 and 11 are specimen chair legs.

“It appears from some of the latest specimens of French chairs, some of which we have been favoured 344with a view of, that they follow the antique taste, and introduce into their arms and legs various heads of animals; and that mahogany is the chief wood used in their best chairs, into which they bring in portions of ornamental brass; and, in my opinion, not without a proper effect, when due restraint is laid on the quantity.”

Of the sofa shown on Plate LXII. Sheraton says it may be “done in white and gold, or japanned. The loose cushions at the back are generally made to fill the whole length, which would have taken four; but I could not make the design so striking with four, because they would not have been distinguished from the back of the sofa by a common observer. These cushions serve at times for bolsters, being placed against the arms to loll against. The seat is stuffed up in front about three inches high above the rail, denoted by the figure of the sprig running longways; all above that is a squab which may be taken off occasionally. If the top rail be thought to have too much work, it can be finished in a straight rail, as the design shews.”

“Our sofas are never covered with a carpet, but with various pattern cottons and silks.”

When the commode is decorated with wire-doors, Sheraton insists that green, white or pink silk shall be fluted behind them. The cabinet on Plate LX. is treated in this way.

“As pier tables are merely for ornament under a glass, they are generally made very light, and the style of finishing them is rich and elegant. Sometimes the tops are solid marble, but most commonly veneered in rich satin or other valuable wood, with a cross band on the outside, 345a border about two inches richly japanned and a narrow cross band beyond it, to go all round. The frames are commonly gold or white or burnished gold. Stretching-rails have of late been introduced to these tables, and it must be owned that it is with good effect, as they take off the long appearance of the legs and make the under part appear more finished; besides they afford an opportunity of fixing a vase or basket of flowers, which, with their reflection when there is a glass behind, produce a brilliant appearance.

“Some, in place of a stretcher, have a thin marble shelf with a brass rim round it, supported by a light frame; in which case the top ought to be of marble also.”

Pole Fire-Screens “may be ornamented variously, with maps, Chinese figures, needlework, etc. The screen is suspended on the pole by means of a spring in the eye, through which the pole goes; the feet of the two outer ones are loaded with lead to keep them steady; may be made of mahogany, but more frequently of wood japanned.”

The framework of Horse Fire-Screens should be of mahogany; the screen may be covered with green silk, needlework, etc., at pleasure.

Tripod Fire Screens he made in white and gold, mahogany or japanned. “The rods of these screens are all supposed to have a hole through them and a pulley let in near the top on which the line passes, and a weight being enclosed in the tassel, the screen is balanced to 346any height. The rods are often made square, which indeed best suits those which have pulleys, while those that are made round have only rings and springs.

“Such screens as have very fine prints or worked satin, commonly have a glass before them. In which case a frame is made, with a rabbet to receive the glass, and another to receive the straining frame, to prevent it from breaking the glass; and to enclose the straining frame a bead is mitred round.”

There were various sorts of dining-tables in use. “The common useful dining-tables are upon pillars and claws, generally four claws to each pillar, with brass castors. A dining-table of this kind may be made to any size, by having a sufficient quantity of pillar and claw parts, for between each of these there is a loose flap, fixed by means of iron straps and buttons, so that they are easily taken off and put aside; and the beds may be joined to each other with brass fork or strap fastenings.”

“The sizes of dining-tables for certain numbers may easily be calculated by allowing 2 feet to each person sitting at table; less than this cannot with comfort be dispensed with. A table 6 feet by 3, on a pillar and claws, will admit of eight persons, one only at each end and three on each side. By the addition of another bed, twelve, with four times the room in the centre for dishes; but if a third be joined, with the insertion of two flaps of 30 inches each, there will be agreeable room for twenty persons.” He recommends a “dining-table for eight persons to be 5 feet by 4 at which two upon each side may sit, but if reduced to 4 feet, 8½ inches long 347and 3 feet, 10 wide, it will dine the same number, and take the same quantity of wood as a table 6 feet by 3.”

The cellaret sideboard and sideboard with drawers which became fashionable under Heppelwhite are still more developed in Sheraton’s early period; but in his last period there seems to be a return to the old “sideboard table” without drawers. The cellaret sideboard was always supplied with a partitioned place for bottles of wine. “In large circular sideboards,” Sheraton tells us, “the left-hand drawer has sometimes been fitted up as a plate-warmer, having a rack in the middle to stick the plates in, and lined with strong tin all round, and on the underside of the sideboard top, to prevent the heat from injuring it. In this case the bottom of the drawer is made partly open, under which is fixed a small narrow drawer, to contain a heater, which gives warmth to the plates, the same as in a pedestal.

“In spacious dining-rooms the sideboards are often made without drawers of any sort, having simply a rail a little ornamented, and pedestals with vases at each end, which produce a grand effect. One pedestal is used as a plate-warmer, and is lined with tin; the other is a pot cupboard, and sometimes it contains a cellarette for wine. The vases are used for water for the use of the butler, and sometimes as knife-cases. They are sometimes made of copper japanned, but generally of mahogany.

“There are other sideboards for small dining-rooms, made without either drawers or pedestals; but have generally a wine-cooler to stand under them, hooped with brass, partitioned and lined with lead, for wine-bottles, the same as the above-mentioned cellarette drawers.”

348On Plate LX., No. 3, is a pattern of a “sideboard table” which has four marble shelves at each end. “These shelves,” he explains, “are used in grand sideboards to place the small silver ware on.”

