ABSTRACT
Before the period of the “Renaissance” but little Art had been applied inside the house; of that little a few pieces remain to the reader scattered here and there. The truth is, and it is apparent, that man is constantly and always at war with Nature. Nature furnishes the raw materials for life, and it remains for man to clutch them and fashion them if he has the strength to do it. Principles are perhaps of less value than examples in treating the subject the people have in hand; and in this paper they propose to give some examples of styles which are in opposition to what may be called a florid way of treating wood. As luxury and elaborate festivals came to prevail, the dressoir grew in importance, and in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance time its form indicated the rank of the owner.
