The 14th century furniture is an authentic masterpiece of furniture. One of the most sumptuous works of native wood, the art of sculpting ebony leads to a marvel of furnishings.
Characterized by the splendour of its decoration, the furniture of this period is of true elegance from century to century. By an atypical ornamentation, the charm of these furniture is felt throughout the room.
The Louis XIV style
The Louis XIV style is characterized by furnishings of wealth and royalty. Due to its majestic and luxurious appearance, Louis XIV furniture is made of solid wood, usually ebony, walnut, solid oak...
Several furnishings are counted for this style such as desk, cabinet, closet, chest and others. Preceding the Louis XIV style. The Buffet Louis XIII was characterized by a stricter decoration (straight lines) that gave it a hard look.
Inspired by the Buffet Louis XIII style, the Louis XIV model behind Buffet Baroque is more aesthetic and artistic. Manufactured by a competent craftsman, who himself gave his name to his technique, the furniture of the time was made by an original type of marquetry from specific materials.
There is a lot of furniture style on sale at unbeatable prices, in two-body buffet or in a row. Some regions specialized in this style of furniture such as the Loire Valley.
The old Louis XIV buffets
The Louis XIV buffet uses exclusively imported walnut, beech, oak, exotic wood, Asian and African woods. Furniture in this style is decorated with classic techniques of marquetry, veneer, leaf gilding... Solid wood and marble adorn the Louis XIV-style cabinet.
Many pieces of furniture from this period were made, like so many others, of solid wood, specifically oak, walnut or marble.
A perfection is distinguished in the craftsmanship by the craftsman André-Charles Boulle and by assimilating the style of Le Brun. The cabinetry work on the furniture of the time was traditional, but of a height of furniture of the royal houses.
The styles of buffets that followed
Many styles have followed the buffets Louis XIV or even called the regency style. Following this style was born the history of decorative art, known as rockery or rococo. Remarkably lighter, these furniture are more ornate and traditional.
The most well-known furniture and arguably the Louis XV, it is distinguished from the others by curved lines, and precious wooden marqueteries, the old Louis XV buffet is also a good idea if you buy a piece of furniture to restore.
The most well-crafted furniture is drawer dressers, small table and several kinds of seats. Then comes the Transition and Louis XVI style. Different from the previous style, the furniture of this era is generally rougher. Both aspirant to the style of antiquity, but presenting more diversity in form and decoration.
Another transition is the Directoire style that unites the previous style, the Louis XVI style and the style that will follow, namely the Empire style. Quality has been a major business for this style. Indeed, wood is the main material of the furniture, because being much apparent, it had to be impeccable and of superior quality.
Then comes the Art Nouveau style, which is based on the aesthetics of the curved lines. Like all styles that preceded it, modernism finally came, which removed ornamentation and introduced new forms of decoration.
How to recognize the Louis XIV style?
The Louis XIV style is characterized by furniture made of solid wood. The Louis XIV style stands out from the influence of other surrounding countries to be the first true authentic French style.
Furniture from that time was more focused on carving and shooting wood. With a foot perfectly turned in torsos, rosary or balustre, the furniture of the Louis XIV style had a rarer motif, such as the heads of lions, molosses or bodices of women.
Made of solid wood, the buffet, the wardrobe, the cabinet... are sculpted with refinement. Generally the diamond-tipped model or the Maltese cross on the Louis XIV style furniture.