90 
House & Garden 
E \’ERY Spring finds 
many of our patrons in 
consnltation with us on 
the furnishing of their coun¬ 
try homes. For years we 
have been aiding our custom¬ 
ers in the selection of furni¬ 
ture that is both artistic and 
practical—in creating interior 
effects that have an atmo¬ 
sphere of homelike comfort 
and unforced charm. 
Deniarest and Deniarest furniture 
lends itself readily to distinctive 
home furnishing. You are invited 
to avail yourself of the Deniarest 
and Deniarest Country Home 
Service. 
IPjiEMARIEST 
^^EMAREST 
M _ ^ EST 1895 IINIO 
FURNITURE SHOP 
At 3 WEST 50th STREET 
Near 5th Avenue New York 
The Bed Room .Suite Shown Above 
Is of American walnut with a soft antique finish. 
Ebony knobs and scrolls make it effectively orna¬ 
mental. There are touches of antique gold on the 
knobs. Superbly made throughout. Drawers are of 
solid walnut. May be had with f^ouble bed or twin 
beds. 
Tables and Chairs of 18th Century France 
{Continued from page 86) 
scious ostentation and heavy-handed 
grandiosity. 
The Age of Tables 
Should we call the 18th Century the 
French Age of Tables, we would be 
within the bounds of accurate state¬ 
ment. Specialization of forms was more 
in evidence in the matter of table de¬ 
signing than in any other particular. The 
meticulous care with which tables big 
and little were nicely devised for each 
particular use was almost finical in the 
extent to which it was carried. There 
were tables for cards, tables for em¬ 
broidery, tables for bric-a-brac, tables 
for wigs. Each had some special feature 
of design that differentiated it. 
During the Louis Quinze period from 
amongst all this array of tablekind sev¬ 
eral types stand forth as especially char¬ 
acteristic, and these require specific men¬ 
tion. One was the table de salon. This 
was commonly an oblong table sup¬ 
ported on four legs which might or 
might not be connected by a stretcher 
construction. When stretchers appeared 
it was usually in tables of the earlier 
part of the period. The top was shaped, 
sometimes with a good deal of com¬ 
plexity, the outline consisting of a series 
of diversified curves. The underfram¬ 
ing was curved, and often shaped at the 
lower edge, and the legs were of cabriole 
pattern. Stretchers, when used, were 
commonly of the rising saltire type and 
displayed shaping. Such tables were in¬ 
tended to stand forth in the room and 
occupy a conspicuous place. They were 
chiefly considered from a formal and 
decorative point of view. 
There were also the oblong, flat- 
topped writing tables. These were of 
much the same general type, but were 
customarily devoid of stretchers, had a 
top whose edges were either straight or 
else but slightly shaped, and frequently 
had one or more drawers in the under¬ 
framing. This type of table, even more 
than the table de salon, persisted into 
the Louis Seize period and beyond. In 
both cases, however, the dominant style 
dictated the particulars of form, and 
during the reign of Louis XVI cabriole 
legs gave place to straight tapered legs, 
of more or less columnar lines, display¬ 
ing fluting and other architectural items 
derived from Classic antiquity; curved 
edges became punctiliously straight; and 
shaped underframing yielded to recti¬ 
linear rigidity. 
Customs and Influences 
It may seem strange that amidst all 
the multiplicity of tables one finds so 
little reference to what we should con¬ 
sider most essential—big tables made 
specifically for dining purposes. To 
understand this fact, we must take into 
account the habits of the people. Din¬ 
ing together at a common table, even 
though the distinctions of seating “above 
the salt” or “below the salt” might be 
scrupulously observed, seems never to 
have found as much favor in France as 
it did in England. Indeed, through a 
great part of the 18th Century the 
Gallic and feudal custom obtained of 
eating alone unless there chanced to be 
present someone of equal rank to sit at 
table and share one’s bread, so that the 
Duchesse d’Orleans, in one of her let¬ 
ters, quite justifiably complains of bore¬ 
dom to extinction at being obliged 
always to eat alone, surrounded by 
servants and people in waiting watching 
her and counting every mouthful. “That 
is why I despatch my dinner in less than 
half an hour,” she writes, and we can 
well sympathize with her motives for 
haste. For these not very comfortable 
repasts small portable tables, sometimes 
with drop leaves, were used. 
