The Rococo was a style in which the feminine element predominated, demonstrated in furniture in the supple and often sensuous curves, fragile appearance, and even terminology: duchesse (duchess) and sultane (sultana). Flowers decorated much of the wall-panelling and furniture of the period, and many rococo boiseries contain elaborate trompe d'oeils of garlands and sprays of flowers inhabited by tiny birds and animals, the direct descendants of the grotesque. The small scale of much of the furniture, particularly pieces designed for writing, almost precludes its use by a man, although, paradoxically, one of the finest creations of the period, Louis XV's own desk executed by Oeben and Riesener between 1760 and 1769 is large and surprisingly masculine.