In some of the best of Boule's cabinets, as, for instance, in the Hamilton Palace armoire (illustrated), the bronze gilt ornaments stand out in bold relief from the surface. In the Louvre there is one which has a figure of _le Grand Monarque_, clad in armour, with a Roman toga, and wearing the full bottomed wig of the time, which scarcely accords with the costume of a Roman general. The absurd combination which characterizes this affectation of the classic costume is also found in portraits of our George II. [Illustration: PEDESTAL CABINET. By Boule, formerly in Mr. Baring's Collection. Purchased by Mr. Jones for £3,000. (_South Kensington Museum._)] The masks, satyrs, and rams' heads, the scrolls of the foliage, are also very bold in specimens of this class of Boule's work; and the "sun" (that is, a mask with rays of light radiating from it) is a very favourite ornament of this period. Boule had four sons and several pupils; and he may be said to have founded a school of decorative furniture, which had its votaries and imitators now, as it had in its own time. The word one frequently finds misspelt "Buhl," and the term has come to represent any similar mode of decoration of furniture, no matter how meretricious or common it may be. [Illustration: A CONCERT DURING THE REIGN OF LOUIS XIV. (_From a Miniature dated 1696._)] Later in the reign of Louis XIV., as other influences were brought to bear upon the taste and fashion of the day, this style of furniture became more ornate and showy. Instead of the natural color of the shell, either vermilion or gold leaf was placed underneath the transparent shell; the gilt mounts became less severe, and abounded with the curled endive ornament, which afterwards became thoroughly characteristic of the fashion of the succeeding reign; and the forms of the furniture itself followed the taste for a more free and flowing treatment; and it should be mentioned, in justice to Lebrun, that from the time of his death and the appointment of his successor, Mignard, a distinct decline in merit can be traced. Contemporary with Boule's work, were the richly-mounted tables, having slabs of Egyptian porphyry, or Florentine marble mosaic; and marqueterie cabinets with beautiful mountings of ormolu, or gilt bronze. Commodes and screens were ornamented with Chinese lacquer, which had been imported by the Dutch and taken to Paris, after the French invasion of the Netherlands. [Illustration: BOUDOIR FURNISHED IN THE TASTE THE LOUIS XIV. PERIOD.]