of State
using their influence and power for the purpose of making money by
gambling in stocks, and accepting bribes for concessions and contracts.

[Illustration: French Sedan Chair. (_From an Engraving in the South
Kensington Art Library._) Period: Louis XV.]

It was a time of corruption, extravagance, licentiousness, and intrigue,
and although one might ask what bearing this has upon the history of
furniture, a little reflection shows that the abandonment of the great
State receptions of the late King, and the pompous and gorgeous
entertainments of his time, gave way to a state of society in which the
boudoir became of far more importance than the salon, in the artistic
furnishing of a fashionable house. Instead of the majestic grandeur of
immense reception rooms and stately galleries, we have the elegance and
prettiness of the boudoir; and as the reign of the young King advances, we
find the structural enrichment of rooms more free, and busy with redundant
ornament; the curved endive decoration, so common in carved woodwork and
in composition of this period, is seen everywhere; in the architraves, in
the panel mouldings, in the frame of an overdoor, in the design of a
mirror frame; doves, wreaths, Arcadian fountains, flowing scrolls, Cupids,
and heads and busts of women terminating in foliage, are carved or moulded
in relief, on the walls, the doors, and the alcoved recesses of the
reception rooms, either gilded or painted white; and pictures by Watteau,
Lancret, or Boucher, and their schools, are appropriate
accompaniments.[16]

[Illustration: Part of a Salon, Decorated in the Louis Quinze style,
showing the carved and gilt Console Table and Mirror, with other
enrichments, _en suite_.]

The furniture was made to agree with this decorative treatment: couches
and easy chairs were designed in more sweeping curves and on a smaller
scale, the woodwork wholly or partially gilt and upholstered, not only
with the tapestry of Gobelins or Beauvais, but with soft colored silk
brocades and brocatelles; light occasional chairs were enriched with
mother-of-pearl or marqueterie; screens were painted with love scenes and
representations of ladies and gentlemen who look as if they passed their
entire existence in the elaboration of their toilettes or the exchange of
compliments; the stately cabinet is modified into the _bombe_ fronted
commode, the ends of which curve outwards with a graceful sweep; and the
bureau is made in a