The arts in France flourished during the 17th and 18th centuries under the lavish patronage bestowed by the monarchs Louis XIV, XV and XVI. It was an epoch of unparalleled extravagance, when art for art's sake - and for the king - applied as the supreme credo.

An appreciation of French period furniture demands a certain sensibility; that of an amateur, in the eighteenth century sense of the word. Collectors who are prepared to spend a small fortune to acquire a Louis XIV armoire, Louis XV chiffonier or Louis XIV escritoire, acknowledge and admire that these pieces were crafted in a period that is unique in the history of art. Not since the irreversible tide of mass-production swept over late eighteenth century Europe, have the arts ever attained the same unqualified level of patronage which characterised the reign of the seventeenth and eighteenth century French monarchs.

"The artists and collectors attracted to the courts of Kings Louis XIV, XV and XVI were inspired by love of art. Not money or business, but by an appreciation of art for the sake of art, for love of art", says Frenchman Bill Pallot, right hand man to Didier Aaron, one of the most esteemed antique dealers and decorators in business today and specialist in French period furniture. "The French kings of this period patronised the arts, collected and admired art, with an appreciation which was unique. Style and elegance were elaborated into a new taste in art".

Pallot describes the period in French furniture which emerged in the seventeenth century as "the embodiment of good taste ... a reference art recognized by many other nations. It is also the definition of French excellence in this field, one that is constantly recognisable throughout the world". The furniture of this period was defined by "harmony between the shapes, the woods, the methods and artistry of execution, correspondent to a whole current of thinking".