ARMOIRE, the French name (cf. ALMERY) given to a tall movable cupboard, or "wardrobe," with one or more doors. It has varied considerably in shape and size, and the decoration of its doors and sides has faithfully represented mutations of fashion and modifications of use. It was originally exceedingly massive and found its chief decoration in elaborate hinges and locks of beaten iron. The finer ecclesiastical armoires or aumbries which have come down to us—used in churches for the safe custody of vestments, eucharistic vessels, reliquaries and other precious objects—are usually painted, sometimes even upon the interior, with sacred subjects or with incidents from the lives of the saints. By the end of the 14th century, when the carpenter and the wood carver had acquired a better mastery of their material, the taste for painted surfaces appears to have given place to the vogue of carving, and the rectangular panels gradually became sculptured with a simple motive, such as the linen-fold or parchment patterns. The 15th century armoire became less obviously and aggressively a thing of utility. Enriched with columns and pilasters, its panels carved with mythology, its canopied niches filled with sculptured statuettes, it was widely removed from the iron-mounted recep tacle of earlier generations. During the 16th century the armoire relapsed into plainness. By the middle of the i8th century it was found in every French house and throughout a considerable part of Europe. About the beginning of the 19th century the armoire developed into the wardrobe, now in general use as a piece of bedroom furniture (see WARDROBE) .