The word Rococo is seen as a combination of the French rocaille, or shell, and the Italian barocco, or Baroque style. The Rococo style superseded the Baroque style beginning in France in the late 1720s, especially for interiors, paintings and the decorative arts. Rich Baroque designs were giving way to lighter elements with more curves and natural patterns. The delicacy and playfulness of Rococo designs is often seen as a reaction to the excesses of Louis XIV's regime. The 1730s represented the height of Rococo development in France. The style had spread beyond architecture and furniture to painting and sculpture. Rococo still maintained the Baroque taste for complex forms and intricate patterns. By this point, it had begun to integrate a variety of diverse characteristics, including a taste for Oriental designs and asymmetric compositions.