But here we have Louis XIV. and Boule, and wood becomes incrusted with tortoise-shell and brilliant metals, so as to place itself on an equality with the splendour of the palaces; furniture is still official, pompous, and foreign to private life, or at any rate, encroaching upon it solely from the outside, as in the reception room, and in the study of the magistrate or the public man. If we may be permitted to search for tokens of coming modifications, it is there that we shall find them. The shelf of the bureau assumes important outlines; its front bends in swelling (bombes) curves; its feet, slightly bowed in the form of an S, repose on cross bars shaped like an X; there is a break in the general rigidity of the official furniture admitted at Versailles, which, first inspired by the precise style of Lebrun, was perpetuated by the rigid discipline of the Gobelins. Under the Regency, and during the first years of Louis XV., everything is to undergo a change; woods of every variety will introduce themselves, to decorate furniture of new forms; small apartments will be substituted for state-rooms; the bed-chamber will become the home of private life, and gather round it the boudoir, the study, and a thousand elegant recesses so fitted for the comedy of surprises and concealments which French society is about to enact.

And what novel objects we see. The real commode with its multiplied divisions; the chiffonier with numerous drawers, the secretaire which can conceal so many things under its closing panel, and the falling flap of which serves as a writing-table: the bureau itself is no longer the great honest table open to all eyes, and ranged by the side of the cartounier, containing deeds and correspondence. Surmounted by a top with pigeon-holes and drawers, its sliding shelf can instantly be pushed back, and conceal the papers scattered over it from inquisitive eyes, by means of the cylinder front suddenly lowered and fastened with lock and key.

Form usurps unheard-of license; every object swells itself to assume fantastic curves; nothing is straight or regular; angles are rounded or hollowed; unlooked-for sinuosities furrow the surfaces; bombe, twisted, caricatured forms alone are admitted, and above sprouts bronze vegetation with unnatural endive foliage; brass gilded with ormolu rolls along in fantastic borders, or gathers suddenly in unforeseen clusters, twists itself in encoignures, or forms detached wreaths, and thus an eccentric whole is completed which, while always clever, is sometimes elegant, notwithstanding its singularity.

Caprice is carried to such an extent, that the fundamental law of art, propriety, is totally forgotten. To create perspectives for the eye, the piece no longer has its sides parallel; they describe an outward curve, attaching themselves to a background which is much broader than the front surface, so that the drawers, necessarily of rectangular form, are left isolated in a vacant space, and leave useless cavities between their sides and those of the piece. Later on, when cabinet makers wished to return to more sensible shapes, not to lose the picturesque advantages of these fan-like arrangements, they flanked with smaller pieces a species of quarter-circle shaped etagere upon which the bibelots in vogue, objects of foreign origin, or rare Sevres and Dresden china were placed. By returning to the architectural logic of furniture, they added to its richness while satisfying the taste of the day.

The greater or lesser degree of exaggeration in the creations of the reign of Louis XV. affords a species of chronology for this period; first, the endive leaves in slight relief describe agreeable curves, and mingle with palmettes and laurels, as if to protest against an absolute divorce from the preceding style, while revealing new tendencies; later, under the influence of Meissonnier, all timidity disappears; boldness of form becomes so immoderate that the excesses of brass no longer astonish us; although they earn their excuse from the immense talent of the chasers. There is so much spirit in the pieces composed by Caffieri and Crescent, the graving is so delicate and intelligent, that we are forced to admire the workmanship in spite of the style. Towards the end of the reign, we can foresee the reform about to be accomplished, the endives are less exuberant, the rosette borders, the hanging wreaths of flowers, are subjected to some sort of discipline, and furniture acquires a more regular and quiet appearance. Madame de Pompadour was not a stranger to this movement, which for propriety's sake, as we are told by M. Courajod, was termed the style "a la Reine." Marie-Antoinette was to achieve the reform.

One word more : in the Louis XV. furniture, as in all other things, there is a choice to be made by the man of taste; the marquetry works in imitation of painting may be condemned on principle, but some of them still retain a savour of the period which recommends them to connoisseurs; there is sometimes grandeur in the mosaics of wood with varied grounds, with trophied medallions, and the bronzes accompanying them, often assume a monumental importance. We require no further proof of this than the magnificent writing-bureau with cylinder front exhibited at the Louvre, which possesses its candelabra and time-piece.

Without aiming at examples such as these, we may mention commodes, like those belonging to Sir Richard Wallace and M. Gustave de Rothschild, in which the puncheon of Caffieri brings forth endive leaves of charming taste and irreproachable execution. We may recall besides, amongst the chefs-d'oeuvre, the charming pieces of furniture, which appeared at the San Donato sale, of satin wood with marquetry flowers in violet; their triple doors were framed with the most graceful chased bronze that could be imagined.

In small objects for ladies, such as "bonheurs-du-jour" etageres, work-tables, nothing more elegant can be seen, and we refer those who may doubt it to the rich collection of M. Leopold Double.

As we have been speaking of painting in wood, it will not be useless to describe its process of execution, and with what patient care the artists succeeded in giving it the greatest possible perfection. The most difficult part was without doubt the modelling, destined to give things the appearance of reality; this was accomplished by two means: fire and acids.

To colour wood by fire, the following was the process: -

"Small sand, or fine river sand, was placed in an iron shovel, subjected to the action of fire; when, by trials effected by means of small tablets of white wood, it was ascertained that the heat of the sand was sufficient to redden the fibre without burning it, the plaques that were to be shaded were plunged into the sand in an upright position, at first the whole extent that was to be coloured, then by degrees less and less, to graduate the tint to its darkest shade.

Commode of marquetry, with bombe front, ornamented with bronzes,ehased and gilded, period of Louis XV. (Collection of Dr. Piogey).

"Colouring by means of acids was more difficult and more varied; three kinds could be used: lime water, holding corrosive sublimate in solution, spirits of nitre, oil of sulphur.

"Spirits of nitre produces the most powerful effect; it penetrates the wood instantaneously, giving it a reddish colour; but it must be employed previously to any other dye, as it destroys artificial colours.

"Oil of sulphur is less violent; it imparts to white woods a tint of wine-coloured brown, and heightens the effects of the dyes; lastly, lime water, which has a still milder action.

"The acids are spread over the wood with a camel's-hair brush or with a feather, and the operation is renewed as often as may be necessary to shade the tint, and give it the maximum of intensity.

"The colouring is generally applied cold, and may itself aid the effect of the work: thus, when the wood is still pale, it can be withdrawn from the bath dried, and covered with wax on the parts that are to be kept light, and again dipped to obtain the required shade.

"Woods thus prepared are cut out and put into use; then, when the marquetry is completed, its effect is relieved by first making some cleverly dashed off strokes with the graver, which add vigour to the whole, and conduce to the perfection of the details. These strokes are filled in with black mastic.

"When the mosaic is fixed, its effect may also be heightened by colouring laid on in masses with the paint-brush; warm dyes are then employed, so that they may penetrate as much as possible in order to acquire solidity".