An interesting example of Renaissance work is the bedstead on Plate XI. The distaff or lance-shaped columns shoot boldly upward from a floral calix that stands on the head of a mermaid at the foot, and the head of a merman at the head of the bed. A frame for a dome-shaped canopy is connected with the four posts by a tester. The bedstead is panelled and stands on four large square blocks. In the centre of the headboard is a cartouche for a coat-of-arms; in the centre of the footboard the head of a cherub is carved. The peculiar characteristic of the decoration of this piece of furniture is that the scrolls are all carved in the shape of the human ear. This is an early example of the _genre auriculaire_, which was destined to become popular in Flanders and Germany. On this piece of furniture the ear is omnipresent—on the head and foot board, on the sweeps of the canopy and on the square feet—wriggling, squirming and unrestful. Folding-beds are frequently mentioned in the inventories. Margaret of Austria (1523), had two wooden camp or folding-beds. The Flemings were particularly skilful in the production of tables and chairs. We have now come a long distance from the simple board and trestles of the past, for we find dining-tables, writing-tables, bureau-tables, card-tables, chair-tables, bench-tables (_tables à banc_), round tables, square tables, oval tables, tables that stand on one foot, tables that stand on three feet, and tables of walnut, oak, maple, cedar, cypress, marble and even silver. We also find tables of mosaic work and of marquetry and tables beautifully carved and embellished with gold. The drawing-table was much in vogue. It was composed of extra leaves superimposed on lower ones that could be drawn forward so that the top leaves could fall into the space they made and form with the lower leaves, thus lengthened, one continuous surface. The mechanism by which these leaves were lengthened and dropped was very intricate and ingenious. Jacques Wecker, a physician of Colmar, in his treatise _De Secretis_ (Bâle, 1582), says: “One must not despise the make of these tables that I have often seen in Ghent in Flanders.” The tables designed by De Vries and reproduced in Figs. 20, 21 and 22, are a great advance on the one that appears in his _Cubiculum_. (Plate X.) The form is much the same as those in Figs. 20 and 21, but the linenfold has given way to panels and pilasters of pure Renaissance character and the corner supports of sphinxes and animals and vases have no memory of the Gothic age. Fig. 22 shows us a table of an entirely different character. It is much lighter and has drawers. With its foot-rails it is well adapted for a dining-table.