On Plate XVI., No. 3, is shown a portion of a console d'applique of carved wood painted in gray celadon, 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 it 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 dais and wall-hangings. The material for these decorations was velvet branches of bright amaranthon a silver background, combined with another material of cloth-of-silver with little flowers of amaranth. The bed, which was 6 1/2 feet long and 7 1/2 feet high, comprised three valances, four curtains, four cantonnieres* and three lower valances, 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 pomtnes with bunches of mixed feathers, probably white and amaranth.

* "A cantonniere 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; cantonnieres 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 graces are an imitation of the cantonnieres, an imitation that is demanded by economy rather than the principles of decoration." Deville, Dietionnaire du Tapissier, Paris, 1878-1880.

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 cantonnieres 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 fau-teuils, six chairs with backs, twelve folding-stools, a dais and a chaise de commodite 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 fautenils, 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 alcoba and the Arabic Al Koba, the tent, or the place where one sleeps, or rests. It was made fashionable by its appearance in the Hotel de Rambouillet, and, of course, the home of every Precieuse had to have one. Fouquet had rooms with alcoves at his Chateau de Vaux and when "La grande Mademoiselle" took refuge at her Chateau 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'alcovistes."

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 Etat 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.

Typical and luxurious alcoves are shown in the designs by Marot and Lepautre.

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. Moliere's was hung with red taffeta garnished with fringe and tassels of aurora silk.

Madame 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.