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

by Esther Singleton

Next comes the second ante-chamber, where the servants who are in direct attendance upon the master wait. Sometimes this room is used for a dining-room, or a drawing-room. If used as a drawing-room, the woodwork is more or less richly carved, handsomely framing mirrors and pictures. Console-tables with marble slabs stand underneath the mirrors, contributing to the decoration of the room and exhibiting handsome vases, ornaments, etc. Sometimes the walls are adorned with rich tapestries reaching to the wainscot, which is of the same height as the slab of the chimney-piece. When used as a dining-room, the buffet is the chief feature. After indicating the place of the buffet, D’Aviler says: “The buffet can be incrusted with marble or Portland stone, or wainscotted with woodwork. This consists of a recess which occupies one entire side of the room; here you place a table of marble or stone supported on consoles, beneath which you may stand a small stone basin for cooling the wine bottles. On each side of the table is a deep niche, ornamented with aquatic attributes, such as Tritons, dolphins and mascarons of gilded lead, which throw water into the little basins below, from which it escapes, as well as into the basin underneath the table. The back of the buffet is ornamented with a little gallery with consoles, above which is hung a picture, usually representing fruits or flowers, a concert of music, or other pleasant subjects. This one (represented in D’Aviler’s book) represents upon a background of foliage, grapes and birds, a bust of Comus’s God of Festivity, upon which two little Satyrs are placing a crown of flowers and grapes.”

The chamber is the principal room in an apartment. Formerly it included all the rooms inhabited by the master except the vestibules, salons, peristyles and galleries.

The bedroom is the sleeping-room where the bed is placed. As a rule, this faces the windows. The decoration cannot be too rich, but this does not mean an overloading of ornament, as the best adornment consists of panels, mirrors and pictures well distributed. The large mirror is hung between the two windows opposite the bed, and below it is placed a console-table of gilded wood with a marble slab. Each window is furnished with a seat and has glass panes and an outside railing. On each side of the window, in the corners of the room, are pilasters, like those that decorate the rest of the room. Opposite the chimney-piece is another glass, beneath which stands a rich commode. Pictures are placed over the doors and mirrors.

The bedroom may also be hung with tapestries of silk like the hangings of the bed. The pattern should be of large floral branches and leaves.

The chambre de parade demands the handsomest kind of furniture. Here visits of ceremony are received. A magnificent bed stands here in a rich alcove, or is separated by a balustrade from the rest of the room. The railing is quite high, gilded, and terminates in Corinthian columns. Carved panels with pilasters, painted white and brightened with gold, decorate the walls. A rich cornice, ornamented with consoles, and whose metopes are enriched with bas-reliefs and trophies, runs around these panels. The ceiling should be tastefully painted, and pictures, mirrors and handsome furniture should complete the decoration.

White and gold, according to D’Aviler, is the most elegant composition, especially if the wall behind the balustrade, where the bed is placed, is covered with a tapestry of blue silk, and the bed hung with blue and white curtains, ornamented with gold braid. The form of this room is important: (1) it must be deeper than wide, so that, if the space occupied by the bed is excepted, the room is square; (2) the windows must be opposite the bed; (3) the chimney-piece must mark the centre of the room and be exactly opposite the principal entrance.

As a rule, the salon is rectangular. Its proportions are 4 to 3 or 2 to 1. There are square, round, oval and octagonal salons. Sometimes Corinthian columns are used for decoration and to frame the mirrors and pictures. The decoration is left largely to the taste of the owner, but whatever is chosen must be of great richness and charm, because the salon is supposed to be “a retreat after a day spent in hunting or after a walk.” Here the inmates and guests gather to enjoy the evening with cards or conversation and light refreshments.

The cabinet is a little room in the apartment, consecrated to study. It should be secluded and removed from all noise. As a rule, it is between the ante-chamber and the bedroom. The morning hours are usually passed in the cabinet. The servants go into the bedroom through the exits by the bed, and the master or mistress is undisturbed in his cabinet, which is decorated in the simplest kind of fashion so as not to take the thought away from study. Sometimes the cabinet consists of three little rooms, one arrière-cabinet where books, etc., are kept and which is very private (cabinet secret); the next is a serre-papier, where titles, contracts, business papers and money are kept; while the third is a kind of wardrobe and toilet-room, which communicates with the bedroom, and has an exit for the servants. The name cabinet is also given to the room where the ladies make their toilette, have their oratory, or take their noonday rest.

The garde-robe is the room where the clothes are kept and where the body-servants sleep. Some architects like a chimney-piece here, for the sake of an occasional fire.

Such is the arrangement and decoration of the large apartments. It will be noticed that carved panels, with or without pilasters, and panelled doors surmounted by paintings or panes of glass occur in nearly every room. The wall decorations are important. D’Aviler says: