Much early eighteenth century furniture was bombé, or rolled about in curious curves or undulations of surface, partly to display the skill of the cabinet-makers, and partly to show off the marquetry, which formed its only decoration. Another step was the introduction of mechanical applications and contrivances. The tops of tables lift off, and the action causes other portions to rise, to open, and so on. It is to be remembered that bedrooms were often used as boudoirs or studies, and that furniture which could shut private papers up without requiring that they should be put away into drawers was convenient in such rooms. As the century advanced, it became customary to form a sort of alcove at the end of bedrooms in France. The centre portion contained the bed, hidden by curtains, the spaces between it and the two walls were shut in with doors, and formed dressing closets, which could be used while the rest of the room was shut off. The bedroom then became a reception room and was thrown open with other receiving rooms of the house. Bureaux or mechanically shutting tables, writing desks, and the like, under this arrangement were a necessity for small rooms. A school of painters arose in the reign of Louis the fifteenth who devoted themselves to the decoration of room woodwork and ceilings; Charles Delafosse, Antoine Coypel, Jean Restout, and many pupils. We must associate the names of these artists with those of the Le Pautre family. Jean died before the end of the seventeenth century, but Pierre took part in the later works of the Louvre and of Versailles under Jules Hardouin Mansard, "surintendant des bastiments." Juste Aurèle Meissonnier did still more to make this showy work popular. He designed all sorts of room furniture and woodwork. It is amongst the published works of these artists that we must seek the eighteenth century designs of French fashion. Painted panels were inserted into the wood ceilings, over the tops of looking-glasses, and _dessus-portes_ or the short panels between the tops of doors and the line of cornice. These are generally in chiaro scuro, or light and shade only, and represent families of cupids. Nymphs and fauns, shepherdesses, and the supposed inhabitants of a fanciful Arcadia, formed the general subjects of room decorations.