“It is not usual to make sideboards hollow in front, but if a sideboard be required 9 or 10 feet long, as in some noblemen’s houses, and if the breadth of it be in proportion to its length, it will not be easy for a butler to reach across it.” A hollow front, Sheraton thinks, would “obviate the difficulty and take off the appearance of great length. Besides, if the sideboard be near the entering door, the hollow front will sometimes secure the butler from the jostles of the other servants.”

“The pedestal is used to signify that part in cabinet furniture made nearly to the proportion and figure of a pedestal in architecture. These are generally placed at the end of sideboards, and are designed for holding plates for dinner; for which purpose there are two wooden racks, generally made of oak, in which the plates are placed. The plinth part of these pedestals is generally formed with a drawer, containing an iron stand and heater, which diffuses a warm air to the plates and keeps them in proper temperature at the time of dining. These pedestals are lined with tin completely over on the inside to prevent the heat from injuring the wood. And it may be necessary further to observe, that when there are two pedestals to a sideboard, one of them is generally fitted up in the inside, either with plain drawers or as a cupboard. On such pedestals is generally placed a vase.” This vase is usually a knife or spoon case. On Plate LXI. a sideboard with pedestals is shown. The pedestal 349parts are made separately and screwed to the sideboard, and the top is one large piece screwed to the pedestal. Under the long drawer of the front is a cupboard enclosed by a tambour shutter. The ornament at the back is of brass “intended as a stay for silver plate, and has branches for three candles.” If preferred the centre “may have a glass lustre hung within it as an ornament.”

Sheraton gives two designs for knife-cases, one concave, the other convex. In one of them the corner pilasters have “small flutes of white holly or other coloured wood let in, and the middle pilasters have very narrow cross bands all round, with the panels japanned in small flowers. The top is sometimes japanned, and sometimes has only an inlaid pattern. The half-columns of the right-hand case are sometimes fluted out, and sometimes the flutes are let in. The feet may be turned and twisted which will have a good effect.”

“Cellaret amongst cabinet-makers denotes a convenience for wine, or a wine cistern.” These were mostly in the form of a sarcophagus, “an imitation of the figure of ancient stone coffins.” They are adapted to stand under a sideboard, some of which have covers, and others without. Sheraton gives one design supported by dolphins, whose heads form the foot, while the tails curve upwards. The other design is supported on lions’ paws, and ornamented with lions’ heads. He recommends rings at each end of the cellaret, so that the servants can conveniently move these pieces about. “The rings and heads should be cast in brass and lacquered, and also the dolphins and lions’ paws.”

350“Buffet, anciently an apartment separated from the rest of the room by small pillars or balusters. Their use was for placing china and glass ware, with other articles of a similar nature. In houses of persons of distinction in France, the Buffet is a detached room, decorated with pictures suitable to the use of such apartments, as fountains, cisterns, vases, etc. These ancient buffets seem in some measure superseded by the use of modern sideboards, but not altogether, as china is seldom, if ever, placed upon them: and we therefore think that a buffet may, with some propriety, be restored to modern use, and prove ornamental to a breakfast room, answering as the repository of a tea equipage. Under this idea, we have given a design of one intended to be executed in the following style. The lower part is to be inclosed with doors, having silk curtains, with worked brass or wire before them. The upright border on the top of the lower part is of brass, together with those round the china shelves. These shelves are supported at each end with four brass columns, made very light. The lights on each side are of brass, and may be unscrewed and taken away occasionally. As these buffets would suit well to be placed one on each side of the fireplace of a breakfast room, they might very conveniently hold such branches with the addition of one on the top, which may be screwed into a socket; or a small figure holding a light may be placed upon it. Under the cornice is a Gothic drapery and fringe above it.” This design, dated 1803, is represented on Plate LIX.

“There are three kinds of dumb waiters, but they are all made of mahogany, and are intended for the use 351of the dining-parlour, on which to place glasses of wine and plates, both clean, and such as have been used.” The one represented on Plate LXI., No. 3, is “partly from the French taste, on the top of which, where the glass is represented, is a slab of thin marble, which not only keeps cleaner, and looks neater than mahogany, but also tends to keep the wine cool, when a bottle for present use is placed upon it. The shelves below are for plates and a knife tray. The holes for the decanters have cases of tin fit into them, and are japanned white, which shows through the front panel in the rail, and makes it look lighter.”

Another dumb waiter that Sheraton recommends is a table similar in general form to No. 1 on Plate LX. The drawers are used for knives, etc. In the centre a shelf or waiter rises on a stem, and below it are four trays for decanters, glasses and small plates. The drawers are lined with “a tin case to fit loose in and japanned white, to have the plate trays with the balusters. These are easily taken out, and may be cleaned and replaced when necessary. And the workman must observe that the waiters turn round on the pillars; for the under pillow has a beechnut let into it, and the upper part screws itself home into it, so as to admit the waiter to turn.

“The plate trays ought to be 11 inches in diameter in the clear, and the opening for the hand 4½ inches. There is a turned astragal for the top rail and the baluster.”

A supper tray called a “Canterbury,” Sheraton says is “made to stand by a table at supper, with a circular end, and three partitions crosswise, to hold knives, forks 352and plates at that end, which is made circular on purpose.” An Archbishop of Canterbury is said to have invented this piece of furniture.

