To my other friends, without whose kind advice and valuable aid this volume could never have appeared, I tender a grateful and appreciative acknowledgment of my indebtedness. ARTHUR HAYDEN. [Illustration: _Italian Chair about 1620_] [Illustration: _Spanish Chest._] CONTENTS PAGE PREFACE 7 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 13 BIBLIOGRAPHY 19 GLOSSARY OF TERMS USED 23 CHAPTER I. THE RENAISSANCE ON THE CONTINENT 31 II. THE ENGLISH RENAISSANCE 57 III. STUART OR JACOBEAN (SEVENTEENTH CENTURY) 79 IV. STUART OR JACOBEAN (LATE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY) 109 V. QUEEN ANNE STYLE 133 VI. FRENCH FURNITURE. THE PERIOD OF LOUIS XIV. 155 VII. FRENCH FURNITURE. THE PERIOD OF LOUIS XV. 169 VIII. FRENCH FURNITURE. THE PERIOD OF LOUIS XVI. 189 IX. FRENCH FURNITURE. THE FIRST EMPIRE STYLE 201 X. CHIPPENDALE AND HIS STYLE 211 XI. SHERATON, ADAM, AND HEPPELWHITE STYLES 239 XII. HINTS TO COLLECTORS 257 INDEX 275 [Illustration: _Chippendale Bureau Bookcase._] LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS JACOBEAN OAK CABINET; decorated with mother-of-pearl, ebony, and ivory. Dated 1653. (By permission of the Board of Education) _Frontispiece_ CARVED WOOD FRAME; decorated with gold stucco. Sixteenth Century. Italian _Title page_ PAGE CHAPTER I.--THE RENAISSANCE ON THE CONTINENT. PORTION OF CARVED CORNICE, Italian, Sixteenth Century 33 FRAME OF WOOD, with female terminal figures, Italian, late Sixteenth Century 35 FRONT OF COFFER, Italian, late Fifteenth Century 38 BRIDAL CHEST, Gothic design, middle of Fifteenth Century 39 FRONT OF OAK CHEST, French, Fifteenth Century 44 WALNUT SIDEBOARD, French, middle of Sixteenth Century 45 CABINET, FRENCH (LYONS), second half of Sixteenth Century 48 EBONY AND IVORY MARQUETRY CABINET, French, middle of Sixteenth Century 50 SPANISH CABINET AND STAND, carved chestnut, first half of Sixteenth Century 51