House & Garden 
96 
VENICE MILAN ROME NAPLES 
Reproduced in natural colors. Most at¬ 
tractive wall decoration or library table 
cover. Full size 19x57 in. Price $5.00, 
postpaid. Photographs and further de¬ 
tails on request. Mail orders filled. 
Quantity limited. 
NOVEL ORIENTAL LAMPS 
Beautifully mounted with these bases. Bronze 
Arabian camel, Arabian Flower girl. Carved 
sisimi wood elephant. Carved golden Buddha 
richly lacquered, all hand-colored, electrically 
fitted, complete with suitable shades ex¬ 
quisitely painted with Oriental scenes; price 
$10—$15, each carefully packed, prepaid. 
Photos gladly forwarded. 
J. M. Harris, Importer, 324 5th Ave. 
Dept. H New York City 
Danersk 
Decorative Furniture 
A beautiful design, carefully 
executed, is more permanent 
in its influence than the 
objects to which it is applied. 
The honeysuckle pattern that 
had its origin in Ancient 
Egypt can be traced through 
the art of many countries to 
the present day. We have 
developed certain themes and 
color schemes that are as 
much a sign of good taste to 
the possessor as a block print 
of old England or a set of 
dishes from Quimper. You 
may have these themes worked 
out on any selection of pieces 
appropriate for each room. 
Send for Valuable Catalog “A- 11” 
Charming sets on exhibition at 
ERSKINE-DANFORTH 
CORPORATION 
2 West 47th Street, New York 
First Door West of Fifth Avenue---4th Floor 
iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii 
French Wall Furniture of the 18th Century 
(Continued from page 94) 
(2) The cabinet in its console forms minor variations, and a seventh classi- 
was almost identical with one type of fication for miscellaneous hybrids of in¬ 
deep bodied commode, the point of dis- genious but not general contrivance that 
tinction being that it was somewhat do not fit in with any of the others, 
higher than the commode and invariably The tall falling-front bureau, analogous 
had doors. Sometimes there was a shal- to the William and Mary fall-front sec- 
low drawer above the doors. Whether retary, was used from the reign of Louis 
this style of console cabinet had one, XV to the Empire period inclusive, 
j two or more doors, depended on its The lower part usually had doors, al- 
width. With slight variations of con- though in some cases, especially during 
tour and decoration, according to the the Louis XVI period, drawers took the 
reigning style, this type persisted from place of doors. A variant from this 
the time of Louis XV right through the type had an open table or stand-base. 
Empire era. Occasionally the width and The cylinder-top type was popular 
height of the two-doored cabinet were throughout this same period. The quad- 
such that it closely resembled a medium- rant cylinder top rolled back and dis- 
sized credenza. These console cabinets closed the small drawer fronts and 
rested on bases, on feet, or on short legs, pigeonholes. The base had several 
Towards the end of the century some drawers at each side of the knee-hole 
of these same cabinets had glass doors and the four legs followed the fashion 
instead of wooden-paneled doors. Small of the particular period. 
one-doored cabinets, that were little Bureau Bookcase 
more than pedestals, were often placed Bureau-tsookcases 
at bedsides. The bureau-bookcase type, compara- 
Another type of cabinet, directly de- ble to the British and American bureau- 
rived from the 17th Century form, con- bookcases, common on both sides of 
sisted of an elevated body with doors, the Atlantic from the reign of Queen 
supported on a stand. Still another Anne onward, was frequent during the 
usual type consisted of a base with reigns of Louis XV and Louis XVI. It 
doors and a taller upper section with had either a slant or a cylinder top 
doors. The upper doors were some- with a tall cupboard above it, while 
times glass-paneled and the vertical the base had either drawers or doors 
surfaces might be continuous from bot- and sometimes both. A Louis XV vari- 
tom to top, or there might be an offset, ant had a commode base with cupboard 
the upper section being, slightly nar- top. Another variant, which appeared 
rower and shallower than the base. in both reigns, had the same sort of cup- 
Tables board top as the preceding and a table 
or stand base. The slant-top bureau, 
(3) Dressing stands or tables were with drawers in the base extending near¬ 
similar in structure to the two-drawer ly or all the way to the floor, corre- 
commode except that there was a knee- sponds in design and structure to the 
hole in the middle, in the same manner British and American slant-top desks 
as in our British and American low- made from Queen Anne’s time onward, 
boys, and the top often opened up with A variant to this type had the slant top, 
