candle-sticks, baskets, vessels for liqueurs, silver perfuming pans.
Windows were draped with silver brocade worked in gold thread, with
Venetian silks and satins, or embroideries from the Gobelin studios.
On the floors, originally of marble, were spread carpets woven in
designs symbolical of kingly power.

The Throne Room known as the Salon of Apollo--the seat of the Sun
King--was of the utmost richness. The throne itself was of silver and
stood eight feet high. Tapestries represented scenes of splendor in
the life of Louis the Great and on the walls were masterpieces by
Italian artists of the first rank, which were later deemed worthy of a
place in the Louvre. Much of the treasure vanished in the years
1689-1690 when the King was constrained to raise money for his depleted
treasury. In December, 1682, the _Mercure Galant_, desirous of
pleasing its readers, always avid of details about everything that
concerned their King, published a long description of the furnishings
of the State Apartments--the velvet hangings, the marble walls enriched
with gold relief, the chimney-pieces bossed with silver.

Yet the glory of these apartments was outdone by the later achievements
of architect and decorators in the Salons of War and Peace and the Hall
of Mirrors that joins them. In the cupola of the Salon of War the
great Lebrun painted an allegorical picture of France hurling
thunderbolts and carrying a shield blazoned with the portrait of King
Louis, while Bellona, Spain, Holland and Germany are shown crouching in
awe. The colored marbles of the walls contrasted brilliantly with
gilded copper bas-reliefs. Six portraits of Roman emperors contributed
to the impressiveness of the Salon, and on the wall was a stucco relief
of the King of France on horseback, clad like a Roman. The Salon of
Peace was also decorated by Lebrun's adept brush. A ceiling piece