Regency- (1715-1723)

Historically, the term Regency refers to the period in which Phillipe II, Duke of Orleans, acted as Regent until Louis XV was old enough to ascend to the throne. Stylistically, the term Regency is used for frames in which the characteristics of Louis XIV and Louis XV are combined. The final incarnation of the Baroque carved-leaf frame is this Regency style; and it is simultaneously Rococo in embryo. Regency was a short, but colorful, period of metamorphoses in which the formalities and design restraint of Louis XIV frames was transposed by even further extensions of cartouches; both toward the sight edge and beyond the rectangular perimeter. It unfolded as a recognizably logical and graceful transitional statement. In some instances, the carving is confined within the outer rectangle in a very conservative way. In others, the naturalistic carving of shells and foliage seems to grow over rectilinear boundaries and expand into a more ornamental silhouette. At times the corner carvings of the latter almost appear to have been applied to the moulding rather than being an organic part of them. A conspicuous attempt toward suppressing an indication of the basic form emerges here, thus introducing the transition toward sculpted architecture.

Among the ornamental forms of Regency, geometric and symmetric ribbon decoration is a commonly repeated technique. During this period, it is notable that frame makers began to emerge from their anonymity and to sign their work. It was in the Grande luxe frames of the late Louis XIV and Regency that a peak of the art was reached. The stages of making a frame multiplied and meshed the talents of the diverse master craftsmen. The carpenter made the rough body of a luxury frame, but the carving was done by a sculptor. Gesso was applied in many thin layers; when it had hardened, a répareur recut it to make the ornaments stand out in sharp and minute detail, adding cross-hatching, leaf veins, punch work, etc. Sand might also be applied to the gesso in the front frieze, thereby helping to separate visually the sight-edge carving from the textured body of the frame. After the application of a red and/or yellow bole as a ground tone for the gold, water gilding followed. Selective parcel burnishing produced still greater definition, illumination and splendor. Such virtuosity of work allowed for the subsequent development of Louis XV Rococo fantasy.