The most common chair of the seventeenth century, however, is one without arms. It is rather low and is a simplified form of the above “Spanish chair.” A fine early example of this model is represented in Plate XXVIII, now in the Cluny Museum, Paris. It will be noticed that the heads on the back posts are still carved, and that the legs are shaped and turned, while the rails are grooved. The Cluny Museum has a considerable number of Flemish chairs of this style and period. One of them, stamped with the monogram of Christ and the date 1672, probably belonged to an ecclesiastic. The ordinary form of this chair appears on either side of the chimney-piece in Plate XXIV. The low-backed chair without arms is very common in interior scenes by Dutch and Flemish masters. Sometimes we see guests seated on them at the table; and sometimes it will serve as a seat for a lady as she takes a music-lesson. (_See_ Plate XXXIX.) It is found in various dimensions and proportions. Sometimes it has one set of rungs and sometimes two; sometimes the legs are plain, and sometimes elegantly turned. Sometimes the back posts have lions’ heads and frequently not. (_See_ Plates XXXV and XXXIX, and Fig 35.) The design by Crispin de Passe, Fig. 32, shows the style for an armchair of the middle of the century. Here the centre of the top back bar is raised with ornamental carving and the lions’ heads are suppressed. A variety of the same style of chair fashionable during the period of Louis XIII is represented by the handsome piece of Flemish workmanship in Plate XXIX, also in the Cluny Museum. The arms and bars and front legs are turned in elegant spirals effectively relieved. The back posts do not rise above the top rail, and have no lions’ heads, but finely carved heads terminate the arms. The back and seat are covered with gilt leather stamped with a beautiful floral design and fastened to the frame with the usual large-headed nails. Sometimes instead of lions’ heads, we find carved heads of other animals and of women. Besides leather and velvet, this style of chair was frequently covered with embroidered material and tapestry. A Dutch chair of this general form, though with sloping and scrolled arms, is in the Rijks Museum. (_See_ Plate XXXIII.) The legs are turned in spirals; and the back and seat are upholstered with a rich material figured with large flower forms—tulips, roses, irises, etc. [Illustration: PLATE XXXII.—_Kitchen._ STEDELIJK MUSEUM, AMSTERDAM. ]