The Empire style present at your Antique Dealer in Alsace Lorraine, Napoli Antic

The Empire style present at your Antique Dealer in Alsace Lorraine, Napoli Antic

The year 2021, which marks the bicentenary of Napoleon's death in Saint Helena, is an opportunity for Napoli Antic Antiquaire expert from Lorraine to highlight its Empire Style furniture.

Two phases stand out in the evolution of the Empire style.


At first, Antiquity is viewed with an almost archaeological eye. 
The mahogany seats have Etruscan saber legs and butted backs, 
sometimes still adorned with ebony or pewter inlays, under the Consulate.

The lines stiffened and became heavier from the years 1805-1808. 
The desire for pageantry and grandeur, which guides the furnishing 
of imperial residences, undoubtedly contributes to this development.
 Napoleon indeed placed considerable orders for furniture, furnishing bronzes
 and silks, with the aim of refurnishing the palaces emptied under the Revolution,
 notably the Tuileries, Saint-Cloud, Fontainebleau and Compiègne. 
The seats have straight backs and double baluster legs, and are gilded wood rather than mahogany;
 the armrests end with windings. Support furniture, chests of drawers or secretaries adopt
 very simple geometric shapes, and mahogany disappears under gilt bronze sconces, with antique patterns,
 when it is not replaced by native wood (elm, ash ... ), as a result of the continental blockade.

 
 
 
 

Empire style frame and secretary in mahogany and mahogany veneer, opening with the uprights with ringed detached columns.