Sheraton made a great variety of beds. They include French beds, state beds, dome, canopy, alcove, and sofa beds. The former are very intricate. He describes them as follows: “Beds of this kind have been introduced of late with great success in England. The dome is supported by iron rods of about an inch in diameter, curved regularly down to each pillar where they are fixed with a strong screw and nut. These iron rods are covered and entirely hid by a valance, which comes in a regular sweep, and meets in a point at the vases on the pillars. Behind this valance, which continues all round, the drapery is drawn up by pulleys and tied up by a silken cord and tassels at the head of the pillars. The headboards of these beds are framed and stuffed, and covered to suit the hangings, and the frame is white and gold, if the pillars and cornice are. The bed-frame is sometimes ornamented, and has drapery valances below. Observe that grooves are made in the pillars to receive the headboards, and screwed at the top, by which means the whole is kept firm, and is easily taken to pieces. Square bolsters are now often introduced, with margins of various colours stitched all round. The counterpane has also these margins; they are also fringed at bottom, and have sometimes a drapery tied up in cords and tassels on the side.”

“This design requires no explanation, except that which relates to the tester. The cove of the tester is 353to be formed by the ribs; one at each mitre, and other short ones joined to them with the rest about five inches apart from each other. At the upper part of the cove is a square tester into which the ribs are fixed. On the edge of this tester, which is made very light, is fixed a small moulding mitred all around. The cove being formed, the ribs may be covered with strong board-paper, both inside and out, which may either be japanned to match the furniture, or it may be covered with the furniture itself. The circular part above the cove is nothing more than a straight board fixed on to the upper tester. For the sake of easy conveyance, the cove may be made in four parts, mitering at each corner, and the ornament intended to be at each mitre on the outside running entirely up to the feathers, will hide the joint.

“The swags of silk that appear on the drapery should be fastened to the back part of the cornice in order that they may hang easy. The pillars are to be japanned. The panel that hides the screws are made to slip into a groove at the bottom, and being bevelled off behind at the top, when raised up a little from their place, by pressing the finger on the front, can easily be taken away to come at the screws. The valance and drapery both together slip on to a lath as in common.” It may be interesting to note that Sheraton preferred a “firm bed” to the soft down or feather. He recommends first a straw mattress covered with a flock mattress, upon which are placed a feather bed and then a hair mattress.

“The alcove, or recess,” he writes, “is used in Spain for seats and sometimes for beds of state. The English have imitated these by sometimes fitting up the end of 354long rooms in this style; which may answer both for ornament and to bring any apartment of undue length into proportion. In forming such an alcove for a place of retirement to rest on, a couple of Corinthian columns may be placed on each side of the room, so as to leave a spacious entrance into the alcove. The columns should not be placed less than six feet from the end of the room, nor more than nine, except in extraordinary cases. The seats are made low to receive their cushions, and drapery valances are fixed to the under edge of the frame. From surbase height the walls are covered with silk quilted, or disposed into uniform panels, in any other manner to suit the rest of the room. In the space between the surbase are placed back cushions, or a stuffed back, framed to fit all round and screwed to. From the frieze of the cornice below the ceiling is fixed draperies, either with or without tails: such alcoves when properly applied have a pleasing effect. When they are fitted up for beds, it will add to the effect if the bed be placed on a double plinth, in the form of two steps, laid with a carpet to suit the rest, and the effect will still be heightened, if a drapery be fixed, parting from the centre of the entrance and flowing down each side of the inner columns.

“There is a curtain under the drapery which slides on a rod, and may be brought forward to cover the whole bed. The other tied up may be considered as a fixed drapery, but may be taken down occasionally. The tester and cornice need not project more than twenty inches, and the length of the bed, including the volutes, about eight feet.”

355“Duchess, a kind of bed composed of three parts, or a chair at each end and stool between them. They are only intended for a single lady, and are therefore not more than about 30 inches wide. The chair ends, when apart, have the appearance of large arm or fauteuil chairs, and the middle part may be used as a stool.” The tester is made to fold. The arms of the chair part are dolphins, and an acanthus spray ending in a scroll ornaments the back. The duchess is covered with a striped material, a square or round cushion is at each end, and the drapery is composed of two curtains falling from a kind of dome (ornamented by a pineapple or pomme), while a scarf is slipped through rings and forms a swag in front of the dome and two festoons at each side. An illustration of Sheraton’s duchess is given on Plate LIX., No. 2.

Of camp or field-bedsteads there is a great variety. They all have folding tester laths, either hexagonal or elliptical shaped, and hinged so as to fold close together. In size they run about 6 feet long and 3 feet, 6 or 9 inches in width, and between 5 feet 6 inches to 6 feet high to the crown of the tester. “Suitable for low rooms for servants or children, they receive their name on account of their being similar in size and shape to those really used in camps.”

“A sofa-bed,” which is really the lit anglais that was so fashionable in France, appears on Plate LXIII., No. 1. Both of its ends are alike, and, of course, it is supplied with two bolsters. Sheraton’s general directions regarding the “sofa-bed” are as follows:

“The frames of these beds are sometimes painted in 356ornaments to suit the furniture. But when the furniture is of very rich silk, they are done in white and gold, and the ornaments carved. The tablets may each have a festoon of flowers or foliage, and the cornice cut out in leaves and gilt has a good effect. The drapery under the cornice is of the French kind; it is fringed all round, and laps on to each other like unto waves. The valance serves as a ground, and is also fringed. The roses which tuck up the curtains are formed by silk cord, etc., on the wall, to suit the hangings; and observe that the centre rose contains a brass hook and socket, which will unhook so that the curtains will come forward and entirely enclose the whole bed. The sofa part is sometimes made without any back, in the manner of a couch. It must also be observed that the best kind of these beds have what the upholsterers call a fluting, which is done by a slight frame of wood, fastened to the wall, on which is strained in straight puckers, some of the same stuff of which the curtains are made.”

