French and English furniture / distinctive styles and periods described and illustrated

by Esther Singleton

In addition to the beds already mentioned the banc à lit sometimes appears.

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.

In 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: the 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 upholstered 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 acanthus, 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.