[Illustration: No. 111. Upholstered Chair. Louis XIV.]
Chairs were massive, the frames were carved and gilt, and the seats and backs upholstered in tapestry. In the latter part of the reign of Louis XIV metal was used in the construction of furniture in the form of mounts--as framing and protecting pieces to angles, and was gilt by the mercury process. The introduction of veneer probably led to this use of metal.
A method of decorating furniture with inlays of brass or tin and tortoiseshell originated by André Charles Boule, came into vogue. The sheets of metal and shell were placed together and cut simultaneously, with the result that the patterns produced were interchangeable--thus the metal pattern could be fitted with a tortoiseshell background and vice versa. There was a tendency for this style of work to become more ornate and showy, and later, instead of the transparent shell being used in its natural colour, either vermilion or gold leaf was placed underneath.
Mirrors, in the sixteenth century, had been imported from Italy, and those of considerable size were first made in Venice.
Later glass manufactories were established in England--near Battersea--and in France, where larger mirrors and plates of glass were produced than hitherto.
Rooms lined with mirrors became popular, in some cases even the ceiling being made of glass.
Console tables, which were frequently gilt, were often placed under the large wall mirrors.
Hanging bands of material were employed to drape the heads of windows and the tops of bedsteads. Beds were important pieces of furniture, and had elaborately carved head and foot boards. The overhanging Tester was also ornamented, and besides the valances already mentioned, was surmounted by groups of plumes.
[Illustration: No. 112. Pantheon, Paris. Soufflet. Louis XV.]
Little advance was made in architecture during the reign of Louis XV, to which period belongs the Pantheon at Paris, originally the Church of St. Geneviéve, the work of Soufflet, born in 1713.
The style passed through two stages. The earlier, known as the Régence--the principal exponents of which were Charles Cressent, Gilles Marie Oppenord, and Nicholas Pineau--is distinguished by a certain reserve and moderation which were entirely abandoned in the later Rococo period.