| Different countries produce different types of | | | | means ornamented with shells and scrollwork and |
| woods. And produces different type of furniture | | | | similar patterns, and until one grows accustomed to |
| each unique in their own styles. And the development | | | | it, the dictionary definition of 'tastelessly florid or |
| of these different styles of wood products was also | | | | ornate' may often be thought to apply. To our eyes |
| due to the encouragements from their rulers and | | | | it is noticeable principally for a generous use of |
| influential people. | | | | curved. lines, and an 'unbalanced' look. Out of its |
| Furniture made on the mainland of Europe varied | | | | elaborate setting there is no doubt that Louis XV |
| from country to country, but both craftsmen and | | | | furniture appears very showy, but when it is seen in |
| ideas were interchanged from time to time. Local | | | | the rooms for which it was designed it takes its |
| tastes and the use of local timbers often played a | | | | place unobtrusively in the decorative scheme. |
| part in creating a fashion that spread eventually from | | | | The French had a liking during the eighteenth century |
| east to west. There is no space here to deal with | | | | for small tables and cabinets, chests of drawers |
| the detailed history of the subject in each individual | | | | (called commodes), large writing tables with |
| land, but some general notes may be helpful. French | | | | leather-covered tops having a row of drawers |
| furniture, having attained a worldwide interest and | | | | beneath and tall legs, and upright cabinets with |
| importance, is described at greater length. | | | | drop-down fronts concealing a writing space. |
| France | | | | Veneering was the usual decoration, aided by |
| French furniture of the sixteenth and seventeenth | | | | parquetry and marquetry set off with ormolu |
| centuries is not greatly different from that made | | | | mountings. When compared with the sophisticated |
| elsewhere in Europe at those dates. However, the | | | | outside appearance, most of the pieces exhibit very |
| principal wood used in England was oak, but in France | | | | rough finishing of the woodwork not usually seen, |
| it was walnut, which was plentiful there. Just as many | | | | and a glance at the inside or underneath of a piece |
| foreign workers came to London, so did others to | | | | will prove this. |
| Paris; it is almost impossible to distinguish an | | | | Many of the small tables and cabinets are supported |
| Italian-made cabinet from one made in France by an | | | | on delicately curved cabriole legs so slight that it is a |
| Italian craftsman. It was not until the end of the | | | | wonder they can stand without breaking. Chests of |
| seventeenth century that French furniture gained its | | | | drawers always have a slab of colored marble as the |
| recognizable distinction. The first to give his name to | | | | top, and many other pieces are similarly finished. |
| a style there was Andre Charles Boulle (1642-1732), | | | | Chairs and settees were carved usually of |
| who perfected marquetry, originating in Italy, | | | | beech-wood, sometimes finished with gilding and |
| employing tortoiseshell and brass which was used | | | | sometimes painted in pale colors. Mirror-frames were |
| mostly on furniture veneered with ebony. This is | | | | gilt, and are often very like English ones of the same |
| known now either as Boulle or Buhl work, and the | | | | date. |
| majority of it that has survived was made in | | | | Different countries used different types of woods. In |
| Victorian times, or later. Old work of the eighteenth | | | | England they mostly used the oak, but in France it |
| century is very valuable ($3,000 to $6,000 for a | | | | was walnut, which was plentiful there. Some time the |
| piece would not be considered extraordinary), but | | | | cabinet made in Italia and France are difficult to |
| the nineteenth-century copies fetch a tenth or so of | | | | distinguish from one another. There were great |
| this. | | | | differences in their price tags as well with their |
| Louis XV | | | | production ages. Monarch Louis XV extravagant |
| This monarch has his name coupled with the most | | | | furniture designs known as Rococo. He designs |
| extravagant of furniture designs, known as Rococo; | | | | different styles of furniture with different types of |
| a style that spread throughout Europe. The term | | | | woods that suits his tastes. |