Louis XV furniture is used often in the drawing room or dining room of important American houses, where a suitable background will be ensured by the architecture.

Most of us, however, have occasion to sell it only for bedroom use.

3. Louis XVI (Louis Seize[10]) 1774-94.

Louis XVI, grandson of Louis XV, was married at 15 to Marie Antoinette of Austria. He was popular for some time, but was swept aside by the French Revolution in 1789 and was killed on the guillotine.

The style which bears his name (sometimes known as the style of Marie Antoinette) was in reality fully formed before his accession to the throne. It resulted directly from a wave of enthusiasm for the delicate type of classic ornament revealed by the excavations at Pompeii and Herculaneum, which were discovered early in the eighteenth century. The Adam style in England came from the same source.

The furniture of the period returned to straight lines and rectangular shapes, with curved lines freely employed but not dominant.

A great variety of cabinet woods was used, fashionable favorites, including mahogany, walnut, sycamore, and satinwood. Carving, architectural moldings, marquetry, figured veneers, lacquer, painting, and porcelain inlays were the usual methods of embellishment. Much furniture was painted.