It is singular that the two most famous cabinet-makers of the Louis XVI. period were Germans,—Riesener and Roentgen. Riesener (b. about 1730) came from his native town near Cologne to Paris, and, as we have seen, worked in Œben’s shop. When the latter died in 1768, Riesener carried on his business, and up to the outbreak of the Revolution, produced a great deal of furniture. He became “_ébéniste du Roi_” and worked for the Royal family until they left Versailles. Of course he began to work under Louis XV., his most important production having been made for that King himself (see page 213); but as the greater part of his work was accomplished during the following reign, he is always classed among artisans of the Louis XVI. period. Many of his pieces are from designs by De Lalonde. They include tables, chairs, cabinets, chests-of-drawers and corner-cupboards that are now prized. Riesener is particularly noted for his marquetry. He was fond of inserting a panel of a single piece of wood bearing in its centre a gay and graceful bunch of flowers, a wreath, or trophy, and enriching the border with a diaper pattern of three or four quiet colours. He often stamped his name upon the panel itself. His favourite woods for inlaying were: tulip, rosewood, holly, maple, laburnum, and purple-wood (_copaifera pubiflora_). Riesener also made furniture, particularly chests-of-drawers and cabinets of snake-wood, or other brown woods in which the grain is waved or curled, and also worked in plain mahogany and letter-wood, depending upon Gouthière’s metal mounts for the decorative effect. Fashion also forced Riesener to introduce, somewhat against his will, painted porcelain into his furniture in place of his inlaid panels. One of his productions of this class appears on Plate XLVII. It is a _chiffonnier-secrétaire_ of mahogany with ornaments of chiselled copper, and plaques of Sèvres porcelain. The subjects of the latter are birds. The two lower plaques are apparently held by knots of ribbon made of copper chased and gilt. A little open-worked gallery runs around the back and sides of the top, the front moulding of which is ornamented with the festoon. The commode on Plate XLVIII. is also one of Riesener’s works.