Posts Tagged ‘ny’

BIEDERMEIER FURNITURE

THE TERM “BIEDERMEIER” covers the wide spectrum of simple, Classical, handcrafted, functional furniture made between 1805 and 1850, which was made at the same time as furniture in the Empire style (see p.212). While the nobility furnished their formal rooms with Empire furniture, the more
private parts of their houses and mansions were furnished in the Biedermeier style, which was favoured by the wealthy middle classes in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Scandinavia.
Political unrest in the German states in the early 19th century created a general feeling of uncertainty and increasing poverty. As a result, people withdrew into the privacy of their own homes, and the middle classes in particular began to take an increasing interest in furnishings.
MODEST STYLE
Biedermeier furniture typically had straight lines and lacked decorative carvings. Motifs inspired by Classical designs, such as columns, gables, egg and dart, and bead and reel details
were all popular.
The cupboard door is decorated with an arched panel.
From about 1830, designs incorporated scrolled forms: chairs often had splayed legs, sofas had arched backs, and moulded cornices were used as ornament for writing cabinets.
POPULAR WOODS
The most fashionable woods for Biedermeier furniture were mahogany which was imported and, therefore, rather too expensive for this essentially middle-class style, and also less costly local woods such as walnut, cherry,
pear, birch, and ash, combined with dark elm and thuyawood. The grain of the wood was the most important decorative feature. The natural grain of the veneer was emphasized with various pyramidal or fountain-like shapes. Root veneers of acorn, burr-walnut, and elm were also popular because of their varied colour and attractive markings. Darker woods were frequently used as borders around diamond-shaped keyholes, block feet, or cornices.
RESTRAINED INTERIORS Biedermeier interiors were modestly furnished, and the emphasis was on practicality and comfort, rather than decoration. The furniture was moderate in size, rounded in shape, comfortable, and homely.
Many pieces had a counterpart –another piece that was similar in size – to balance the furnishing of the room. The secretaire with a fall front and the blender, which looked like an imitation secretaire, but was
A typical Biedermeier living room, c.1820-30
This simple Saxon living room is typical of a modest townhouse of the period. The living room was the social centre of the home, and great care was taken with the arrangement of the furniture.
designed for use as a linen press or wardrobe, were very common styles.
An overall colour scheme was a prominent feature of Biedermeier interiors and frequently light-coloured upholstery, curtains, and woods were chosen to create a homely interior with an integrated sense of design.
The advances in manufacturing that occurred during this period did not have much impact until the second half of the century, so early Biedermeier furniture was visibly hand-made. Upholstery was generally flat and square, made of silk or horsehair, and wooden surfaces were simply planed and polished with oil.
By the mid 19th century, the style was seen as comfortable but rather dowdy, and was given the name Biedertmeier, a satirical term that meant “the decent common man”. The name was originally used in a German publication for a fictional middle-class character, and was not intended to be particularly flattering.
The style gradually began to decline in popularity and it was only at the beginning of the 20th century that this negative evaluation began to fade, and Biedermeier-style furniture once again became much sought after. This led in turn to the style being widely copied.
BIEDERMEIER DINING CHAIRS
These chairs are made of solid walnut wood and walnut veneer. The backs are balloon-shaped and have double baluster splats and a shaped top rail. The tapered, upholstered seats are typical of the period and sit above sabre
legs. The chairs are upholstered with a Neoclassical-style striped fabric, probably the original fabric, that is decorated with flowers. 1820
BIEDERMEIER WRITING CABINET
Covered entirely in cherry-wood veneer, this impressive writing cabinet has a fall front that opens to reveal a fitted interior. The inner compartment consists of 11 small drawers flanking a central tabernacle. The lower portion
of the cabinet consists of three large drawers set on simple bracket feet. This practical piece embodies the Biedermeier ethos of comfort and convenience and would have been used in the sitting room, which was the focal point of the home. c.1820.
Pigeonholes provide storage space for letters.
The interior drawers have Ivory handles.
The fall front opens to forma writing surface.
The bottom part of the cabinet is made up of three drawers.
BIEDERMEIER SOFA
The frame of this elegant sofa is scroll-shaped with a slightly raised back. The shape takes its inspiration from Classical pieces, and is typical of the simple, geometric design that was favoured by Biedermeier designers. Ornate carvings and
decoration were not part of the Biedermeier style. The sofa is veneered in cherry wood, which has been blackened in places, using a simple inlay of ebony to accent the flat surface of the wood. The upholstered seat
is coil-sprung for comfort. c.1825.
BIEDERMEIER WALL MIRROR
This mirror frame is architectural in style and is decorated with cherry veneer. The ebonized columns are edged by gilded bases and capitals, which support a Classical-style cornice and pediment. The central mount shows the goddess Diana. 1820 30
BIEDERMEIER WALNUT-VENEERED COMMODE
This commode has a top with an ebonized border above a frieze drawer. A further two recessed drawers are flanked by turned, ebonized columns with gilded Corinthian capitals and feet. The middle drawer is decorated with floral and figural details. 1820 30.
BIEDERMEIER GLAZED CABINET
This birch-veneered cabinet was made in Berlin and has a stepped pediment with a flat top. The oval glazed door panel is decorated with fine wooden spokes emanating from a central sun motif. At the base of the cabinet there is a single drawer with a lock. c.1820.
BIEDERMEIER DINING TABLE
Made in southern Germany, this simple dining table is veneered in cherry wood with a star pattern on the table top. Some of the veneer is blackened to add visual interest. The single pedestal terminates in a tripartite base.
c.1830.

see also biedermeier art  deco desk kidney shape
biedermeier art deco desk bureau
biedermeier bedside commode chest
biedermeier furniture swedish drop front desk
biedermeier glass kaendler
biedermeier love seat sweden
biedermeier reproduction desk
biedermeier style doors
biedermeir interiors

authentic biedermeier mouldings

antiques clock index vienna biedermeier

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.

