A
Acanthus: plant whose foliage is among the most widely used of all decorative motifs.

Alabaster: a fine-grained form of gypsum or limestone, white or reddish or yellowish white and translucent. It was used, cut into thin laminae, for church windows in the Middle Ages, notably in Italy, e.g. San Vitale, Ravenna.

Arabesque: scroll of flowers and foliage arranged without concern for symmetry.

Armoire: tall cupboard or wardrobe.

B
Bombé (French): literally, "blown out"; used to describe the bulging forms frequent in Louis XV case furniture.

Bureau (French): desk.

Burl: abnormal excrescence on a tree that produces mottled or speekled patterns in the wood, much prized in veneers.

C
Chute (French: "fall"): bronze fitting used to decorate the shoulders or knees of furniture legs, and occasionally furniture cases; there is no analogous generic term in English, although "pendant" is sometimes appropriate.

Column: cylinder-shaped support consisting of (bottom to top) a base, a shaft, and a capital; there were five orders, or types, of ancient columns: Doric, Ionic, Corinthian, Tuscan, and Composite.

Commode: literally, "comfortable" or " convenient"; chest of drawers, a furniture type introduced toward the end of the seventeenth century.

Console: ornamental bracket with a compound curved outline; the French also describe the supports of chair arms as consoles and large, freestanding tables as consoles de milieu. A console d'applique is a console table designed to be placed against the wall.

E
Ébéniste (French): furniture-maker specializing in luxury case furniture incorporating marquetry of various kinds (late seventeenth and eighteenth centuries).

Espagnolette: decorative motif consisting of a head and bust, usually female, emerging from a console, foliate, or fan motif; often used specifically to designate bronze fittings of this type on furniture corners (eighteenth century).

F
Floret: round, flower-like ornamental motif.

Foncer (French): French verb used to describe certain furniture surfaces. Examples: a cane-bottom chair is foncé de canne; a chair upholstered in leather is foncé de cuir.

Fret: 1) band of horizontal and vertical lines intersecting one another at right angles; the most common type is known as the meander or Greek key motif; 2) lozenge marquetry patterns.

G
Gargoyle: A water spout projecting from a roof, or the PARAPET of a wall or tower, and carved into a grotesque figure, human or animal.

L
Lacquer: a colored resin applied to objects, paneling, furniture, etc; by extension, objects coated with this resin.

M
Maté (French): in silverware, an unpolished area left matte or dull.

Medallion: a round or oval decorative element containing a moitf; by extension, a round or oval chair back.

Molding: a long ornamental element, either projecting or recessed, of continuous profile (flat, round, concave, convex, etc.). According to type, many have specific names: torus, cavetto, ove, cyma recta, cyma reversa, etc. In metalwork and furniture, each style has its own characteristic moldings.

P
Poufs (ottomans): were extremely fashionable. Two types were especially prevalent: 1) entirely stuffed, with a skirt hiding the legs; 2) with an upholstered seat supported by four short wooden legs, reinforced by an X-stretcher, carved to resemble cord, bamboo, or rockwood.

R
Rosette: ornamental motif in the shape of a star or rose.

S
Servante (French): a kind of commode (chest of drawers) resembling a pantry table meant to be set against the wall; ancestor of the modern dessert table.


from "French Furniture from Louis XIII to Art Deco", edited by Sylvie Chadenet

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