On Plate LXIII. No. 2 appears what Sheraton calls a “Grecian squab.” The frame is of white and gold or mahogany. The end not visible in the sketch turns up with a scroll. The back extends no further than shown. It is a kind of chaise longue, which Sheraton calls “a long chair, couch or squab.” The “chaise longue,” according to him, “has a stuffed back and arm on each side with a bolster and its use pretty much the same as the Grecian squabs or couches.” In another place he says “their use is to rest or loll upon after dinner.”

A novelty is the “Turkey sofa,” which has been “introduced into the most fashionable homes.” They are 357“an imitation of the Turkish mode of sitting,” and are, therefore, “made very low, scarcely exceeding a foot to the upper side of the cushion. The frame may be made of beech and must be webbed and strained with canvas to support the cushions.”

Sheraton seems to have taken a particular pleasure in all the convenient articles for the use of ladies, and these comprehend everything from dressing and work tables to tiny comb and pin trays. The work-table was generally a writing-desk as well, with compartments of all kinds arranged with the greatest economy of space. No. 2 on Plate LX. is a good specimen of a work-table dated 1793. The legs are lyre-shaped and the top rises for writing. When let down it locks into the frame and secures the bag where the work is kept. The work-bag is hidden by a drapery that is tacked to a rabbet at the under edge of the frame all around. The legs are lyre-shaped. No. 4 on the same Plate is a “Pouch-table” dated 1803. The work-bag is attached to a frame which pulls forward. In this bag ladies “deposit their fancy needlework.” “When required to be elegant,” Sheraton remarks, “black rosewood is used; otherwise they may be made very near of mahogany.” The example on Plate LX. has a brass rail around each end. Sometimes the top is finished as a chess-board. The “French work-table” was generally made of satin-wood with a brass moulding round the edge of the rim. The tambour shutter is often introduced into the work-table.

The Lady’s Cabinet dressing-table on Plate LIX. is composed of an ordinary commode, upon the top of which is a case or nest of drawers “when the washing 358drawers is in, a slider which is above it may be drawn out to write on occasionally. The ink and stand are in the right-hand drawer under the centre dressing-glass. Behind the drapery, which is tacked to a rabbet and fringed or gimped to cover the nails, is a shelf on which may stand any vessel to receive the dirty water. Above the drapery are tambour cupboards, one at each end, and one in the centre under the drawer. Above the tambour at each end are real drawers, which are fitted up to hold every article necessary in dressing. The drawers in the cabinet part are intended to hold all the ornaments of dress, as rings, drops, etc. Behind the centre glass is drapery; it may be real to suit that below, or it may only be painted in imitation of it. This swings to any position, on centre pins fixed on the shelf above the candle branches. The side glasses fold in behind the doors, and the doors themselves, when shut, appear solid, with ovals in the panels and ornamented to suit the other parts.”

Sheraton devotes many plates to articles that appeal to gentlemen. His shaving-stands and dressing-glasses are marvels of convenience. The tambour shutter appears in many of the night-tables, bason-stands, etc., etc., and when it is not employed, little silk curtains hang down across the shelves or doors. No. 5 on Plate LX. is a “corner bason stand.” The bowl or bason fits into the hollow and the water-jug stands in the centre of the straining-rails.

The Pembroke Table differed little from Heppelwhite’s. It is “used for a gentleman or lady to breakfast on. The style of finishing these tables is very neat, 359sometimes bordering upon elegance, being at times made of satin wood, and having richly japanned borders round their tops with ornamental drawer fronts.”

The Harlequin Pembroke Table “serves not only as a breakfast table, but also as a writing table, very suitable for a lady.” This was equipped with “ingenious machinery,” and contained a “nest of drawers” that could be “raised to any height.”

A design particularly associated with Sheraton is the “kidney library table.” Of the one appearing as No. 3 on Plate LIX., Sheraton writes: “This piece is termed a kidney-table on account of its resemblance to that intestine part of animals so called. The drawers are strung and cross-banded with mahogany laid up and down. The pilasters are panelled or cross-banded, and the feet are turned.” This is intended for a writing-table. The French call this shape haricot. The secretary and book-case was popular throughout the whole Sheraton period. Two examples are shown on Plate LXI. One is a full drawing, which needs no description, except to say that silk, preferably green, is fluted behind the glass doors. The other, appearing as Nos. 1 and 2, Sheraton thus describes.

“The use of this piece is to hold books in the upper part, and in the lower it contains a writing-drawer and clothes-press shelves. The design is intended to be executed in satin-wood, and the ornaments japanned. It may, however, be done in mahogany; and in place of the ornaments in the friezes, flutes may be substituted. The pediment is simply a segment of a circle, and it may be cut in the form of a fan with leaves in the centre. 360The vases may be omitted to reduce the work; but if they are introduced, the pedestal on which the centre vase rests is merely a piece of thin wood, with a necking and base moulding mitred round, and planted on the pediment. The pilasters on the bookcase doors are planted on the frame, and the door hinged as usual. The tops of the pilasters are made to imitate the Ionic capital.” The cylinder desk and bookcase was also in use. “The style of finishing them is somewhat elegant, being made of satin-wood, cross-banded and varnished. This design shows green silk fluting behind the glass, and drapery put on at the top before the fluting is tacked to, which has a good look when properly managed. The square figure of the door is much in fashion now.” The rim around the top is brass.