empire antique hall bench
empire bohemia china
empire bureau mahogany
empire chair reproduction claw foot
empire chairs with brass  feet
empire chairs with lions paw brass  feet
empire chamber pot
empire chest of drawers+acanthus
empire claw foot sofa
empire couch prince of wales emblem
empire desk with claw feet
empire dining chairs antique
empire drop leaf
empire drop leaf lyre base mahogany table
empire drop leaf pedestal table
empire era+leather top+pull out side extensions+mahogany+violin/harp shape on sides of coffee table
empire folding chair
empire furniture co
empire furniture drawer handles
empire furniture dressers with large mirror
empire furniture with scroll feet
empire gateleg table
empire mahogany antique bureau
empire mahogany chest of drawers bureau
empire mahogany table with one drawer
empire oak buffet
empire oak buffet with mirror
empire period / lebrun clock
empire period furniture
empire period restauration extension dining tables
empire period restoration extension dining tables
empire period sideboards
empire pillar and claw table
empire porcelain 1960’s  trinket holder
empire rectangle library table
empire revival buffet
empire sheraton bureaus
empire sideboard
empire state art deco lamp
empire style chest
empire style dining chair
empire style display cabinet french influence
empire style dresser birds eye maple
empire style drop leaf desk
empire’ style drop leaf desk
empire style furniture values
empire style furniture with scroll feet
empire style settee floral marquetry
empire swan egyptian chair antique

german “baroque cabinet” “18th century”
german 18th century porcelain figures
german 1930 furniture
german 1930’s burled walnut sideboard
german 1940 art deco
german 19th century furniture
german antique china cabinets
german antique farmers trestle tables
german antique fold-up game table
german antique inlaid wood table
german antique shrunks
german antique sugar and creamers from the 17th century
german antique wood chair 1800’s carved
german antique woodworking bench
german armoire oak 19th century
german art deco cabinet
german art deco furniture value
german art nouveau writing desk
german austrian baroque cabinet 18th century
german cabinet doors metal inlay
german candlesticks
german carved inlay cabinet
german ceramic figurines 1930
german coat of arms +horoldt
german copy of derby porcelain figures
german deco furniture
german dining table with slide leaves
german dish makers 1920″s
german furniture antique
german furniture characteristics 1920 - 1930
german furniture design art deco
german furniture makers whose name starts with c
german furniture movements 1930 leather chrome
german furniture styles
german hand painted cards dated  1702
german heubach bisque piano babies
german industrial art deco furniture buffet
german made antique wooden medicine desks
german made display cabinet
german majolica marks
german meissen antique figurines
german oak furniture
german oak sideboards late 19th century
german oakleaf
german ornamental vases and plates
german pewter tea pot wood knob held by a pin
german porcelain lace makers
german porcelain mother of pearl china
german porcelain teapots
german porcelain with qeen of james i image
german pottery - jugs
german pottery 17th century
german pottery marks export
german religous porcelain
german silver candlesticks find value
german table top patterns
german unglazed porceline figures
german victorian settee value
german vintage linen press cupboard
german wood inlay art
german wood inlay work
german wooden inlay art
germany, lacquer furniture, cherry

GEORGE IV AND WILLIAM IV
WHEN GEORGE III in 1820, his
scandalous son, who had been ruling as Regent for nine years, became King George IV Known [or his extravagant tastes, the interiors created during his reign, particularly those at Windsor Castle, are some of the most sumptuous in British history. The reconstruction of the apartments on the east and south sides of the Upper Ward of the Castle between 1824 and
1830 was entrusted to the architect Sir Jeffry Wyattville. The furniture and upholstery was supplied by cabinetmaker Nicholas Morel. These heavily gilded interiors have a French flavour.
On George’s death in 1830, his brother became William IV In contrast to the worldly pursuits of his predecessor, William’s reign was dominated by the Reform Act, which brought about parliamentary reform.
However, this period also marked an important period of transition between the Regency and Victorian eras. Much of the furniture was still Neoclassical in style although it was generally
heavier than Regency pieces.
TOUS LES LOUIS
The interest in 18th-century French
styles dates from the late 1810s, when
French furniture became
available after the Revolution.
These pieces, especially those with tortoiseshell and brass boullework, were collected by, amongst others, the Duke of Wellington and the Prince Regent. Sometimes called the Rococo revival, it was known (incorrectly) at the time as the Louis XIV style. The serpentine lines of Louis XV furniture were re-interpreted on furniture typical of Louis XIV or XVI.
style was particularly appropriate to seat furniture with buttoned, upholstered backs or sides and plump, cabriole legs. Case furniture tended to have rectilinear, classical lines.
The Old French Style was promoted in a series of pattern books from 1825, including publications by John Taylor, Henry Whitaker, and Thomas King.
John Weale published reprints of mid 18th-century pattern books by Thomas Chippendale’s .
LATE REGENCY
Much of the mahogany furniture of the period was a heavier version of Regency designs, anticipating Victorian solidity. Carving was often Classically inspired and combined with gadrooning and ribbing. Bun feet were used on chests of drawers or plinth supports. Chair and table legs were often turned and ring-turned rather than outsplayed or sabre-form. Bed-posts were similarly designed, sometimes with acanthus carving.
This burr-oak and ebony-inlaid rectangular George IV library table has a crossbanded top above a frieze with two drawers. The table top is supported on quadruple baluster end columns linked by a stretcher. Stamped Holden & Co, Liverpool. Early 19th century.
LIBRARY TABLE
WILLIAM IV SOFA
The panelled top rail of this elegant mahogany sofa is flanked by scrolling terminals depicting acanthus leaves. The lower arms of the sofa are upholstered to match the back and seat cushion. Two bolster cushions provide added comfort. The piece has leaf-carved urn
terminals and is supported on turned and carved tapering feet with brass caps and casters. Early 19th century.
The arms are decorated with leaf motifs.
The back of the sofa is decorated with scrolling acanthus carving,.
WILLIAM IV TRIPOD TABLE
This painted tilt-top table has a rectangular top above a single column, which is supported on a tripod base. There is an armorial design painted on the surface of the table. The piece terminates in bun feet. c.1835.
This elegant mahogany bed has a moulded cornice decorated with a carved frieze and supported on four turned and carved bed posts. At the foot, the posts are reeded and leaf-carved, while at the head of the bed the posts
GEORGE IV LIBRARY ARMCHAIR
The upholstered tub back of this library armchair has a U-shaped front, which has been faced in mahogany and carved with reeds and roundels. The chair is supported on turned and reeded legs that terminate in brass casters.
The chair is one of a pair. Early 19th century. DN
are plain, enclosing a panelled head board (formerly the foot board). The scalloped pelmet and drapes are made of a floral fabric. Early 19th century.
This mirror has a rectangular plate within a gilt and silvered wooden frame, surmounted by a laurel wreath and carved with berried laurel. The lower section has a central scallop shell motif with a thistle below, flanked by rocaille, plants and foliage. One of a pair. c.1830.
WILLIAM IV MIRROR
LIBRARY TABLE
This tortoiseshell-veneered library table has a moulded edge above a shaped apron, and is supported on cabriole legs. All of the surfaces are decorated with tortoiseshell and embellished with gilt-metal mounts. c.1830.

