Ivory and Gold Leaf Louis XV Bedroom Set

An ivory-lacquered suite in the Louis XV manner, lifted throughout with gold leaf laid over the carving. The bed rises to a shaped, padded headboard framed in a scrolled crest, and its low footboard and cabriole legs carry the same gilded acanthus sprays. The dressing table is softly bombé in the front, with a shaped top, a recessed knee-hole and slim drawers to either side, crowned by a tall arched mirror whose gilded crest and side scrolls repeat the bed's ornament. The accompanying stool is generously overstuffed and finished in a fluted, channel-stitched fabric that sits warm against the pale frame.

Every scroll, shell and leaf is carved into solid timber by hand, sealed in ivory lacquer and then highlighted with gold leaf applied edge by edge so the relief catches the light rather than the flat surfaces. Handcrafted by Brass & Wood in Egypt, the suite is built for a bright principal bedroom where the walls are kept quiet and the furniture is allowed to speak: place the bed on the long wall, the dressing table where daylight falls across the mirror, and let the stool tuck neatly beneath it.

• Upholstered-headboard bed with carved and gilded crest
• Dressing table with drawers and a tall arched mirror
• Upholstered ottoman stool on carved cabriole legs