The Queen Anne style is characterized by delicacy, restrained decoration, and curvilinear forms. These curving lines are best seen in the cabriole leg, a new development of the period. Modeled after an animal's leg, the S-shaped cabriole leg gives furniture a more intimate, human quality than the massive turned legs of the William and Mary style. The cabriole leg is also extremely practical, the balance it achieves makes it possible to support heavy pieces of case furniture on slim legs, without the use of stretchers. Woods were richly finished and carved, walnut was most popular, along with cherry and maple, imported mahogany began to be favored toward 1750. An exotic foreign wood, mahogany, was introduced to America during the Queen Anne period. Of a rich brown hue and easily carved, it was an immediate favorite, however, because of its expense, most cabinetmakers continued to use native walnut and maple. The style relied heavily on beautiful woods and simple contours for its effect, and for that reason it found great favor with buyers of modest means. The emphasis was on quiet dignity, with no special tricks of turning or carving. Queen Anne furniture was lower and smaller in scale than that of previous styles, and it was markedly more comfortable. Richly polished wooden surfaces were either undecorated or embellished with simple shell- or fan-shaped carving