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19TH CENTURY GERMANY EMPIRE FURNITURE

ROYAL INFLUENCES
It was the Bonapartes themselves who really made Empire furniture fashionable in Germany. The Emperor’s brother, Jerome Bonaparte, became King of Westphalia in 1810, and he furnished the Schloss Wilhelmshohe with Empire-style pieces. These included pieces ordered from Georges Jacob-Desmalter (see p.201), and an imposing desk which was decorated with marble reliefs designed by
Friedrich Wichmann. In 1806, Napoleon had a suite of Empire furniture made for his Resident at Wurzburg, Franconia. These pieces were inspired by the work of French architects Percier and Fontaine, whose work Napoleon favoured. Their ISO] pattern book, Recueil de decorations interieurs comprenant tout ce qui a rapport a l`ameublement, was well received and highly influential in Germany, inspiring local craftsmen to produce their own publications.
WHEN NAPOLEON BONAPARTE became
ruler of Germany in 1806 he brought the Empire style to the region. Germany and Austria retained
close stylistic links with France, as many German
craftsmen trained and worked in Paris, and became familiar with the Empire style. The grand, Classical motifs
used in Empire style furniture, including eagles, mythical creatures, laurel
Gift bronze embellishes the interior fittings.
VIENNESE SECRETAIRE
This exquisite secretaire is made of fruitwood and mahogany. It has a lyre-shaped case which is decorated with partial inlay and gilding. The case has a single arched pediment, flanked on either side by gilded Classical figures. A rectangular, fall-front writing surface opens to reveal a fitted interior with an
arrangement of drawers and arched compartments, luxuriously decorated with gilt bronze. The lower section of the secretaire consists of two graduated drawers which are decorated to give the appearance of the strings of a lyre. The whole piece is raised on a rectangular plinth which is supported on carved paw feet. c.1807.
Fall-front writing surface
The body of the desk is modelled on a lyre.
The applied bronze decoration includes gilded stars and lion’s heads.
A rectangular plinth supports the piece.
Carved paw feet
VIENNESE GUERIDON
This mahogany-veneered and partially carved gueridon has an overhanging table top with a gilt-edged round frieze below. The three tapering legs are topped by lions’ heads and terminate in a tripartite base with paw feet. c.1810
BEECHWOOD CHAIR
This chair has a scrolled back and rose-coloured upholstery on both the back and seat. The chair has tapering front legs and cabriole back legs. The design is attributed to Leo von Klenze and the chair is thought to have come from the Resident in Munich. c.1818.
GERMAN INTERPRETATIONS German furniture was often larger and grander than its French Empire equivalents. Locally-produced pieces tended to have heavy columns and be rigidly symmetrical.
Empire furniture was predominantly a style for the nobility and was soon adopted by the rulers of the monarchies and princedoms that made up the German Confederation after the Vienna Congress in 1815. These rulers showed off their power by building new castles or by lavishly refurbishing existing ones, and the exuberant interiors of the palaces were designed in the Empire style.
Anterooms and throne rooms were furnished with gilded Empire pieces. Gifted court cabinet-makers produced various ensembles with matching sofa tables and console tables based on French designs or adapted from the fashion magazines that were popular at the time. Private rooms were furnished with mahogany pieces ornamented with gilt-bronze mounts. Decorative motifs were influenced by those of ancient Egypt.
Seating furniture was also directly inspired by the designs of the ancient world. The influence of the Greek Klismos chair, for example, can be seen in the chairs designed by Leo von
Klenze, who worked for the Bavarian King Ludwig I in Munich and whose Neoclassical buildings form much of the city of Munich today.
VIENNESE DESIGN
Vienna was a leading centre for the production of furniture. It was here that some of the most inventive designs were developed, including the lyre-secretaire, which often took on unusual shapes. Unlike the designers and craftsmen working in the German
states, Viennese designers favoured the striking contrast of ebonized wood and gilt bronze and created finely cast and chased gilt bronze mounts that equalled the work of French craftsmen.
One of the most gifted Viennese cabinet-makers was Josef Ulrich Danhauser. He ran the first Viennese furniture manufacturers, from 1804 until his death in 1829, and made his name by decorating his furniture with wood paste moulded to look like expensive bronzes.
This table has a rectangular top with rounded corners, which rests above a single frieze drawer. The piece is raised on sharply tapering, square-section legs. c.1810. H:77crn
AUSTRIAN CHERRY WOOD TABLE
KARL FRIEDRICH SCHINKEL (1781-1841)
THE MOST INFLUENTIAL GERMAN MASTER-BUILDER OF THE EARLY 19th CENTURY,
SCHINKEI_ WAS ALSO A CITY PLANNER AND ARTIST, AND A FAMOUS FURNITURE DESIGNER.
Karl Friedrich Schinkel was born near Berlin, and originally trained as an architect as one of the first students at the new Berlin Bouakademie. He studied under the architect Friedrich Gilly, whose plans for a monument to Frederick the Great of Prussia greatly inspired the young Schinkel.