george i early 18th century chest on chest
george i early georgian furniture
george iii sheraton mahogany bowfront sideboard valuation
george iii welsh dresser
george iv furniture mark
george iv settee with clawfoot
george iv sideboard
george jones & sons majolica vase
george jones abbey design antiques
george jones american ceramic decorator
george jones and sons china
george jones candlesticks
george jones ceramics marks
george jones china for sale
george jones fish lustre
george jones majolica
george jones majolica leaf plate
george jones potter
george jones pottery marks
george jones pottery value
george jones unmarked majolica ware
george jones vintage case knife
george jones” porcelain figures”
george nelson primevera drop leaf table
george oakley cabinet maker
george oakley furniture london
george smith 19th century furniture
george smith gate leg dining table
george smith gate leg table
george smith sofa value
george two pedestal table
george walton arts and crafts chair
georgelll side boards
georges de feure chairs
georges de feure insect
georges jacob
georgian “chamber cabinet”
georgian and victorian tables difference
georgian antique china cabinets
georgian black lacquer chairs
georgian carved round face antique furniture
georgian chippendale dresser+inlaid+”5 drawer”
georgian chippendale dresser+inlaid+mirror+scroll
georgian cylinder bureauand display cabinet
georgian dining chairs sheraton  value
georgian drop leaf side tables
georgian drop leaf writing bureau
georgian footstools
georgian furniture cabinet dresser like house
georgian furniture makers stamps
georgian gateleg drop leaf table
georgian gateleg table scallop corner
georgian mahogany table spider legs
georgian oak drop leaf table
georgian pedestal drop leaf table
georgian period antique doors
georgian period basic chairs
georgian period chair
georgian period chairs
georgian period furniture
georgian period pattern
georgian pie crust pedestal end tables
georgian rectangular gate leg table
georgian reproduction pedestal coffee table
georgian serpentine cutlery boxes
georgian shagreen knife box
georgian sheffie ld war mer
georgian side table marble top
georgian sideboard with ring turned legs
georgian style chest carving
georgian tambour top desk
georgian tub chairs
georgian walnut drop leaf table
georigian period chairs

BRITISH VERNACULAR,
THE VERNACULAR FURNITURE of the
first 20 years of the 19th century has more in common with the light, elegant furniture of the late 18th century than with high-style furniture in the style of Thomas Hope. It was usually made of mahogany, either solid or used as a veneer, or the newly popular rosewood. Pieces were also constructed of inexpensive timbers, such as beech, and then painted to simulate rosewood or more exotic timbers. Penwork, often the pastime of young ladies, was also used to decorate cheaper woods. Here, once again, the Regency pictorial fascination with surface pattern and large, flat expanses of timber is evident.
It was also during the early 19th century that oak re-emerged as a wood suitable for use in public rooms, and it was popularized by the work of George Bullock. However, oak really came to prominence in the antiquarian interiors of the 1820s and 1830s.
SUBTLE MOTIFS
Although plainer than the classic Regency furniture destined for the Prince Regent’s circle, furniture made for middle-class homes or country-house bedrooms still displayed all the inventiveness and exoticism of the period. Subtle lotus-leaf carvings evoked the cultures of the Nile, while Greek-key patterned friezes on tables and bookcases echoed the ancient culture of Athens. Similarly, thin crossbandings of an exotic timber such as calamander or amboyna were often used on even the humblest furniture. These were contained within boxwood or ebonized stringing, although it was often replaced with ebony on more expensive pieces. Shiny brass was also back in fashion, utilized as inlaid line decoration, cut patterns, or pierced galleries. The cabinet-maker George Oakley is often associated with the use of cut-star motifs in brass.
NEW FORMS
One of the characteristics of the period was the increased variety of furniture types that were made for a range of everyday needs. This is evident in the wide variety of tables designed for specific functions. For example, sofa tables with side flaps, central pedestals, or side standards —
sometimes of Classical lyre form —stood in front of sofas, while library tables, often with leather-inset tops and fixed ends, were designed to be used in libraries. Kidney-shaped, occasional, and worktables (for sewing equipment) were all new types of furniture, as was the nest of tables. Sometimes called quartette tables, these were designed so that three, four, or five tables fitted into one another.
Chiffoniers — a type of side cabinet —were also invented around 1800. Games and dining tables, both Georgian inventions, remained popular and were often designed with central, turned pedestals and reeded, downswept legs.
The so-called Trafalgar chair is probably one of the archetypes of Regency vernacular design (see p.242). Its sinewy line, with sabre legs at the front and back, epitomizes the gracefulness of the era. These chairs usually had a drop-in seat, although some seats were caned.
Caning, with its overtones of the Far East, came back into fashion at this time, and was used both in seats, and the sides and backs of library bergeres.
The Davenport desk was another new form of this period. It owes its name to a Captain Davenport, who commissioned the design from the firm of Gillows.
GILLOWS STYLE
Vernacular furniture production in England in this period is dominated by Gillows, which started in Lancashire in the 1830s and later opened in London. Famous for high-quality mahogany furniture, often characterized by carefully matched figured veneers, it is also associated with particular motifs. On furniture, it would frequently gadroon the edges or add lobes to the legs. Unlike designers such as Hepplewhite, Gillows never produced a pattern book, but its Estimate Sketch Books provide a valuable index of its evolving style and are preserved in the Westminster City Archives. Unusually for this period, it frequently stamped its furniture (often on the front upper edge of a drawer) with its name. Although this would become more standard practice later in the century, Gillows
is known to have left its mark on furniture from the 1790s.
SCOTTISH CHEST OF DRAWERS
This Scottish, bow front chest of drawers is made of mahogany and decorated with boxwood stringing. The piece has a reeded, D-shaped top above a shallow frieze drawer with compartments and a writing slide.
Below the frieze are four long graduated drawers flanked on either side by pollard elm panels. The piece has a curved apron. The chest of drawers is raised on tapering, square-section legs with reeded decoration. Early 19th century.
GEORGE IV TEA TABLE
This elegant tea table is made of mahogany. The rectangular top has rounded corners and opens out to create a larger surface. The top sits above a flame-veneered frieze with a carved border. The table top is raised
on a baluster column, which is decorated with carved acanthus leaves. The table is supported on four outswept, moulded legs decorated with a carved reeded pattern. The legs
terminate in brass, leaf-cased terminals and casters. Early 19th century.
PENWORK SIDE CABINET
DAVENPORT DESK
MAHOGANY TALLBOY
This Regency side cabinet has a shaped back panel with a narrow shelf supported on miniature columns, set above the main shelf. A single drawer is raised on turned, column supports and a plinth base. All the surfaces are decorated with penwork. 1810
The hinged top of this mahogany desk has a gallery to the rear, above a small pen drawer. Below this are four graduated side drawers. The desk front is panelled, with a shaped, crossbanded border. The case stands on carved and moulded bracket feet. c.1810.
This tall chest of drawers, or tallboy, has a domed, panelled cornice above six long drawers. All of the drawers are lined with mahogany and have brass shell ring-handles. The piece stands on sabre legs to the front. Early 19th century.
DECORATED BERGUE
This armchair has a richly carved and decorated frame, arm supports, and legs. The side, back, and seat panels are caned and have loose cushions. The armrests are padded. The seat is supported on turned and reeded legs with brass casters.
The square, tapering leg is inlaid with boxwood.
The frieze drawer is fitted with small compartments for writing implements.
This mahogany and marquetry bonheur du jour has a shaped upper section, two matching veneer cupboard doors, a writing surface, frieze drawer, and tapering legs with spade feet. c.1790.

