This technique serves two functions: to protect the wood and improve its appearance. In the 18th Century, most case pieces had a wax finish. Only the finest works would have been varnished. In his 1772 work, Art du peintre, doreur, varnisseur, Watin wrote that one ‘rarely varnishes cabinet furniture, rather one just rubs it with wax’. Roubo says that ‘if rubbed wax isn’t used and the value of a work is such that the expense is justified, then fine varnish is used’. In his Traité des vernis, written in 1723, Bonnami describes the formula and practice of applying it with a brush made of badger hair. It is probably only in the very early 19th Century that the method of French polish - varnish au tampon - used today was first put into practice. It involves a base of gum lacquer dissolved in alcohol.