He travelled to France and Italy, and was influenced by the Classical-style architecture and furnishings he saw. His theory was that new designs should draw on the ancient world for inspiration, rather than slavishly recreate it. On his return to Germany, he worked for the Prussian state, including working as a
stage designer for the National Theatre.
One of Schinkels earliest works was a bed with bedside table, designed for Queen Louise for the Charlottenburg castle in Berlin. His use of light-coloured veneers anticipated the Biedermeier style (see pp.216-17). He was not
afraid to experiment with shape and created pieces designed for specific places within a room. Typical Schinkel designs are for architectural secretaires and comfortable armchairs. His publication Vorbilder fur Fabrihanten and Handwerker (Role Models for Makers and Craftsmen) in 1835 had a widespread influence. In later years, Schinkels work drew less on the
Neoclassical style, and more on the designs of the Renaissance.
Schinkel armchair This generously upholstered armchair has a curvaceous frame with a high backrest and is decorated with motifs from the ancient world.
Schinkel in Naples This oil painting, by Franz Louis Catel, shows Karl Friedrich Schinkel in Naples in 1824 during his second Italian journey. 1824
This rectilinear commode is made from mahogany veneered with maple. It has canted corners and three drawers with ebony stringing. The commode is supported on square, tapering legs. Early 19th century.

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Qing after 1800
During the Qianlong reign period (1736-95) the directorship of the imperial kilns passed from imperial officials to regional supervisors, and from that time there followed a slow decline in the quality of wares from Jingdezhen in Jiangxi Province. While some fine pieces continued to be made, there was a general tendency to over-elaborate in both form and decoration.
BODY AND GLAZE
The changes in the quality of the material were gradual and, when wares are unmarked, it can be very difficult to distinguish between one reign period and another. The dragon and phoenix wucai bowls, which were first made during the Kangxi reign period (1622-1722), continued to be made right into the 19th century and are a good example of the problem; their smooth bluish-white glaze and neatly drawn enamelling are virtually the same whether they are from the Qianlong or the Jigging reign periods (1736-1820). Without reference to the seal marks, most specialists would be hard put to tell the difference.
There was, however, a perceptible decline in quality during the Daoguang reign period (1821-50), and the inferior quality persisted to the end of the dynasty. The cool and lustrous glaze gave way to a grainy off-white, while the enamels were duller or harsher than their
brilliant predecessors. The decoration of enamelled porcelains was arranged in a crowded or ineffective manner, with over-complicated colour combinations.
STYLES, SHAPES, AND DECORATIVE THEMES The porcelains that had been produced in the 18th century continued to be made in the 19th. They included Ming-style blue-and-white wares such as moon flasks and pear-shaped bottles, as well as large saucer dishes. Likewise, monochromes continued to be produced, notably sang-de-boeuf red, “peachbloom”, and yellow. There were also artistic innovations, among them the production of “medallion” bowls.
• GLAZE marked deterioration in quality from the Daoguang period; “European-green” turquoise wash appears on the inside of many vessels
• DECORATION tendency to over-elaborate, complicated colour schemes and overcrowding; greater use of gilding; introduction of “medallion” bowls and “rice-grain” pierced wares; use of show and other auspicious characters; heavy use of enamels
Reign marks
Reign marks were inscribed on most 19th-and 20th-century domestic, imperial, and export porcelain; the mark shown here is in conventional script for the Guangxu reign period (1875-1908)

Storage furniture
The earliest movable storage furniture was the hollowed-out log, and these primitive beginnings are still evoked by the name “trunk” for a travelling container. During the medieval period simple chests and coffers were employed as containers for a wide variety of objects ranging from textiles to musical instruments. However, such chests were not the most convenient form of storage, and as furniture-making techniques became more sophisticated during the 17th century, the chest-of-drawers evolved, as did other forms of furniture designed for storing specific objects such as books, linen, of clothing, or, in the very grandest examples, purely for the ostentatious display of wealth.
Chests and coffers
As the main storage furniture of the medieval period, chests were made in large numbers for all kinds of purposes. Chests are containers with flat, hinged lids; they usually have feet but no handles. They were designed for storage inside buildings, their feet keeping the contents clear of damp floors. Coffers are generally travelling trunks without feet that may have carrying handles and a domed lids. From the 13th century chests were produced by the joiner, and coffers by the cofferer, who was primarily a leather worker; coffin-making was another of his tasks.
A Cassone.
Cassoni were important items of furniture in the Renaissance Italian palace Many, such as this walnut example, reflect Classical inspiration in their sarcophagus form and decoration The base was made in the 16th century, the feet, bottom panel, and part of the lid are of a later date.
EARLY CASSONI
In terms of domestic purposes, the Italian cassone has special significance: often, but not always, a marriage piece. Some cassoni were embellished with intricate inlay (intarsia) in different woods, while others were finely painted with figurative or mythological subjects or covered in designs in pastiglia, a technique where gesso was laid onto the surface, pressed or modelled into relief patterns, and then painted and gilded. Some of the richest 16th-century cassoni were of carved and polished wood, decorated with Mannerist designs. Important marriage cassoni were often made in pairs and decorated with heraldic devices and other symbols of the respective families. Further down the social scale, cassoni were used to hold the linen, clothing, and household textiles that constituted a dowry. Some were carved with the initials of the bride and groom and the date, and were handed down.
