or the first half of the 18th century, French furniture was at its shapeliest. Chairs were supported by curved cabriole legs, while commodes, or chest of drawers, usually had rounded forms, in keeping with that era’s preference for the lyrical rococo style. But after decades of furniture makers and their patrons being in thrall of the S curve, the defining feature of rococo design, tastes began to flatten out, so to speak.