EARLY 19TH CENTURY
BRITISH EXOTICISM
A RICH MIX OF BOTH FOREIGN AND HOME-GROWN INFLUENCES AFFECTED THE DESIGN OF BRITISH FURNITURE DURING THE REGENCY PERIOD.
FROM MOGUL DOMES to Islamic arches, Regency designers drew on a wide variety of exotic sources. When Napoleon invaded Egypt in July 1798, his invasion force included not only soldiers, but artists and poets, botanists, zoologists, and cartographers. The ensuing publication of Descriptions de I’Egypt established a vogue in France for all things Egyptian.
ANCIENT EGYPT
The Egyptian craze surfaced in Britain following Nelson’s subsequent defeat of Napoleon in 1798 at the Battle of the Nile. Sphinx heads appeared on the pilasters of bookcases and side cabinets and lotus leaves were carved on chair splats and printed on textiles and wallpaper designs.
Thomas Hope designed furniture based on the engravings of the French Egyptologist, Baron Denon, and Thomas Chippendale the Younger, who had inherited his father’s famous workshop, created a suite of furniture for Stourhead in 1805, resplendent with sphinx masks. These pieces were made in mahogany, but the foreign motifs of the period were often complemented by the use of highly polished, unusual, imported timbers: streaky salamander, dark ebony, or flecked amboyna.
CHINOISERIE REVIVAL
An integral part of the Rococo repertoire in Britain during the mid 18th century, Chinoiserie enjoyed a revival in the early 19th century. The Royal architect,
A DWARF GOTHIC CABINET
This lacquered cabinet has a crenellated
Lipper section with octagonal corner
towers. A deeper base with a pierced
quatrefoil gallery sits above a pair of
tracery panelled doors flanked by
clasping buttresses. The cabinet
stands on a plinth base. Early 19th
century.
REGENCY TORCHERE STAND This stand is made, of bronzed and gilded wood. Below the top is a guilloche moulded frieze and three gilt supports, with lion masks, joined by Cross supports with applied rosettes. The concave base rests on gilt paw feet.
A CHINESE EXPORT BUREAU This bureau has u fall front above three drawers, a shaped apron, and is raised on cabriole legs. All the surfaces are black and gilt lacquered with lake scenery and flowers.
19th century.
Henry Holland. was profoundly influenced by Sir
George Stauntons An Authentic Account of an Embassy
“M the King of Great Britain to the Emperor of China n 1797: and interest in the Far East increased after Napoleon’s defeat in 1815, when further British envoys ere sent to the new emperor of China, Chia-Ch’ing.
Furniture was japanned black with gilt to simulate lacquer – as in the late 17th century – while lacquer cabinets (or lacquer panels reused from early screens) were incorporated into British cabinet work. Oriental bamboo was also echoed in the ring turnings on late Regency chairs. Many pieces of furniture were made out of genuine bamboo, while others were turned
and painted to simulate it.
The Prince Regent gave the royal seal of approval to this trend when he furnished several rooms at the Brighton Pavilion with bamboo furniture imported from China. Indeed, this architectural folly became the most famous mixing pot of all the exotic styles of the Regency period.
Western styles of lacquer and bamboo furniture were also imported from Canton. The trade in goods from China to Britain had been established since the early 17th century, but the scale of Chinese imports in the 19th century was unprecedented. As well as imported, Chinoiserie-style furniture, Oriental motifs such as dragons appeared on the crestings of convex mirrors, while latticework and Chinese panelling were applied to chair backs, commode friezes, or brass grills on side cabinets or chiffoniers.
STYLES FROM THE SUBCONTINENT
India, as well as China, influenced the decoration of the Brighton Pavilion. Nash was inspired by William and Thomas Daniell’s book, Oriental Scenery, and included pierced screens, copied from Indian jails (perforated stone screens from Madhya Pradesh), in his designs. The interest in India manifested itself more in the importation of Western-style furniture, than in the application of Indian motifs to British furniture. Exotic ivory-inlaid rosewood furniture and boxes came from Vizagapatam, and ebony chairs of Regency form were shipped from Ceylon.
HISTORICISM
Towards the end of the Regency period, designers and furniture-makers turned away from exoticism and towards their own traditions for inspiration. The Napoleonic wars and their subsequent victories spawned a surge in nationalist feeling. This, along with the historic novels of Walter Scott, inspired designers such as George Bullock and Richard Bridgens to include Elizabethan and Jacobean motifs in furniture for Abbotsford and Aston Hall in the late 1810s and early 1820s. Gothic motifs were always prevalent, particularly as tracery in glazing bars and in panels for cabinet doors. Pointed arches appeared as early as 1807 in the backs of hall chairs published by George Smith. This furniture, often commissioned by a new breed of antiquarian collectors such as William Beckford, was usually made in oak or other native timbers.

