French Country · Encyclopedia of objects
The Cabinetmakers' Work
Regional joiners adapted Paris fashions, such as the Louis XV style, long after they had left the capital, and invented clever furniture for country kitchens. (Le travail des ébénistes)
Breton armchair (chaise à bras)
Côtes-d'Armor · walnut
In Brittany this sturdy armchair with a worked back and curved arms is called a chaise à bras. It has a hidden storage space in its side. One back leg was originally shorter so it could rest on the hearthstone, letting the sitter sit very close to the fire.
Flour box (farinière, « farinaïo »)
Provence · carved wood
It looks like a decorated box and stood upright when not in use. Laid flat, it was filled with flour through a sliding door; fish was put in to be floured and the whole box was shaken. Common until the mid-nineteenth century, it was carved like the bread box and salt boxes.
Alsatian chair (siège alsacien)
Alsace · 17th-century decoration
A narrow chair with splayed legs that completed the benches round the table without taking much room. The heart that lightens its back is common in Alsatian folk art and does not always mean marriage. The central decoration is dated by an inscription to the seventeenth century.
Hanging cutlery rack (porte-couverts)
Central Brittany · turned wood, oak
Made of turned uprights set between oak slats, these racks hung above the table. A cord on a pulley let them be lowered at mealtimes. They are rare today.
Longcase clock (horloge)
Lorraine · oak and walnut
This clock has a doubly violin-shaped case in three parts with a marquetry panel typical of eastern France. Movements for clocks around Nancy usually came from Nomény in the duchy of Lorraine, those of the Moselle from Holland, and those of the Vosges from Franche-Comté or Switzerland.
Salt box (boîte à sel)
South and Southeast
Salt boxes are found in many regions. The largest, on feet, is from Arles; the smallest from the hills behind Nice; one engraved with rosettes is typical of the Alps. An old salt box is recognised by its inside, whitened and furry with use.
Provençal bread box (panetière)
Provence · walnut and cherry
From the eighteenth century one of the finest carved pieces of Provence. The household's bread was kept in it. It was first set on top of the kneading trough, which is why it has feet, and it kept them when it later moved to the wall.
Burgundy sideboard (buffet bourguignon)
Burgundy
Provincial sideboards share a family look but each has a style of its own. This small, sober Burgundian buffet has the fluting typical of the province at its center.
Cévennes bread cupboard (armoire des Cévennes)
Cévennes · walnut
Carved hearts are well known on the fruitwood armoires of Alsace, Normandy, the Vendée and Provence. Here the hearts are cut out and ringed with holes to ventilate the upper part, where bread was kept.
Shepherd's settle-table (banc-table)
Pyrenees · fir
Blackened by years beside the fire, this bench stood at the corner of the hearth with its back to the door. Its high back kept off the cold, and at mealtimes a flap folded down to make a table.
Source: Les Trésors de France: vieux métiers et objets d'autrefois (Éditions Rustica, Détours en France collection, 1995), pp. 124–129. Descriptions summarize the book's reportage and captions; the book was published in 1995, so workshops, people, prices and figures are described as the reporters found them then, and some workshops may since have closed or changed hands.