No. 1 on Plate LX. Sheraton calls very modern (1803). He recommends it to be made of mahogany. “The toes and casters are of one piece cast in brass. The nest of drawers in the centre rise, by two small springs placed opposite to each other, which are constructed on the model of baize door springs, which cannot but be understood by any workman who is acquainted with hanging a door of that kind. In this table, there are four real drawers made with square sides.” For card-tables, he says: “The ornaments may be japanned on the frames and tongued in the legs.”

Turning now to smaller articles, we find that convex and concave mirrors with gilt frames and branches for candles and standing tripods bearing lights are very fashionable. Brackets for lamps are made usually of brass 361and sometimes of mahogany. They are often screwed to the handrail of the staircase. Brackets are also especially designed for clocks. Clocks are also placed upon the chimney-piece and upon the commode. In Sheraton’s Cabinet-Maker and Upholsterers Drawing-Book there are a number of tall clock-cases painted and japanned with ovals and arabesques and fanciful pictures; but in 1803 Sheraton writes that the tall clock-case is “almost obsolete in London,” and from what he says we gather that no fashionable person would think of having one in his house. The footstool is stuffed with hair and covered generally with needlework. Its frame is oval, square, or octagon, with turned legs. Its height without stuffing is 6 or 6½ inches; its length 9½ to a foot, and its width 7 to 8 inches.

A group of three or four tables with very light frames made to draw out and inclosed within each other when not wanted are known as quartette and trio tables. These are used at entertainments, like the “rout chairs,” which are “small painted chairs with rush bottoms let out by cabinet-makers for hire for routs and other entertainments, whence their name.”

Among Sheraton’s latest chairs there is an arm-chair with a movable desk, having branching candle-sconces,—useful for the library; another is a “hunting-chair,” with a square back and wings “stuffed all over except the legs which are of mahogany and having a slide out frame in front to make a resting-place for one that is fatigued, as hunters usually are.” There is also a “tub easy chair,” “stuffed all over and intended for sick persons, being both easy and warm; for the side wings 362coming quite forward keep out the cold air.” Another is a bergère with a caned back and seat, supplied with loose cushions. “The stumps and legs are turned and the frames are generally painted.”

This bergère is dated 1803, when Sheraton recommends cane of “a fine light straw colour.” He writes: “Caning cabinet work is now more in use than it was ever known to be at any former period. About 30 years since, it was gone quite out of fashion. But on the revival of japanning furniture, it began to be brought gradually into use, and to a state of improvement, so that at present it is introduced into several pieces of furniture, which it was not a few years past, as the ends of beds framed in mahogany, and then caned for the purpose of keeping in the bed clothes. Sometimes the bottom of beds are caned. Small borders round the backs of mahogany parlour chairs which look neat. Bed steps are caned.

“The commonest kind made of one skain only is called bead-work and runs open. The best work is termed bordering and is of three skains, some of which is done very fine and close with the skains less than a sixteenth broad, so that it is worked as fine apparently as some canvas.”

Two of Sheraton’s original designs show the Empire influence. One is the curricle which appears on Plate LXII., No. 12. Sheraton named these chairs “from their being shaped like that kind of carriage. These may claim entire originality, and are well adapted for dining-parlours, being of a strong form easy and conveniently low affording easier access to a dining-table 363than the commonest kind. The size of the front may be two feet over all and nearly that from back to front.”

His other original design is the “Herculaneum,” “which I have so named on account of their antique style of composition.” They are for “rooms not only fitted up in the antique taste, but where apartments are appropriated for the purpose of exhibiting ancient or modern curiosities; and we particularly recommend them for the use of music-rooms.”

He also presents “conversation chairs,” which are exactly the voyeuse. (See pages 32 and 278.)

We have already seen in the Louis XVI. period indications of the approaching Empire style; and noted that Lalonde leads directly into the models of Percier and Fontaine. There was, however, a short transitional period covering the years 1795 to 1799, when, after the Reign of Terror, the Directoire endeavoured to restore order in France. It was but natural that a society that held in high reverence the memories of the ancient republics of Greece and Rome should develop the “antique taste” under the guidance of “philosophic artists.”

As early as 1790, a writer exclaims: “We have changed everything; liberty, now consolidated in France, has restored the pure taste of the antique, which must not be confounded with the old Gothic taste. Hide yourselves, Boulle marquetry, knots of ribbon and rosettes of gilt bronze or moulu, bright and shining! Hide yourselves, hide yourselves, marvels of Bernard! Now 368is the hour when objects must be made to harmonize with circumstances!” “The boudoir,—the very sanctuary of coquetry—became a political cabinet,” says de Goncourt, who goes on to inform us that the charming pictures of Boucher, Fragonard, Lawrence, and Lagrenées had to give place to caricatures and revolting prints of the hour, while pictures of the destroyed Bastille supplanted graceful mythological subjects.

“France,” he continues, “wished to dwell in the scenery of a tragedy, with a Spartan body, in Etruscan chairs made of mahogany whose backs were in the form of shovels, or two trumpets and a thyrsus bound together. After these chairs she reclined in antique arm-chairs whose framework was coloured bronze. She heard the hours strike from that civic clock representing the federative altar of the Champ de Mars with columns of marble and gilded bronze, and attributes of liberty. She slept in ‘patriotic beds.’ In the place of the bunches of feathers, caps were now placed on top of the fasces of lances that formed the bed-posts; beds represented the triumphal arch erected in the Champ de Mars^[26] on the day of the Confederation. She also slept in the ‘lit à la Fédération,’ of four columns in the form of fasces grooved and painted in greyish white varnished, with the stems of the fasces gilded, as well as the axes and iron supports of the canopy.”

