[Illustration: Fig. 4.--Louis IX. represented in his Regal Chair, tapestried in fleurs-de-lis, from a Miniature of the Fourteenth Century. (MS. de la Bibl. Imp. de Paris.).] The following extract, from an invoice of Etienne La Fontaine, the royal silversmith, affords, in terms which require no comment, an idea of the costliness lavished on the manufacture of an arm-chair, then called _faudesteuil_, intended for the King of France, in 1352:-- “For making a fauteuil of silver and of crystal decorated with precious stones, delivered to the said seigneur, of which the said seigneur ordered the said goldsmith to make the framework, who ornamented it with several crystals, illuminated pieces, many designs, pearls, and other stones.... VIIᶜ LXXIIIIᵐ (774 louis). “For illuminated pieces placed under the crystals of the said fauteuil, of which there are 40 of the armorial bearings of France, 61 of the prophets holding scrolls, 112 half-length figures of animals on gold ground, and 4 large representations of the judgments of Solomon.... VIˣˣᵐ (620 louis). “For twelve crystals for the said fauteuil, of which five are hollow to hold the bâtons, six flat, and one round,” &c. [Illustration: Fig. 5.--Seats from Miniatures of the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries.] It was only towards the commencement of the fifteenth century that chairs stuffed with straw or rushes first appeared; they folded in the form of the letter X (Fig. 5); the seats and arms being stuffed. In the sixteenth century chairs with backs (_chaires_ or _chayeres à dorseret_), in carved oak or chestnut, painted and gilt, fell into disuse, even in the royal castles, as being too heavy and inconvenient, and on account of their enormous size (Figs. 6 and 7). The dresser, which has just been described as used at the grand feast of Charles V., and which moreover has been retained, altered to a sideboard with shelves, almost to our time, was an article manufactured much less for use than for show. It was upon this dresser,--the introduction of which does not appear to go further back than the twelfth century, and the name whereof sufficiently describes its purpose,--that there was displayed, in the vast halls of manorial residences, not only all the valuable plate required for the table, but many other objects of goldsmith’s work which played no part in the banquet--vases of all sorts, statuettes, figures in high relief, jewels, [Illustration: Fig. 6.--Christine de Pizan, contemporary with Charles V. and Charles VI., seated on a Chair in carved wood with back and canopy, and tapestry of worsted or figured silk. The box or chest which formed the writing-table contained books. (Miniature from a MS. in the Bibl. of Burgundy-Bruxelles, Fifteenth Century.)]