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Louis XV style furniture

1722 - 1774

Louis XV of France, born in 1710, is the great-grandson of Louis XIV and was officially crowned in 1722.
Rococo furniture is associated with the French Louis XV style.
Ebenistes worked ebony into cabinets that were carved in shallow relief and fanciful patterns of tortoiseshell and ivory inlaid on layers of veneer. Bronze mounts decorated this high-style furniture.
Curved lines and asymmetry became the rule and was expressed in the elaboration of surface ornament. The fashion for Chinese lacquer had an influence on European. New items appeared: chiffoniers, writing desks with flaps, card tables, roll-top desks, wooden panelling, and ladies' furniture: dressing tables, chairs with short armrests, desks, escritoires. A taste for secrecy, which pervaded society, resulted in multiple hiding places incorporated in articles of Louis XV furniture which opened with springs.
Caned chairs and canapés were extremely fashionable under Louis XV, and they were fitted with loose seat cushions. The frames were generally made of beech, walnut, or cherry.
There were almost one hundred exotic woods, covering practically the entire range of different colours used in marquetry work.
Cherry wood, which has a fine grain and is a good medium for carving, was used for chairs, tables, commodes, cupboards and other similar articles. The wood was often painted or in gold leaf. Considerable bronze ornamentation was an essential part of some items.
Rocks and shells with foliage and flowers dominated the theme of the ornament with blossoms, sprays and tendrils, reeds, branches of palm and laurel.
The acanthus leaf, originated in ancient Greece, often elaborately serrated and fringed became very long and narrow.
Especially fashionable themes were musical instruments, such as the violin, flageolet and tambourine, hunting and fishing, symbols of love, such as bows, arrows and torches, and pastoral emblems, such as crooks and the large straw hats of shepherdesses.

1638-1715
Louis XIV::  

1754-1793
Louis XVI 

History French Furniture