EARLY 19TH CENTURY REGENCY BRITAIN FURNITURE

THE REGENCY WAS a clearly defined
period in British history From 1811 to 1820, the Prince of Wales, who later became George IV, ruled instead of his father, who was suffering from porphyria – a form of madness. However, as a furniture style, Regency has come to embrace a wider time frame, from the 1790s to the third decade of the 19th century.
Reflecting the exuberant tastes of the Regent himself, the period begins with his commission of the Neoclassical architect Henry Holland for his London home, Carlton House, in the 1780s, and concludes with the exotic, Oriental confection that is John Nash’s
Brighton Pavilion, remodelled for the Prince of Wales between 1815 and 1823. George, the Prince Regent, came to dominate taste in the early 19th century. He and his circle drew on a diverse group of talented architects and artisans, often trained in France, many of whom had worked on Carlton House. These included the architect, Charles Heathcote Tatham, the decorators and cabinet-makers, Morel and Hughes, and the clock-maker, Benjamin Vulliamy.
FURNITURE STYLE
Regency furniture is often symmetrical with clean, rectilinear lines. As such, it was inspired by French Empire furniture and the simple late 18th-century furniture designs of Thomas Sheraton. Large surfaces were often veneered in highly figured rosewood and then decorated with gilt-brass mounts of ancient motifs, such as rosettes, paterae, laurels, and anthemia. The Liverpool cabinet-
maker George Bullock is best known for his use of patterned surfaces; he frequently balanced English timbers, especially oak, with a riot of border patterns featuring stylized flower-heads, lotus leaves, and dot motifs.
The strict Neoclassical taste found its most archaeological expression in the designs of Thomas Hope, which he published in 1807. Not only had he plundered ancient Egypt, Greece, and Rome for decorative ideas, but he also attempted to recreate ancient furniture and interiors. Probably the most
typical furniture of this type is the rounded klismos chair – first known to have been produced in ancient Greece
– which has back stiles that rise from outswept sabre legs to support an almost semi-circular back.
During this period, a wide variety of side cabinets of diverse outlines came to dominate the wall space in drawing rooms, replacing the use of commodes. In the dining room, a similar role was performed by the popular sideboard and chiffonier.
ECLECTICISM
It would be a mistake, however, to see the Regency as simply a curvaceous and light Neoclassical style. It was characterized by endless variety, a freedom of forms, and an eclectic
ornamental vocabulary. George Smith, who published a pattern book the year after Hope, reinterpreted his cold, academic designs by applying Neoclassical motifs to French Empire models that also included Gothic-and Chinese-inspired furniture. Indeed, exotic forms and materials became the hallmark of Regency taste. Smith popularized Hope’s designs in his pattern book, introducing them to a wider public.
Smith inspired impressive-looking furniture, with boldly carved leopard’s masks or large lion’s-paw feet, which anticipated the slightly heavier furniture of the 1820s and 30s.

The front rail and highly scrolled ends are inlaid with trailing foliage and flowers, terminating in floral paterae.
The seat rail is inlaid with a trailing brass foliate motif.
The design of the chaise longue is influenced by the contemporary French form, the meridjenne - a type of sofa with scrolled ends, one higher than the other.
Brass inlay detail
CHAISE LONGUE
This elegant Regency chaise longue is made of rosewood and is profusely inlaid throughout with brass inlay in a foliate design. The frame has a sweeping back rail which is centred with a scrolled hand grip, and has highly decorative
scrolled end supports. The generously padded seat and arms are supported on a rectilinear front rail decorated with a foliate motif. The piece stands on outswept sabre legs which terminate in lion’s-paw feet on casters.
Sabre legs terminate in lion’s paw feet and casters.
SMALL CENTRE TABLE
The surface of this tilt-top table has a painted scene within a laburnum veneer border. It is supported on a rosewood-veneered stem, on a base with scrolled, ribbed feet on brass casters. Early 19th century
MAHOGANY STOOL
This Regency mahogany stool has a gently shaped rectangular seat with scrolled ends and light carving on the surface. It is supported on an X-frame base with simple, carved decoration and stretchers. c.1810.
This mahogany writing table has a three-quarter brass gallery and a central, pull-out insert. There are six drawers behind a lift-up flap, two drawers on either side, and two in the frieze, supported on slender, turned legs. c.1800.
LIBRARY TABLE
The rectangular top of this rosewood library table is inlaid with a Greek-key border in satinwood and ebony. The frieze has a central pierced ormolu palmette and two drawers. The bowed legs are headed by gilt lion’s heads and
terminate in lion’s-paw feet, joined by a shaped stretcher. c.1810.

EARLY 19TH CENTURY ITALIAN FURNITURE.

