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 the 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 it 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.