an adjustable mirror and trays for toilet one shallow drawer, and legs. A fifth 
articles. During the Empire period they type, similar to a modern library or 
became larger and heavier in structure, office desk, was oblong with a flat top, 
frequently had more drawers, and mir- had cupboards or tiers of drawers ex- 
rors were supported on attached posts, tending all the way to the floor at each 
(4) Chests of drawers were virtually side of the knee-hole, and a raised struc- 
the same as commodes, except that they ture at the back containing small draw- 
had deeper bodies with more drawers, ers and pigeonholes. This type some- 
were supported on feet rather than on times occurred with an open or table 
legs, and were not generally the ob- base or, again, it had the base cupboards 
jects of such elaborate embellishment. and drawers but lacked the back struc- 
(5) The buffet or credence answered ture. The sixth type was virtually 
the same purpose as the sideboard in nothing but an oblong table, usually 
England and America. It might be with a shallow drawer above the knee 
either a very simple piece of furniture, space and one or more deeper drawers at 
practically the same as a table, or again each side. With this type there was often 
it might be an elaborate bit of cabinet a cartonnier, a shallow structure with 
work. From the reign of Louis XV to pigeonholes, placed lengthwise and op- 
the Empire period we find it as an posite the sitter or else at one end of 
oblong table, sometimes with four legs, the table and crosswise. This cartonnier 
sometimes with three in front and two might or might not be a structure sepa- 
at the back, and with one or two shelves rate from the table. 
between the top and the floor, or with 
no shelves. Again we find it as a semi- 
(7) An encoignure was a small three- 
cornered console cabinet or commode 
ners of rooms. Logically, the term 
might be applied to any piece designed 
elliptical table with four legs and a designed to stand in angles at the cor- 
shelf midway between top and floor; 
still again, in the Empire period, it oc¬ 
curs as an oblong marble-topped table for corner use, but technically was ap- 
with four straight, square legs resting plied to the article just designated, 
upon a solid base or plinth. Another (8) Bookcases with two, three, or 
form of buffet or credence, which oc- four divisions were sometimes made 
curred especially in the Louis XV era, with short legs but usually had a body 
was virtually the same thing as a two- extending all the way to the floor, 
doored console cabinet or credenza, the There were commonly two parts, upper 
body extending all the way to the floor and lower, the lower generally project- 
and resting upon feet or a molded base, ing a little beyond the upper and oc- 
A third kind of buffet, also much used casionally containing a shallow drawer 
in the Louis XV era, had a close cabinet above the doors. One type of bookcase 
base with doors, occasionally with both that occurred in the Empire period was 
doors and drawers, and an upper and lower and of single section. The two- 
taller section with doors which might be section type sometimes had provision 
either wood-paneled or filled with glass, for writing. 
The upper section, as in the related 
form of cabinet, was sometimes made 
with an offset, thus producing a re¬ 
ceding contour. 
Beds and Armoires 
(9) Bedsteads may be divided into 
(a) those with the head against the 
(6) So far as French furniture is wall, and (b) those that stood side- 
concerned, the term bureau or secretary wise against the wall. The former were 
is very comprehensive and applies to of two types, tall post and tester or, 
any piece at or upon which writing is more commonly, the headboard and 
done. Bureaux may be classified in six footboard sort without posts. Head- 
well defined divisions, each with sundry (Continued on page 98) 
© 
DARNLEY 
Inc. 
Decorative 
Obj ects 
for the 
Country or Town House 
34 East 48 th Street 
New York 
| Interior Decorating &- Furnishing 
1 BOWDOIN 6r MANLEY 
j 20 West 45th Street, New York City 
1 LET US TELL YOU HOWTO MAKE 
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RARE ANTIQUES 
Valuable collection of original prints 
and pictures, old china, silver, brass and 
pewter. Also a few pieces of beautiful 
17th century mahogany and oak furniture. 
Bargain price, owner leaving America. 
For full details apply, 
H. W. D., P. 0. Box 580, Montreal, Canada 
LINENS 
Beautiful Linens for 
Beautiful Homes 
BERTHA JAMES LANE 
Saybrook, Conn. 
SUN DIALS 
Real Bronze Colonial 
Designs from $3.50 Up. 
Memorial Tablets. 
Also other garden 
requisites. 
Manufactured by 
The M. D. JONES CO 
Concord Jet.. Mass. 
Send for illustrated 
catalog. 
Chas. W. Meyers 
Ship Models 
9 Rene Place 
Brooklyn N. Y. 