LIKE MANY OTHER European states,
the majority of the Italian states and kingdoms followed the lead of Paris. The greatest French-style furniture and interiors were created during the period of Napoleonic patronage, in the first decade of the 19th century. The French Emperor installed his brothers as rulers in Italy: Joseph became King of Naples and Lucian became Prince of Canino. Napoleon’s sisters also created significant interiors in the area: Elisa Baciocchi in Lucca and Florence, Pauline Borghese in Rome, and Caroline Murat in Naples. But it was not just aristocratic patrons who commissioned the cabinet-makers: one of the period’s characteristics was the emergence of middle-class buyers. This widening of the market coincided with the beginnings of mechanization and the gradual organization of the workshop – a trend that continued throughout the 19th century.
ITALIAN EMPIRE
In some ways, the French Empire style did not suit Italian furniture-makers. Its emphasis on large expanses of high-quality timber was a significant problem in an area where this was difficult to find. Also, its rectilinear forms and strict, sober lines seemed antithetical to a furniture tradition that favoured sculptural qualities. However,
symmetry and balance, with few curves and little ornament apart from Neoclassical gilt-bronze mounts, eventually dominated Italian furniture production. To overcome the problem of poor-quality timber, many pieces were painted – white, pale blue, and eau-de-nil were popular colours. Classical architectural forms were favoured, along with motifs from Imperial Rome, such as trophies of instruments or weapons, fasces (banded rods), laurel wreaths, and antique lamps.
FRENCH IMPORTS
The Grand Duchess of Tuscany (one of Napoleon’s sisters) actually brought French ebenistes to Florence to establish workshops and impart their skills and techniques to the Italians. Mounts were also imported from France. Consequently, it is almost impossible to differentiate between the French Empire furniture in the Palazzo Pitti in Florence and the Italian variants. The Empire style remained in fashion after 1815, sometimes combined with French Restauration styles, but the use of mahogany declined in favour of walnut or lighter-coloured timber.
During this period, Italy was made up of a patchwork of small states and kingdoms, dominated by Austro-Hungary in the north. Regional diversity was, therefore, far greater than in Britain or France, and much of the furniture produced echoes the traditions for which they are famous: Classical in Rome, Baroque in Florence, and Rococo in Venice. Lombardy produced some of the greatest innovators of the era, particularly Giocondo Albertolli, who trained at the Accademia di Brera and who published his influential Corso
elementare d’ornamenti architettonici in 1805.
The study of Umberto I This shows a room in the Palazzo Pitti in Florence. Under Elisa Baciocchi, Napoleon’s sister and Grand Duchess of Tuscany, several rooms in the palace were redecorated to reflect Paris fashions.
CARVED MIRROR
This carved and gilded mirror frame is decorated with masks of grotesques at the corners. The pediment is richly decorated with baskets -overflowing with flowers. c.1800.
MURANO MIRROR
This mirror has an applied crystal pediment and a frame with C- and S-scrolls at the corners. The oval mirror is surrounded by mirror sections engraved with leaves and divided with moulding. Early 19th century.
GILTWOOD SIDE CHAIR
two Neoclassical giltwood side chairs
part of a set of six Cardinal Fesch chairs; Fesch. a Corsican cardinal, became French ambassador to Rome in 1804. Each chair has a richly carved, domed back depicting a pair of
carved griffins above a stylized serpentine floral carving on a punched ground. The upright back supports are in the form of fluted pilasters with a frieze of running husks. The padded seats have fluted seat rails and are raised on gilded lion’s-paw legs. c.1810.
MAGGIOLINI
THE MOST FAMOUS NEOCTASSICAL FURNITURE-MAKER OF THE
LATE 18TH AND EARLY 19TH СENTURY, MAGGIOLINI’S NAME
IS ASSOCIATED WITH A PARTICULAR STYLE OF MARQUETRY.
Giuseppe Maggiolini (1738-1814) made furniture that was austere, boxy, and unpretentious in form, with no carving and few mounts. However, its characteristic pictorial marquetry lent his work a brilliant opulence. Maggiolini used many different types and colours of timber to create his marquetry pictures, shunning Stains, artificial colouring, and other tricks to achieve decorative effects. In the tradition of Piranesi and, more recently, the ornamental designer and interior decorator, Giocondo Albertolli, he produced marquetry trophies, still lifes, Chinoiserie and caprici. As a result, his name is used to refer to all work of this type, whether produced in his workshop or not.
Maggiolini started his career as a carpenter in a Cistercian monastery, where he established his first workshop in 1771. He later founded a second workshop in Milan, which was inherited by his son, Carlo Francesco, and Cherubino Mezzanzanica. He crafted some of his most brilliant furniture for the Archduke
Ferdinand of Austria, who was the Governor General of Lombardy, and the King of Poland was also one of his clients.
In keeping with the tastes of his age, Maggiolini’s furniture is simple in design and follows late 18th-century French prototypes. Its defining difference is the intricate marquetry, in Italy this had a long tradition stretching back to Renaissance intarsia works.
Louis XVI commode This rectilinear, marble-topped piece, from the studio of Guiseppe Maggiolini in Milan, is made from rosewood and several exotic woods with inlays of Classical figures in medallions and interlacing festoons. The commode has three drawers with bronze mounts and is supported on square, tapering legs. c.1800.
The frieze drawer is inlaid with a row of interlaced festoons.
The top is not made of marble, unlike French commodes.
The two case drawers are inlaid sans traverse with a symmetrical diagonal pattern centred by a medallion containing Classical figures.
The complicated marquetry patterns are typical of Maggiolim’s work.
ARMCHAIR AUX TETES DE LION
This mahogany armchair has a gently curved top rail, an X-frame back, and armrests terminating in carved and gilded lions’ heads. The X-frame base has gilded paw feet. c.1810
Stop-fluted corner
GILTWOOD AND VERDE ANTICO SIDE TABLE
This rectangular table has a verde antico (old green) veneered marble top above a frieze inset with matching marble panels and fluted corners. The square, tapering legs are also inset with marble panels and are surmounted by carved caryatids, whose hands support the table top. c.1800.
The massive table top is veneered with marble.
The frieze is inset
with marble panels
that match the
table top.
The table legs are inset with marble panels
Caryatids support the table top.

