Two or three cabinet-makers have transmitted a great name, though little seems to be known of their history. Of these Riesener and David Roentgen were _ébénistes_, or workers in fine cabinet making. The designation is taken from the ebony and other exotic woods, which had come into more general use in Europe from the end of the seventeenth century subsequently to 1695, when the Dutch settled in Ceylon. The French obtained ebony from Madagascar, but in very small quantities. After the settlements at Ceylon we find it introduced into Europe on a larger scale. There are green and yellow varieties but the black wood is the most valuable, and Ceylon is the country in which the greatest quantities are produced. We still find in English houses much old carved ebony furniture, mainly chairs and cabinets, dating generally from the early years of the Dutch occupation. Riesener used tulip (_Liriodendron tulipifera_), rosewood, holly (_ilex aquifolium_), maple (_acer campestre_), laburnum (_cytisus Alpinus_), purple wood (_copaifera pubiflora_), &c. Wreaths and bunches of flowers, exquisitely worked and boldly designed, form centres of his marquetry panels which are often plain surfaces of one wood. On the sides, in borders and compartments, we find diaper patterns in three or four quiet colours. These conventional sides or corners of diaper work help to give point to the graceful compositions that form the principal feature in his marquetry. Chests of drawers and cabinets are sometimes met with in snake wood and other varieties of brown wood, of which the grain is waved or curled without marquetry. The name of Riesener is to be found stamped sometimes on the panel itself, sometimes on the oak lining of the pieces of furniture made by him. A number of exceptional examples of Riesener's cabinets are described in the appendix to the detailed catalogue of furniture in the South Kensington museum. The best pieces are from the collection now belonging to Sir Richard Wallace. The most imposing of these is the rounded bureau or secrétaire, made for Stanislaus, king of Poland. It is beautifully inlaid on the top, ends, and back with designs emblematic of the sciences, &c., and with bust heads. The letters S. R. are put upon a broad band of decoration that runs round the lower portion of the bureau. A similar piece of furniture with gilt bronze candle branches by Gouthière, on the sides, is now in the Louvre. Both are signed.