Caffieri no longer designed the lustres and sconce-arms of or moulu; the candelabra were now of porcelain, and represented Apollo and Daphne. These figures were flesh-coloured. The body of Daphne was half 369covered with the bark of the laurel, her head with green leaves, and her two hands turning into branches supported two gilded sconces.

The geometrical panels of the new drawing-rooms were coloured that deep brown, mingled with several other colours, which received the name genre étrusque. Listen to these discords: “On the ceiling is a reddish-brown rosette in the form of a parasol; a sky-blue frieze is sprinkled with white cornucopiæ. On the sides of the mirror, sky-blue pilasters are bordered with violet and white grape-leaves for ornament. Large and small light brown panels with violet borders are ornamented with little green parasols, and cameos with blue background with white figures and brown and red ornaments. And in that loud chocolate colour where some reds and greens try to recall to your mind the forsaken hues of the past are mingled three shades of rose, amaranth, blue, lilac, grey, emerald-green, moss-green, aventurine, citron, straw and sulphur. That gentle scale that sang so sweetly on the furniture and walls of by-gone days! that gentle scale that miserable taste has forsaken for the tri-colour, and for wall-paper printed with the distinctive signs of equality and liberty, from Dugoure’s Republican Manufactory, place du Carrousel at the so-called Hôtel de Longueville. Then the taste of the Revolution runs after the factory of the rue Saint Nicaise, place de la Réunion, to find some pictures with the civic inscription ready for each citizen to place above his door bearing these words: ‘Unity, Indivisibility of the Républic, Liberty, Fraternity or Death.’”^[27]

370The Parisian hôtels that were remodeled and newly furnished for the newly rich could not suggest the slightest reminiscence of the aristocratic life that they had witnessed. The artists, therefore, were forced to go to Greece and Rome for their models and motives. After Napoleon’s campaign in Egypt, the sphinx is frequent as a decoration, although it had long been familiar. The chairs, Nos. 1, 2, 3 and 5 on Plate LXVIII., are from a periodical of the Directoire period 1793 and 1796; also the couch No. 2, Plate LXV. These show that the so-called Empire style was in process of formation before Napoleon attained power.

The most important cabinet-maker of the period was Jacob Desmalter. He was the son of Georges Jacob, who, during the reign of Louis XVI., was famous for his furniture of gilded wood. His two sons worked together in the rue Meslée; and, in 1793, got the order to make the furniture for the Convention. This brought them into relation with Percier, who had been commissioned to furnish the designs. About 1804, the younger Jacob disappears from business and the elder added the name Desmalter to his own, and soon removed his workshop to the rue des Vinagriers. Desmalter’s fame became wide-spread: he made furniture for the courts of Spain and Russia, and many pieces found their way also to England.

The Recueil de Décorations Intérieures, composed by C. Percier and P. F. L. Fontaine (Paris, 1812), is the recognized authority on the Empire style. The authors 371speak of the influence engraving has had in extending an acquaintance with styles, and say they will make use of it to exhibit “those of our works in the nature of furniture, which, by the importance of the places they were destined for, or the rank of those who ordered them, may be regarded as appropriate to attest the correct way of seeing things, composing them and ornamenting them at the present period. This style does not belong to us; it is entirely the property of the ancients and as our only merit is to have understood how to conform our inventions to it, our true aim in giving these to the public is to do all that is within our power to prevent innovations to corrupt and destroy the principles which others will doubtless use better than we.

“The decoration and furnishing of houses are to houses what clothes are to people: everything of this nature becomes old, and in a very few years seems to be superannuated and ridiculous. The industrial arts, which concur with architecture in the embellishment of buildings, receive the same impulse from the spirit of fashion, and no kind of beauty or worth possessed by these articles of taste can assure them any longer existence than the interval of time necessary to find a new taste to replace them. To do everything according to reason in such a way that the reason may be perceived and justifies the means used,—this is the first principle of architecture. However, the first principle of fashion is to do everything without reason and never to do otherwise. The form and needs of the body give no reason for the forms of clothes; because people do not dress to cover themselves, but to adorn themselves. Furniture 372does not make a virtue of necessity with regard to the forms. We pass from the straight line to the tortuous, from the simple to the composite and vice versâ. This is only too well exemplified in the history of modern architecture and its vicissitudes.”

The true inspiration of this period was David, the painter; and it has been aptly said that Desmalter did little but “translate into furniture the Greco-Roman dreams of the painter of the Sabines.” Prudhon was another artist of influence. The most famous decorative artists and designers were Percier and Fontaine.

The general characteristics of the Empire style are stiffness, severity and coldness. The forms are cubic and rectangular, without projections or carvings. Round tables on tripod legs, sofas and beds with heavily-scrolled ends, secretaries and desks with secret arrangements of drawers, etc., and a great use of metal ornamentation are among the prominent details of this style. The decorative motives are rosettes, allegorical figures, mahogany columns of cylindrical shafts, without flutings and surmounted by the Doric capital (and often with a bronze gilt bracket), fasces, sphinxes, wreaths of laurel, and the swan used upon the arms of chairs and sofas, the sides of beds and for the feet of tripods. No. 1 on Plate LXV. is an interesting example of the use of the swan. The sphinx was also used for decorating the arm of a chair, as shown on Plate LXV., No. 3, and on the double chair on Plate LXVIII. Its use as a table leg is exhibited on Plate LXV., and as a support for candles on Plate LXVII. Clocks and candelabra are decorated with heroes from ancient history in preference to divinities 373and allegorical figures. A little clock supported by an eagle appears on Plate LXV. This is one of Percier and Fontaine’s designs.

