Canapé (furniture) Frequently matching chairs were made to go with it. Precious hardwoods such as walnut, cherry, and mahogany were often used in its construction. Currently the term is used in world furniture design and retail as a variation on "sofa", except when antiques or reproductions of 18th century designs are concerned. Canapé (furniture) A canapé is a piece of furniture similar to a couch, and is meant to describe an elegant sofa made out of elaborately carved wood with wooden legs, and upholstered seats, back, and armrests that seats three, that emerged from France in the 18th century. A style created
18th-century French literature the originality and importance of their ideas and for their literary talent; writers such as Voltaire, Rousseau, Montesquieu, Diderot and Beaumarchais, whose ideas are still quoted today. They used their novels and plays as weapons which profoundly changed their society, while expressing their own personalities and feelings. Thanks largely to these writers, in the 18th century French became the language of culture, political and social reform all across Europe, and as far away as America and Russia. 18th-century French literature 18th-century French literature is French literature written between 1715, the year of the death of King Louis XIV of France,