Empire Antique Furniture

The Empire style was the fruit of the personal taste of the emperor who imposed it on his time. It expresses the absolutism of the monarch in place. The style is fed by Greek, Roman and Egyptian antiquity. The pieces of furniture are of cubic, symmetrical and massive forms. The emperor appreciates the simple and practical pieces of furniture for the everyday life. Pegging and the moldings have disappeared. The beech is the wood more used for the seats. Although mahogany remains of fashion, it became rare and was often replaced by various exotic woods (walnut, ash...)

The ornamentation concentrates on cizelés bronzes, reproducing ancient forms (stars, medallions, sphinx) or the symbols of the emperor (bee, eagle, the letter "N"). They give all the glare of imperial furniture

The seats have a back of square shape, with armrests in right angle of ancient style which are prolonged in the feet. The back feet preserves the shape of the preceding style, squares and curved, in "sabre".

New pieces of furniture appear: the table-hairdresser, the pedestal table with central foot, the somno (cylindrical night table with marble top). The pedestal table of the castle of Saint-Cloud is an excellent example of the Empire style: of the circular gilded wood shape, resting on a tripod mounting with three carved “Griffons” covered with gold