The greater number of the designs on Plates LXV., LXVI., LXVII., and LXVIII. are taken from Percier and Fontaine. Plate LXIV. is a reproduction of one of Percier and Fontaine’s bedrooms. “The ornaments that decorate this room,” they say, “are painted in oil upon plaster; they fill, without being of any determined subjects, various compartments; and among them are pictures of fruit, fragments of ordinary objects, painted in grisaille on a light background.” All the furniture—the table opposite the bed, the tripod, the toilet, the bed and the frame over the mantel-piece—is covered with bronzes, enamelled paintings and incrustations of various kinds of wood. The isolated pedestal at the head of the bed is an armoire, which contains conveniences for the night. On the top of the tall column is a winged goddess under which statue the letters “La bonne déesse,” appear. The bed is of the form of the large drawing that is shown on Plate LXVI. The two chairs on either side of the mantel-piece the designers tell us were made by Jacob. The detail No. 3, on Plate LXVII. is an enlargement of part of the mantel-piece, the fire-back of which represents the forge of Vulcan. The open-worked grate is copper gilt. The designs on Plates LXVI. and LXVII. are all by Percier and Fontaine, No. 1. on Plate LXVI., they say, is an arm-chair to stand in front of a desk; No. 2. is a lustre made of rock-crystal and bronze; No. 3 is a sofa-bed, and below it is a large sofa bed that was designed for a patron who was fond of 374war and sport. The hangings and the decorations of the wall behind the bed are therefore repeated here. The frame of the mirror is of gilded bronze. The glass swings forward. The rich commode with drawers on Plate LXVII. is an excellent example of the Percier and Fontaine work; above it, No. 2, is another commode and above that No. 1 the end of a bureau. Of the secretary on the same plate, they say: “This little piece of furniture, designed to preserve books, papers and money, has a clock in the upper part; below are secret drawers; in the centre a rolling cylinder and writing table. Chimæras on each side of the table support girandoles for lights. The whole is made of different kinds of wood ornamented with bronzes.”

The rich sofa, or “double chair,” and the sofa-bed, on Plate LXVIII. are also by these designers. Of the tea-table on Plate LXV., they tell us: “The design of this table was sent to Russia so that it might be executed there in porcelain and bronze; the compartments and ornaments that decorate the table have to be painted in colour with the background and the parts that stand out in relief of gold. The principal subject is the birth of Amphitrite, who is surrounded by Tritons and dolphins.”

The cornice and lambrequin are unknown to the Directoire period; a pole ending in an arrow, or thyrsus, supports two curtains of calico, or silk. These curtains are relieved by a Greek border. The Empire taste demands a little more. Satins and velvets are added to the above. The drapery becomes very ample and beneath them are thin muslin curtains embroidered in 375dots, stars and squares. Sometimes two rods are used at each window to support the inner and outer curtains. A very fashionable method of furnishing the window was to have two curtains of silk and two of muslin. Decorative borders were used for these. The cornice is restored, and consists of the palm, the thyrsus, a bow, or a laurel wreath in gilded bronze, or painted wood. The colours of these draperies are limited. There are but five strong hues—crimson, green, blue, yellow and white—and there are no shades of these.

There was a tendency for patterns to become smaller; damask was ornamented with little figures, or stripes; Gobelin tapestries were supplanted by designs in grisaille on a red, blue, or green background. These many printed stuffs had pictures derived from Greek, Egyptian, or Roman subjects, or mythology, and appeared as if printed on paper.

Generally speaking, the beds were low; and were furnished with one or two mattresses. Some of them had head and footboards of equal height; others had only one headboard. During the Empire, the beds, most frequently of mahogany, were ornamented with gilded bronze trimmings. The frames were also painted with decorations painted in bronze effects. Some of the beds were rounded, or scrolled at the ends, some had pans à bateau and some had pilasters supporting vases, busts and even statuettes. The curtain was used. For some styles of beds, the curtains were cast negligently over an arrow. Beds were also made in forms appropriate to the calling 376of their owners. Some of the shapes seem to have been inspired by the models of Du Cerceau and Bérain in the days of Louis XIV.; for instance, the boat and shell. In 1792, we hear of a bed shaped like a shell, with blue and white curtains. Lafayette had a bed like this.

The beds often had ends of heavy scrolls and most of them had the headboard and footboard of equal height. The round bolster appears at each end, or a cushion that follows the form of the scroll, as shown in the full drawing on Plate LXVIII. The canopy was frequently in the shape of a crown, and from it hung the curtains. The heavy curtain was not unfrequently accompanied with a thin diaphanous curtain that was formally draped.

The dining-room is decorated in stucco, or painted in imitation of marble. The furniture is mahogany. The chairs are covered with leather. The window-curtains are of “Persian” taffeta, cloth or cotton, trimmed with ball fringe. The dining-table is round or oval, and is often supported on the pillar-and-claw.

The dining-room table also is round, and stands on four feet decorated with lions’ heads or chimæras; or again it is supported by the pillar-and-claw. The drawing-room table is frequently finished with a marble top, or it is covered with a cloth. Upon it stands a lamp with its shade.