FRANCE: RESTAURATION
THE RESTAURATION STYLE, as its name
suggests, refers to the restoration of the Bourbon monarchy from the expulsion and final exile of Napoleon in 1815, until its fall in 1830.
Louis XVIII became King of France in 1815 and was followed by Charles X in 1824, who finally abdicated in 1830 in favour of the exiled Due d’Orleans, Louis Philippe. It was a period of considerable political unrest, culminating in the revolutions of 1830 and 1848, which forced Louis Philippe to flee to England.
The market for furniture also changed, with growing interest from the middle classes and the increasing
industrialization of furniture-making due to improved tools and the use of steam. Fortuitously, this coincided with the need to furnish apartments, which, for the first time, the middle classes could rent.
CHANGING STYLES
Empire decoration remained the leading style of furniture and many of the cabinet-makers who had worked in the Empire style, such as JacobDesmalter, Felix Remond, and P.A. Bellanger, continued to produce furniture with a great deal of success.
However, Napoleonic motifs and
mounts gradually disappeared, and the
Empire style was slowly watered down as severity gave way to comfort. Strict linearity eventually relaxed into the occasional curve in a nostalgia for Rococo style. Overall, forms became heavier and more solid, replacing the Empire love of rectilinear elegance. As elsewhere in Europe, furniture became bulkier. Inlays became more common and mounts gradually became smaller, or disappeared altogether.
STYLE DIFFERENCES Restauration-style furniture can sometimes be difficult to distinguish from the
simpler, more domestic Empire pieces (see pp.200-01). The surfaces of Restauration pieces tend to be even simpler and less decorated than those found on French Empire furniture, which was typically designed to create an opulent effect.
SECRETAIRE A ABATTANT
This flame-veneered mahogany writing cabinet is raised on claw feet and has a moulded cornice above a pair of Gothic-carved, glazed doors, enclosing shelves, above drawers. A frieze drawer fitted for writing is set above cupboard doors flanked by scrolls. c.1820.
DRESSING TABLE
This is a mahogany dressing table with a swing-frame mirror set above a platform with two small drawers above another drawer. The dressing table stands on C-scroll supports and has a shaped platform base. c.1825.
FAUTEUILS AUX DAUPHINS
This set of six mahogany armchairs, made by Pierre-Antoine Bellanger, has straight top rails terminating in carved scrolls. The curved arms are carved with dolphin heads and each chair has a padded, upholstered seat with a plain seat rail and is supported on sabre legs. c.1815.
CHARLES X DRESSING TABLE
This dressing table is made of burr elm inlaid with amaranth depicting stylized foliage. The top section has an oval mirror with carved supports in the shape of swans. The table top is made of white marble. The lower section consists of a frieze drawer above two carved consoles. The piece terminates in a shaped platform base and flattened bun feet. 1825
BOIS CLAIRS
Restauration furniture was usually made of oak, but it was increasingly veneered in lighter woods, the so-called bois clairs. This change in tone began in 1806, when the British blockaded the importation of mahogany to France from its colonies. As a result, local woods became more popular, including walnut, sycamore, ash, elm, yew, plane, beech, and, perhaps most characteristically of all, decorative bird’s-eye maple.
Mahogany, being expensive, was reserved for the most lavish interiors, so its use was often an indicator of the high value of a piece of furniture.
Traditionally, the Duchesse de Berry the daughter-in-law of Charles X, is credited with the introduction of bois clairs, but this appears to be an unfounded myth. Mahogany, however, continued to be extensively employed both as a veneer – where the decorative effect of its figure was much exploited – and in the solid.
With the decline in use of mounts, various timbers, particularly ebony, and metals such as brass or pewter, were inlaid instead. However, their treatment was always restrained. Some furniture even included plaques of painted porcelain.
GOTHIC STYLE
Towards the end of the Restauration period, the Romantic-revival styles gradually became evident in French furniture design.
These were probably first hinted at in Pierre de La Mesangere’s Collection de meubles et objets de goat, published between 1802 and 1835 in the Journal des Dames et des Modes. Here, La Mesangere adapted the severe, architectural style of Perrier and Fontaine to create a simple, domestic style for the middle classes. He also began introducing the motifs that
would dominate the next epoch –Gothic motifs, otherwise known as the Troubadour style.
Unlike the Chinese style, which was completely forgotten in early 19th-century France but played an important role in Britain at the time, the Gothic style did create a small impact. For example, in 1804, the cabinetmaker, Mansion the Younger, suggested a Gothic-style piece for Napoleon.
However, it was not until the late 1820s and 30s, that the pointed arches so typical of the Gothic style started appearing on Empire-style furniture.
CIRCULAR CENTRE TABLE
This table is made from rosewood inlaid with fruitwood and marquetry. The circular top, and the four frieze drawers below, are raised on a columnar support, which has four splayed legs that terminate in paw feet on brass casters. c.1830.
CHARLES X OCCASIONAL TABLE
The top of this oval rosewood table is inlaid with a panel of Gothic tracery and is bordered with a boxwood rolled moulding. The frieze has a single writing-slide drawer. The table stands on six turned legs joined by a double-baluster stretcher. c.1830.
This mahogany meridienne has one end higher than the other, and an elegant, curved, padded back. The frame of the sofa has scrolling sides, a plain frieze, and stands on volute feet. 1820
This table has a black-and-grey-veined Saint Anne marble top set above a plain frieze. The massive columnar support is baluster shaped although it has been facetted. The three scrolled feet are similarly angular and are square in section.
MERIDIENNE
MARBLE-TOPPED TABLE
The mahogany frieze is unadorned Will) the mounts typical of the French Empire style.
The scrolled feet show a move away from the strict angular design of the previous epoch.

NAPOLEON CROWNED HIMSELF Emperor
in 1804. From this date until his abdication in 1814, and final defeat by Wellington at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815, he dominated the European scene. Moreover, his taste, and the Empire style that he cultivated, became omnipresent in Europe.
Already emerging before 1804, this austere style sought to associate Napoleon’s Empire with the glories of ancient Egypt and ancient Rome. This aim manifested itself in an almost archaeological interest in Classical motifs, promoted by Perrier and Fontaine, whose Recueil was
The frieze is decorated with
a central gilt-bronze rosette,
flanked by palmettes.
The protruding columns
have gilt-bronze
capitals and bases.
republished in 1812. The light style of furniture that prevailed before the turn of the century was now transformed into a truly imperial idiom in keeping with Napoleon’s despotic tendencies.
EMPIRE MOUNTS
Neoclassical influences are evident in the ubiquitous bronze dore mounts on Empire furniture: griffons, lions, and sphinxes abound. Martial motifs were especially popular, such as trophies or crossed swords. Some of the best-quality mounts were produced in the
workshop of Pierre Thomire. His mounts appear on furniture by Beneman and Weisweiler. Other Beneman pieces are known to have similar, high-quality applique details made by Antoine-Andre Ravario.
EMPIRE MAKERS
The dissolution of the Guild of Joiners and Cabinet-Makers in 1791 meant that craftsmen could now establish workshops comprising several trades in a single location. The workshops of the ancien regime were quick to
re-open after the Revolution, seeking a wider, often middle-class, clientele, who were sometimes less demanding. Some feared that this might lead to a decline in quality French furniture. However, the finest pieces, made for the Emperor and his circle, reveal the same technical brilliance as items produced in the previous century. Many of the great ebenistes had previously worked for Louis XVI, including Bellanger, Benenian, Georges Jacob, Molitor, and Weisweiler. It was also a period of great productivity between 1810 and 1811, as much as 17,000 francs was spent on furniture for Imperial residences, and half a million francs went to Georges Jacob Desmalter alone for furniture made for the Palais des Tuileries. There
were 10,000 workers involved with furniture production in Paris during the first decade of the 19th century, making pieces for both the local and export markets. Jacob-Desmalter
employed at least 88 workers, some at his Porte Saint-Denis workshop.
Upholstery and drapery sometimes overpowered the Empire room. Ceilings could be tented in strong, usually striped, colours (blues, reds,
The Empire style was born from a merger of art and political aspirations in a heady, post-Revolution atmosphere upheaval. It was
greens, and yellows) to echo tented military accommodation. The embroidered patterns on chair upholstery were both large and bold.
NOVEL FORMS
Several novel forms also appeared. The lit en bateau was very fashionable, often with scrolled ends, raised on a dais, and draped in fabric. It was similar in form to the recamier, or day bed, and the meridienne, a type of sofa with scrolled ends, one higher than the other. For middle-class homes, the less expensive lit droit was popular; it had a headboard under a triangular pediment. For the first time,
bedrooms were furnished with a Psyche mirror, or Cheval glass. The small, round gueridon, or candlestand, served a variety of functions, and sometimes had metal legs, patinated green to simulate ancient metals, possibly set with a porphyry top.
The commode slowly became more functional and occasionally the drawers were set behind doors. Chairs were often supported by Grecian sabre back legs, and had either rectangular or over-scrolled backs. Usually the
arms were supported on human or swan forms. Empress Josephine’s dressing room at Fontainebleau probably houses the most famous Empire chairs – those with a curved back en gondole.
Finally, there were various furniture forms for writing, from the box-like secretaire d abattant (and its relative the secretaire de compiegne) to the bureau plat, which assumed grand and monumental proportions under the Empire.
ARMCHAIRS “AUX TETES DE LION”
are made of mahogany. Each has
rectilinear back, an upholstered seat
and armrests, upholstered seats are
on sabre legs, with those at the front
terminating in lion’s-paw feet. The chairs are attributed to the maker Jean-Baptiste Demay of Paris. Although lion’s masks appear frequently on British furniture of the period, they are a
relatively unusual feature on French Empire pieces. 1805
This fine-quality flame-veneered tric trac, or games, table has a removable writing table top with inset brass corners and a baize playing-card surface on the reverse. Each side has one false drawer and one drawer for playing pieces. The table stands on square, tapering legs terminating in brass casters. c.1810.