The low-relief carving on the frieze and front panels on the oak-panelled chest is typical
of the huge numbers of chests made in various parts of Britain during the 17th and 18th centuries. Many carved patterns have strong regional associations, however, many were added during the 19th century.
WOODS AND CONSTRUCTION
Oak was mainly used for chests in northern Europe, while walnut was used further south. Pine was probably used much more than surviving examples would suggest; being subject to woodworm and rot, pro-19th-century pine chests are rare. Aromatic cypress and cedarwood was
proof against moths and other insects, and was therefore used in chests intended for clothes and textiles, particularly in northern Italy and the southern alpine regions. Ash and lime were used, notably in southern Germany and Switzerland; chestnut and walnut in southern France. Sometimes more than one type of timber was employed in a single piece.
A simple chest consists of six planks nailed or rudimentarily dovetailed together, with the vertical “slab” ends shaped at the bottom to form feet. Another kind of boarded chest was the hutch, from the French huche (chest). In this form the horizontal planks of the front and back are housed at either end in wide vertical members (stiles), which extend downward as the feet. Hutch chests thus have their feet at the front and back,
The top of the German oak coffer indicates this type of furniture’s origins as a travelling trunk, the domed shape could throw off the rain or sea-spray better than a flat top. Wooden coffers were replaced by smaller, lighter leather-bound travelling trunks. The raised cartouche panel is typical of the type made between the 17th and 19th century. It may have been a marriage piece, and the inscription reads “JOHANN … MU … ANNO 1772″, which may have been added at a later date.
Storage furniture
unlike slab-ended chests with feet at the sides. Some chests of such housed or “clamped-front” construction have framing at the sides, and simple chip-carved decoration on the front. This form survived for high-quality chests in parts of Germany until the 18th century, by which time panelled construction was being used in most of Europe.
Chests of framed and panelled construction were developed during the 15th century, and by the 16th were produced in considerable quantities. Oak chests of the 17th and 18th centuries, and the large numbers of 19th-century reproductions of them, are most often of this type. The front and sides of a panelled chest consist of top and bottom horizontal rails united by vertical bars (muntins), with vertical stiles at each end. In most examples the stiles continue downward to form the feet. The panels, which were of thinner wood and slightly chamfered at the edges, were designed to slide into grooves in this framework, which was fastened together with mortises and tenons secured by wooden dowels. Lids were either panelled, like the front but without carved decoration, or composed of planks jointed together, some with cleated ends. Inside, many of these chests were fitted with a small compartment, or “till”, which might be lockable for valuables.
DECORATION
While carving was prevalent, inlays of contrasting woods, bone, or mother-of-pearl were not unusual. The most elaborate inlays were applied to the so-called “Nonsuch” chests made in Germany and the Low Countries, or by German and Flemish craftsmen working in England in the late 16th and the 17th century. They are distinctive for their patterned architectural inlays filled with vistas of turreted buildings in an intricate mosaic of coloured woods. Pine chests were usually painted, particularly in Scandinavia, eastern Europe, Switzerland, and Austria; the mainly floral patterns varied from one region to another. Painted pine became popular in England during the 19th century-, but decorative treatments were restrained, and mainly confined to simulations of timber or marble.
The carved decoration imitating pleated fabric, known as linenfold, was used for the panels of many chests. Formalized plants, geometrical patterns, and strapwork and low-relief arcading were other favourite designs for panels and training. High-relief carving, particularly of figurative subjects, appeared on some northern European chests during the medieval and Renaissance periods.
THE PENNSYLVANIA DUTCH OR GERMAN STYLE
“Dutch” was a general term used in Pennsylvania for all Central European settlers who came to the region in the late 17th century from European villages ravaged by the Thirty Years War (1618-48). Rural settlers continued to use Germanic construction such as wedged dovetails, and also to paint their walnut, pine, or poplar furniture with decoration and the names and dates of their owner. The flat-top blanket chest became the most common piece of furniture in these households, often given to a young girl or boy to store their belongings. Rural communities developed their own styles, and regional differences are based on idiosyncratic construction and painted decoration: in Lancaster County there were three arched panels divided by pilasters; unicorns were painted on chests from Berks County, while stencilled designs were applied to those made around the area of Schwaben Creek in Northumberland County.
• COLLECTING chests were usually made of oak; after generations of wear and polishing, many examples have developed rich dark patinas; plain plank chests were of the slab-ended type; decoration was minimal, with scratch- or chip-carving; pre-16th-century furniture is usually heavy, and unaltered examples are very rare.
• BEWARE decorative panels, sometimes taken from other pieces of furniture (e.g. beds, linen-presses, and wall panelling), were often “recycled” during the 19th century when vast quantities of traditional oak panelled chests were produced using both old and new timbers; many plain old chests were “improved” with chiselled or chip-carved decoration, or were inscribed with spurious dates and initials; such pieces are now antiques in their own right, but should be distinguished from wholly genuine 17th- and 18th-century (or earlier) pieces; feet have been frequently replaced –these were often detached during transportation.