A very ornate tea-table of porcelain brightened with gold and bronze appears on Plate LXV. Above it is shown the decorative top. This is by Percier and Fontaine. No. 6, on the same plate is another table; No. 3777 is a tea-table; and No. 5 is another table. All of these are by Percier and Fontaine. Another kind of table designed by Percier was the table à fleurs, or jardinière. Some of his models, which were made by Jacob Desmalters, are quite ornate. One of these is in the shape of a vase, supported by sphinxes, and filled with growing plants. Upon this stands another basin for growing flowers, or gold-fish, and above this again is a decorative figure. Another design is a round basin or vase for flowers supported by columns, on either side of which are smaller vases.

The console was a large square table decorated with sphinxes, or other ornaments in gilded bronze. Often a mirror was placed at the back framed by the legs.

The commode, like all the rest of the furniture, became more rigid in form and decoration. It was made of walnut or mahogany; and during the Directoire few were supplied with metal ornaments. Indeed, many of them had neither rings nor handles on the drawers. The form of the commode became still heavier during the Empire; but it was enlivened by ornate metal trimmings. A richly decorated commode by Percier and Fontaine appears as No. 2 on Plate LXVII. The chiffonnière, which had come into fashion during the last years of the Louis XVI. period, increased in popularity. It was generally a lady’s article containing drawers for writing and needlework. The marble top was often surrounded by a railing or gallery.

During the Empire, a set of drawing-room furniture consisted of one or two sofas, six arm-chairs, six chairs, two bergères and two tabourets. The sofas were placed 378on either side of the chimney-piece. One of the favourite varieties of the sofa was the canapé pommier, introduced during the Directoire. Its back was square and quite low, and was extended around the sides to take the place of arms. Sometimes the seat was garnished with fringe, and sometimes the wood was left plain.

The many varieties of the draped sofa disappeared. The Directoire and the Empire demanded that the forms of the settee, sofa, and chaise longue should be severe to accord with the arm-chairs. The back of the sofa was stuffed, but not the sides or wings. At each end was placed a feather pillow covered with the same material as the sofa. The most popular sofa had a square back that was carried around the seat, forming wings at each side instead of the elbow or arm. The new sofas were called Méridienne and canapé pommier. Tapestry, figured satin, worsted damask or printed cloth, put on with braid, were used for coverings. At the end of the Empire period, the divan was introduced. This seat was suggested by the Eastern travellers.

The banquette was covered with velvet trimmed with gold or silk braid and fringe. The most fashionable chaise longue was of the kind upon which Madame Récamier is lounging in David’s celebrated portrait. Both ends of this piece were alike. One end of a similar piece of furniture appears as No. 2 on Plate LXV. The bergère en gondole was also popular. Its back was lower and more rounded than that of the bergère on Plate XLVIII., No. 3. Gondola-shaped chairs and bar-backed chairs and the heavy scrolled arm-chair were the favourites, also the double arm-chair.

379The framework of chairs was generally mahogany, or painted and bronzed, and, for very rich homes, gilded wood. The square form was preferred, especially for the arm-chair, which rarely had cushions. Sometimes the front feet were in the sabre, or glaive shape. The shield shape too was used for the back and was ornamented with military trophies and laurel wreaths. The back and seat were stuffed, and braids and borders framed the cushions. The material used for covering was generally of a solid colour with a design printed on it. Silk velvet, damask, or satin was used. The design was often golden yellow. Sometimes back and seat were sprinkled with rosettes or stars. Braids were used to hide the nails. Printed cottons and worsted damasks were also used for cheaper upholstery work. Ball fringe was much used to go around the back.

Desk chairs kept somewhat to the rounded and gondola form. The seats were often a half circle, the feet turned or in the console shape. Sometimes they were even carved in the shape of chimæra or lions whose heads came up to the level of the arms. The back, too, was frequently curved in the shape of a half circle. The top rail was sometimes covered like the seat,—in leather. Some of these turning up in the centre of the back like a cocked hat gave to them the name fauteuils Bonaparte. Mahogany was chiefly used for the frames, though oak and walnut were sometimes employed.

During the Directoire, the legs of the arm-chair were often X-shaped and the arms ended in a lion’s head. The open-backed chair was very popular. The one on Plate LXVIII., No. 2, is dated 1793; and Nos. 3801, 3, and 5 are of the year 1796. The “Trafalgar” that persisted for so long was a development of No. 1. The chairs No. 1 and 3 on Plate LXV. are by Ch. Normand (b. 1765; d. 1830), who also designed the chaise longue, No. 2, on the same plate. Normand’s earlier work bridges the gulf between the styles Louis XVI. and the Empire.

FRENCH AND ENGLISH FURNITURE
DISTINCTIVE STYLES AND PERIODS DESCRIBED AND ILLUSTRATED

PREFACE

TABLE OF CONTENTS

LOUIS XIII. PERIOD

THE JACOBEAN PERIOD

LOUIS XIV. PERIOD

QUEEN ANNE PERIOD

THE EARLY GEORGIAN PERIOD

LOUIS XV. PERIOD

THE CHIPPENDALE PERIOD

LOUIS XVI. PERIOD

THE ADAM PERIOD

THE HEPPELWHITE PERIOD

THE SHERATON PERIOD

THE EMPIRE PERIOD

INDEX

TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES

FRENCH AND ENGLISH FURNITURE DISTINCTIVE STYLES AND PERIODS DESCRIBED AND ILLUSTRATED