THE ROCAILLE TYPE OF ORNAMENT

and Spanish design; plate 62 shows the marked similarity of designin a contemporary Italian fabric.

Such distinctive patterns as those designed by the Huguenot,Daniel Marot (1655-1720), are characteristic of the later fabrics ofthe period of Louis Quatorze. Marot designed much in France untilthe revocation of the Edict of Nantes (1685). His designs (plate65), though showing some caprice in arrangement, retained some

of the Eastern traditions in the decorativetreatment of floral forms. Pierre, son ofJean le Pautre, and Jean B^rain were alsoprolific designers of this period, and theyprobably contributed many designs forpatterned fabrics corresponding to theirschemes of decoration.

With the death of Louis XIV. the artsentered upon a new phase under theregency of Philip, Duke of Orleans(1715-23). Among a number of de-corative artists, three, Francois Cuvilli£s,Jean Aur£le Meissonier, and AntoineWatteau, exercised much influence uponthe decorative arts of this period.Watteau, who was a talented artist ofpastoral figure subjects, designed muchdecorative work of a delicate and gracefulcharacter reminiscent of Pompeian paint-ing. Cuvilli&s and Meissonier, however,introduced and largely used the Rocailletype of ornament, which remained so char-acteristic a feature of the decorative artsduring the regency, and right through thereign of Louis XV. (171 5—74). Duringthis period, the rocaille , or rock and shellwork (fig. 40), with its restlessness of lineand mass, was used chiefly for relief and painted ornament, and itsinfluence was but little felt in the patterning of woven fabrics ; but thenaturalistic treatment of flowers, which was also associated with therocaille relief work, was in brocaded fabrics elaborated and carried toan extraordinary degree of technical skill in pictorial representation,having a brilliancy and playfulness of treatment and colour, butlacking the reticence of design, beauty of contour and mass, and theperfect distribution of the Eastern and the earlier Lyonese patterns.Plate 68 is a representative example of the earlier flowered fabrics,

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Fig. 40.—Relief Ornament.Rocaille Period.