Which Louis Are You?

Can you spot the difference between a Louis the XV and a Louis the XVI chair? It's quite simple actually. Louis XV is curvy and feminine. Look at the delicately curved cabriole-legs, and the feminine curves of the back. This is also known as Rococo style...

I have two of these chairs in my girls' bedroom, also gold leafed, but in green silk. I love them. My younger daughter, the modern one, just asked me if she could re-do the chair if she moves out of her shared bedroom. I told her she can get new chairs and just leave this pair alone and she said, no, she really liked this one but just wanted it redone- "I want the gold part painted white and I want it to be purple"!  I must say, at 7 years old,  she's got her style down pat and even knows how to rework a classic!

Rococo is from the French word for "shell", so the shell motifs abound in other furniture of that era too, like these mirrors. I love them and I want one of them!

A Louis XVI is neo-classical. This is the time when design started going back to the classic design of Greek times. The curvy feminine lines are gone and now replaced by straight lines. Look at the legs on this chair. This is  Louis XVI chair.

Straight fluted legs.

I have 5 of these in my living room.  I totally love them and love them more each time I see them.

Now, the first Louis (in furniture design that is..) Louis XIV comes before  Rococo-- heavy-set--paw legs, etc. I don't really care for this design and era so I don't have any chairs that are in the Louis XIV style. Oh, I actually do, but I don't like it anymore so I'm selling it. Actually it is quite nice and I bought it more than 20 years ago. I don't have the space for it anymore and I realize I'm a rococo and neo-classical sort of gal.

This divan is for sale. Delivery in Metromanila only or pick up okay.