FOLLOWING THE REIGN OF TERROR in France, the Directoire was established in October 1795. It was followed by Napoleon’s first government, the Consulat, which he established after a coup d’etat in November 1799, appointing himself as First Consul. This survived until the declaration of the Empire in 1804. The styles that take their names from these political arrangements arc difficult to tell apart, and represent a transition between the light, aristocratic Louis XVI style and
the proud, austere Empire manner of the early 19th century. However, Directoire style or, as it was sometimes known, le style republicain, shows the effect of the Revolution on the style of Louis XVI, while the Consulat style lays the foundations of the Empire style.
DESIGN INFLUENCES
Directoire style shows the effect of a weakened economy and the position that cabinet-makers found themselves in after the period of the Convention (1792-95). The Revolution had deprived furniture-makers of their traditional patrons; furniture had even
been burnt beneath a Tree of Liberty in front of the celebrated Gobelins factory. The Corporation des Menuisiers- Pbenistes (Guild of joiners and Cabinet-Makers), which had regulated not only standards but the organization of the industry, had also been disbanded in 1791. As a consequence, the Directoire style is simplified, smaller in scale than Louis XVI, and less costly, with minimal decoration and usually no marquetry or parquetry
In the Consulat style the design became more confident, reflecting France’s pride in the new Republic and the slow return to stability and
prosperity. The style was formal and rectilinear, and often included symbols of the Revolution such as the Phrygian or Liberty cap, bound fasces, arrows, spikes, clasped hands, and wreaths.
PATTERN BOOKS
In 1801, the architects Charles Percier and Pierre-Francois-Leonard Fontaine published their Recited des Decorations Intericures. This became the seminal pattern book of the period, and
established them as the chief exponents of the nascent Empire style. The Recueil established strict and sober Classicism as the official style of the time: plain mahogany furniture with bold, antique-inspired gilt-bronze mounts became fashionable. Percier and Fontaine owed much to JeanDemosthene Dugoure, who had designed strict Neoclassical interiors for both royal and private residences during Louis XVI’s reign. Percier and Fontaine had both studied architecture in France and Italy and so had firsthand experience of the ruins of ancient Rome. In the very last years of the 18th century, they oversaw the redecoration of the Music Room and Library of the Empress’s house at Malmaison, and supervised the design of the furniture, which was made by Napoleon’s favourite furniture-makers,
the Jacob brothers. It was this commission that earned them the role of quasi-court designers.
ANTIQUE MOTIFS
The orators and pamphleteers of the Revolution praised the moral values of the ancient world, which found visual expression in the work of the great revolutionary artist, Jacques-Louis David. This filtered into the decorative vocabulary of the styled I’antique.
Consular furniture is full of Greek and Roman devices that became the stock repertoire of Empire designers. The purity of Classical design, epitomized in the work of Jacob-
Desmalter, became a hallmark of the Furniture of the period. As in Britain, this was occasionally combined with Egyptian motifs inspired by Napoleon’s campaigns and his victory at the Battle of the Pyramids. This was supplemented by Baron Denon’s publication, Voyage daps la Busse et Haute-Egypte, in 1802. The archaeologist and engraver (who later became director of the Musee
Napoleon at the Louvre) became the leading authority on antiquity, and had a considerable influence both in France and Britain.
This taste for all things Egyptian commonly manifested itself in sphinx heads, which were often used to top pilasters, terminate armrests, or
support console tables, as on a fine, mahogany example supplied to the Elysee Palace.

SECRETARIE A ABBATANT
This Consulat secr6taire j abbatant is made of walnut and is designed in the Egyptian-revival style. The body of the piece is flanked by Egyptian female masks above tapering pilasters in bronze brasses. The upper section has a grey
CONSULAT BERGERES
Each of this pair of mahogany and mahogany-veneered berg&es has an upholstered back, side panels, and seat. The chair backs themselves are slightly reclining. The loose cushioned seats are supported on square-
section, tapering legs, which are surmounted by stylized Egyptian female heads and terminate in outsplayed, square-section feet. Originally, the chairs would have been covered in silk and would have formed part of a large, similarly
styled suite. Early 19th century.
marble top above a long drawer. The fall front drops down to reveal a leather-lined writing surface. The lower section consists of three long drawers with lion’s mask handles. The secr6taire still retains its original bronze mounts. The piece terminates in carved claw feet. c.1800.
The surface of this mahogany desk is faced with gilt-tooled black leather. Below is a long kneehole frieze drawer, flanked by two deeper drawers; all are edged with ebony stringing. At each corner of the frieze is a mount in the form
of a satyr. The table is supported on four octagonal, tapering legs with ormolu collars and ball-shaped sabots. c.1800.

DIRECTOIRE RECAMIER
The shape of this carved, walnut recamier, or day bed, is essentially rectilinear. It has a padded, out-curved backrest, which is flanked on either side by leaf-capped, reeled cornucopias surmounted by finialed paterae. Below, the
cornucopias terminate in dramatically carved ram’s heads. The r6carrher has a panelled footboard surmounted by a barrel vault, while the padded, drop-in seat is raised on panelled rails. On either side, the panelled rail is centred by a tablet. The whole is raised on turned, leaf-capped feet, terminating in brass casters. c.1800.
The recamier is
decorated throughout
with pierced metal
mounts.
DIRECTOIRE COMMODE
This commode is veneered in rosewood, kingwood, and a number of stained tropical woods. The rectangular case has a veined grey-white marble top with rounded corners above three drawers with geometric filets and inlay, and gilt-bronze mounts. It is supported on short, tapering legs. c.1800.
DIRECTOIRE CHIFFONIER
This small table-chiffonier is made from walnut and has two drawers, with an additional shelf below. The rectangular case has brass filets and is supported on fluted legs joined by a shelf and terminating in small, toupie feet. c.1800.