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

by Esther Singleton

The original chimney-piece was removed to the Tuileries, where it was burned. The floor originally was incrusted in the style of Boulle’s furniture, in branches of copper and pewter.

PLATE XXXIII

The boudoir is generally smaller than the average room of the period. The ceiling should be painted in the style of Boucher, with a pale sky scattered with clouds, garlands and Cupids. The cornices are white and gold, and the cartouches flowered and gilt. The doors are white and gold, and ornamented with painted motives very light. The panels of the wall are covered with silk, bearing flowers and birds on a pale rose, blue, or lilac background. The nails are covered with a harmonious braid. The alcove, or niche, is hung with the same material as the panels, and the cornice matches the other woodwork. Opposite the alcove is the window, the cornice of which repeats that of the alcove, and from it fall the curtains, made of the same material as the wall panels and alcove draperies, heavily wadded and lined with silk. They are surmounted by a light drapery, caught into festoons here and there, ornamented with shells or knots of the same stuff, and tassels or bell-shaped balls of silk. The under curtains are white lace, and the heavy curtains are looped back by means of light tassels of various hues. A scarf of drapery falls on either side of the alcove, the cornice of which sometimes is decorated with pommes. Below this is a valance corresponding with the valance at the base of the lit de repos that is placed within it. The chimney-piece is white marble, surmounted by a mirror with a frame of gilded wood carved richly in palms, flowers, birds, shells, etc. Upon it should stand a clock and two small candelabra of like design, or of Sèvres or Dresden porcelain. Opposite the chimney is a similar mirror, below which is a pier table or a commode. The carpet is Aubusson of light colours, and the doors, if preferred, can be hung with portières agreeing with the window curtains.

Sofas, easy-chairs, arm-chairs, secretaries, small tables, corner-cupboards and chiffonnières are all appropriate to the boudoir, which may be heated with a wood fire on bright andirons, or by a grate. The light is supplied by candles.

A book called La Petite Maison (1758) contains a description of the furnishings of a wealthy home in the height of the reign of Louis XV.

Taking the dining-room first, we find that the walls are in stucco of many colours, made by the famous Milanese worker in stucco, Clerici, who made the Salon de Neuilly for the Comte d’Argenson and the Rendez-vous de chasse de Saint-Hubert for the King. In the compartments were bas-reliefs of stucco, the work of the sculptor Falconet. They represented the feasts of Comus and Bacchus; and the King’s sculptor Vassé had adorned the pilasters with twelve trophies, representing the pleasures of the chase, fishing and good cheer. On each of these trophies was fixed a torchère of gilded bronze, bearing a six-branched girandole, which could make this fine room as bright as day.

In the adjoining small cabinet, in which coffee was served, the panels were painted of a sea-green hue with picturesque subjects brightened with gold. In this room were a number of baskets filled with fleurs d’Italie. The furniture was covered with embroidered moiré. Next came the cabinet de jeu. Here the walls were done in Chinese lacquer; the furniture was also of lacquer, with rich Oriental material finely embroidered. The girandoles were of rock crystal, and upon finely carved and gilded brackets were valuable porcelains from Saxony and Japan. A thick-piled carpet was spread upon the floor. This room communicated by two doors with the dining-room and the boudoir. The door into the latter was disguised by a portière of tapestry.

The salon, which opened out upon the garden, was circular, arched en calotte and painted by Hallé, a French painter, who much resembled Boucher. The panels were painted in lilac and framed by very large mirrors. The space above the door was also painted by Hallé in a mythological design. The lustre and the girandoles were of Sèvres porcelain, with supports of gilded bronze or moulu.

The bedroom, square in form and à pans, was lighted by three windows that looked upon the garden,—an “English garden” it was. It ended in an arch, and this arch contained in a circular frame a picture representing Hercules in the arms of Morpheus, awakened by Love, painted by Pierre. The panels were imprinted with a pale sulphur. The parquet was marquetry of the odorous woods of amaranth and cedar. In the four corners of the room were mirrors, and beneath them console-tables with marble tops, upon which were arranged with great taste fine porcelains, handsome bronzes and marbles. The bed was draped in a material from Pekin, jonquil colour, ornamented with the gayest hues; and was enclosed in a niche or alcove, which communicated both with the garde-robe and bath-room. The garde-robe was hung with gourgouran (a kind of silk from India), gros vert, on which were hung rare prints by Cochin, Lebas and Cars. The furniture here consisted solely of ottomans, sultanes and duchesses.