Casket, Louis XIV., black Boule, inlaid with Cupids, vases of flowers and scrolls, and fitted with four tortoiseshell and gold picque shell-shaped snuff boxes. Christie, April 19, 1904 73 10 0 Commode, Louis XIV., Boule, of sarcophagus form, containing two drawers, at either corners are detached cabriole legs, the various panels are inlaid with brass and tortoiseshell, the whole is mounted with ormolu, surmounted by a slab of veined marble, 49 in. wide. Christie, May 27, 1904 57 15 0 [1] By the kindness of the proprietors of the _Connoisseur_, these items are reproduced from their useful monthly publication, _Auction Sale Prices_. VII FRENCH FURNITURE. THE PERIOD OF LOUIS XV [Illustration: _By permission of Messrs. Foley & Eassie._ COMMODE, BY CRESSENT. (From a drawing by Walter Eassie.) (_Wallace Collection._)] VII FRENCH FURNITURE. THE PERIOD OF LOUIS XV Louis XV. 1715-1774 Petit Trianon built at Versailles. Meissonier, Director of Royal Factories (1723-1774). Watteau (1684-1721). Pater (1695-1736). Lancret (1690-1743). Boucher (1704-1770). 1751. The leading ebenistes compelled to stamp their work with their names. Louis XIV. died in the year following the death of Queen Anne, so that it will be readily seen that English art was uninfluenced by France in the days of William and Mary, and how insular it had become under Anne. The English craftsman was not fired by new impulses from France during such an outburst of decorative splendour. The reign of Louis XV. extends from George I. down to the eleventh year of the reign of George III., which year saw the cargoes of tea flung into Boston harbour and the beginning of the war with America. In glancing at the Louis Quinze style it will be observed how readily it departed from the studied magnificence of Louis XIV. In attempting elegance of construction and the elimination of much that was massive and cumbersome in the former style, it developed in its later days into meaningless ornament and trivial construction. At first it possessed considerable grace, but towards the end of the reign the designs ran riot in rococo details, displaying incongruous decoration. It was the age of the elegant boudoir, and the bedroom became a place for more intimate guests than those received in the large reception-room. In the days of Louis XIV. the bed was a massive structure, but in the succeeding reign it became an elegant appendage to a room. At Versailles the splendid galleries of magnificent proportion were transformed by the Duke of Orleans, Regent of France (1715-1723) during the king's minority, into smaller _salons_ covered in wainscoting, painted white and ornamented with gilded statues. In like manner the Louis Quinze decorations were ruthlessly destroyed by Louis-Philippe. [Illustration: _By permission of Messrs. Waring._