gs of pearls, etc., and at its best there was
great beauty in the treatment.

It was during the Regency that the great artist and sculptor in metal,
Charles Cressant, flourished. He was made _ebeniste_ of the Regent, and
his influence was always to keep up the traditions when the reaction
against the severe might easily have led to degeneration. There are
beautiful examples of his work in many of the great collections of
furniture, notably the wonderful commode in the Wallace collection. The
dragon mounts of ormolu on it show the strong influence the Orient had
at the time. He often used the figures of women with great delicacy on
the corners of his furniture, and he also used tortoise-shell and many
colored woods in marquetry, but his most wonderful work was done in
brass and gilded bronze.

In 1723, when Louis was thirteen years old, he was declared of age and
became king. The influence of the Regent was, naturally, still strong,
and unfortunately did much to form the character of the young king.
Selfishness, pleasure, and low ideals, were the order of court life, and
paved the way for the debased taste for rococo ornament which was one
marked phase of the style of Louis XV.

The great influence of the Orient at this time is very noticeable. There
had been a beginning of it in the previous reign, but during the Regency
and the reign of Louis XV it became very marked. "_Singerie_" and
"_Chinoiserie_" were the rage, and gay little monkeys clambered and
climbed over walls and furniture with a careless abandon that had a
certain fascination and charm in spite of their being monkeys. The
"_Salon des Singes_" in the Chateau de Chantilly gives one a good idea
of this. The style was easily overdone and did not last a great while.

During this time of Oriental influence lacquer was much used and
beautiful lacquer panels became one of the great features of French
furniture. Pieces of furniture were sent to China and Japan to be
lacquered and this, combined with the expense of importing it, led many
men in France to try to find out the Oriental secret. Le Sieur Dagly was
supposed to have imported the secret and was established at the Gobelins
works where he made what was called "_vernis de Gobelins_."

The Martin family evolved a most characteristically French style of
decoration from the Chinese and Japanese lacquers. The varnish they
made, called "_vernis Martin_," gave its name to the furniture decorated
by them, which w