It is not until the latter part of the 
18th Century that one finds the specific 
terra “table a manger” and then, sig¬ 
nificantly enough, this same piece of 
furniture is given the alternative name 
“table a I’Anglaise.” It is, therefore, 
practically synchronous with the begin¬ 
ning of the Louis Seize style. These 
tables were often round in shape, with 
two drop leaves so that they could be 
placed against the wall when not in use, 
or else they might be made in two parts 
in the familiar D-end form and be ca¬ 
pable of indefinite extension by means of 
leaves to be inserted at pleasure between 
the two D’s. 
Console tables enjoyed unimpaired 
popularity throughout the 18th Century 
and the early years of the 19th. Under 
each succeeding phase of style they 
faithfully reflected the dominant fea¬ 
tures of form and decoration. Small 
bedside tables, work-stands, and all the 
other retinue of occasional tables like¬ 
wise recorded the reigning vogue of con¬ 
tour and ornament. With reference to 
work-stands and small tables of the 
Louis Seize period it is worth noting 
that low metal galleries often surround¬ 
ed the tops and that a shelf was not in¬ 
frequently placed between the top and i 
the floor. 
It is also worth noting that certain 
shapes seems to have been characteristic 
of the several eras. In the Louis Quinze 
period, notwithstanding the pronounced 
preference for curving lines, table tops 
were commonly square or oblong in 
shape. In the Louis Quinze period, not¬ 
withstanding the pronounced preference 
for curving lines, table tops were com¬ 
monly square or oblong in shape. In 
the Louis Seize period round and oval 
tops, especially among the smaller tables, 
enjoyed almost equal vogue with square 
and round shapes. 
The Round Tables 
In the Directoire and Empire periods 
there was a distinct preference for round 
tables which ranged in size all the way 
from the diminutive “tables de dejeuner,” 
in two stages, with a top barely suffi¬ 
cient to accommodate an extremely lim¬ 
ited appointment of eating accessories, 
to the large round table with ornate sup¬ 
ports, intended to occupy a central and 
decorative position. In their zeal for 
what they fancied to be exact archaeo¬ 
logical propriety, not a few people under 
the Directoire and Empire were content 
to dine or sup from small round tables 
that were little more than tripods. 
The materials from which tables were 
made during the Louis Quinze period 
were either walnut or else some soft 
wood, often much carved, and intended 
to be painted or gilt. Marqueterie and 
figured veneer also were in common use 
and tables of this sort were, in addition, 
very frequently embellished with elab¬ 
orate ormolu mounts. Mahogany, too, 
was used, but not to such an extent as 
during the Louis Seize, Directoire and 
Empire periods. Lacquer and Vernis 
Martin likewise played their parts 
among the decorative resources and 
figured marble was often employed for 
table tops. 
In the Louis Seize period, besides ma¬ 
hogany, which by then had become of 
frequent occurrence, marqueterie and 
figured veneer, paint, gilding and lacquer 
were extensively employed. In the 
Directoire and Empire periods mahog¬ 
any was the chosen material, with 
oftentimes elaborate and profuse brass 
or gilt mounts, but paint and gilding 
were also used. Carving during all the 
periods, though with varying motifs, 
was a usual decorative process. 
Chair Designs 
Comfort and elegance were the key¬ 
notes of the seating furniture devised 
during the Louis Quinze period. In 
comfort the chairs made up for the lack 
of really comfortable domesticity we 
{Continued on page 92) 
