Another lit en chassis en l’air had its four small valances, headboard, counterpane, two large curtains and two bonnes grâces of green serge and its three large valances and three lower valances of green and white stripes.
The lit de repos, a kind of chaise longue or couch, made for lounging upon and of which examples have already been given on Plates [VIII.], [XIII.], [XVIII.] and [XX.], becomes in this reign even of greater importance. Sometimes two of them occur in a bedroom or boudoir. One of these is represented in the niche or alcove on Plate [XXIX.]
A suggestion for a beautiful alcove bed may be taken from one dating from 1732. This was equipped with a mattress, two bolsters and two square pillows, and had three backs, all covered and draped with white satin embroidered in poppies of natural hues, and ornamented with a braid of silk embroidery. The feet of the bed were in the form of consoles, carved and varnished. The room in which this was placed, also contained a fauteuil of beech, carved, upon the cane back and seat of which was a cushion covered with the poppy-embroidered satin. Two similar cushions furnished a chair of acacia and fine straw, and the same material was used to cover two banquettes or forms, of beech, carved and varnished, and having hinds’ feet.
The first alcove beds were called lits en niche, and they were always lits de boudoir rather than beds for the sleeping room. In many old designs, curtains are lacking and the bed is adorned merely with a lambrequin, or a drapery across the façade of the niche or alcove, this drapery being similar to the covering of the bed itself, which is sometimes in the form of a lit de repos or a sofa.
Some alcoves under the reign of Louis XV. contained a bed vu de pied that stood very low and whose feet projected into the room. One of this kind was in the Hôtel de Soubise; and the model may be seen in many old designs.
An extreme example of the rococo decoration of a bed is shown on Plate [XXXIV.] This is by J. J. Schübler, who died in Nuremberg in 1741. Schübler, an architect, painter, sculptor and mathematician, was also one of the most famous masters of decorative design of his day. His original drawings include French beds, cabinets, alcoves, grates, mantel-pieces, writing-tables, toilette-tables, clock-cases, commodes, chaises longues, dining-room tables, candlestands, dressoirs, lustres, étagères, consoles, jewel-cases, buffets, fountains, garden-ornaments and grottoes. His collection of 150 plates passed through twenty editions. His works often resemble those of Paul Decker, another celebrated German master, who died in Nuremberg in 1713; and, just as Decker is a German exponent of the late Louis XIV. emerging from the influence of Bérain and Lepautre into the style of the Regency, so Schübler exhibits the transitional stage between the Regency and Louis XV. as filtered through a German mind. Two of Decker’s designs are shown on Plate [XXXIII.], Nos. 1 and 2.
A bed of the late Louis XV. period also appears on Plate [XXXIV.], No. 2, showing the correct arrangement of the canopy and draperies above the sofa.
Window-curtains were of great importance. They hung from a cornice which was carved, more or less ornately, in curves, scrolls and other characteristic motives. Occasionally the curtains were of muslin or gauze, but more frequently of silk, damask, brocatelle or “Persian.” They were of a solid hue, or a mixture of two or three colours. The designs of these rich materials were much smaller in pattern, as a rule, than those of the preceding reign and they were far gayer in colour, for all the crimson, gros bleu, gros vert and other dark shades gave place to the light hues of rose, pale green, pale blue, jonquil, yellow, etc.
The shapes and folds into which the curtains were cut and draped were spirited, fantastic, and even coquettish, in order to harmonize with the general character of the decorations and furniture, and it required the greatest skill on the part of the decorators to loop and tie them into the correct knots, shells, “choux,” “volants,” etc., to give them the proper effect and light, half frivolous air.
The lambrequin, which was extremely popular, differed from that in use in the reign of Louis XIV. It was less severe and straight, being cut more freely in order to accord with the cornice that surmounted it. Instead of the rounded scallop, it often terminated in points, to each of which a tassel was hung. Braids took the place of lace in trimming, and the favourite fringe consisted of twisted strands of mixed colours. The ravelled-out fringe, long so popular, at last disappeared. An example of the pointed drapery is shown in the Schübler bed on Plate [XXXIV.]