Panel, 18th century, 21 3/8 x 22 1/2 in. (54.28 x 57.15 cm), Silk, metallic threads, France, 18th century, In eighteenth century France, the interior of a residence actually became far more important than the exterior because it reflected the social standing of its owner. Reception rooms were decorated with carved wall paneling, and tall windows were draped with heavy silk curtains. This silk panel, woven with an exotic floral design, likely was part of a drapery. During the early 1730s increasingly naturalistic designs were introduced, made possible by the shading technique, point rentré, invented by the designer Jean Revel (1684-1751). A gradual variation in tonalities was achieved by interpenetrating two different adjacent colors.