Another form of the console is shown on Plate [XVI.], No. 1, the leg of which appears also on Plate [XVI.] as No. 4. This is decorated with the ram’s head, heavy swags of flowers, the cartouche with the double L and the woman’s head. The curved scroll under the slab proclaims the advent of the new style.
Cabinets, desks and armoires were sumptuous. A typical marquetry desk, 3 feet, 10 inches long, and 2 feet, 4 inches wide, inlaid with many coloured woods on a background of ebony, contained seven drawers and a door on which a fleur-de-lis was represented. The drawers were furnished with gilt bronze key-plates. On the top of the desk, the design was a vase of flowers, foliage, birds and butterflies, all surrounded by a border of marquetry between two bands of violet wood and threads of white. Each desk stood on eight termed pillars with capitals and feet of gilt wood.
A marquetry cabinet inlaid with bright flowers on ebony and ornamented with bands of violet-wood and white was composed of two sections, each having three doors with gilt copper locks.
The Duchess of Orleans owned a cabinet of marquetry in two parts, containing three wings and three drawers of marquetry of copper and pewter on ebony, enriched with columns, pilasters, squares, bands and pyramids of lapis; in the centre of each of the three wings were masques of men and women in copper-gilt carrying on their heads baskets of flowers and fruits, also copper-gilt. The feet were four consoles; on the two central ones were two children of gilded wood, and on the straining-rail a little child holding a blue shield in a cartouche of gilded wood. The dimensions of the whole were 5 feet, 4 inches long, 18 inches deep, and 4 feet, 3 inches high.
The favourite clock is Boulle’s. It stands on the mantel-piece, or upon a pedestal, or term. The tall clock in the long pedestal-shaped box was also in use.
Some of the frames of the clocks follow the designs shown on Plate [XVII.], Nos. 2 and 3.
The pedestal that Boulle makes for his clocks have almost an architectural form; they are like a kind of small pavilion, at the top of which is the dial. The legs are most frequently formed by a scroll of foliage terminating in a clawed paw. The subject on top is usually Time with his scythe, or some mythological symbol.
On Plate [XVI.], No. 3, is shown a portion of a console d’applique of carved wood painted in gray céladon, 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.]