The Empire Style - France - Part 2

Their furniture, much of which was made by the Jacob family, was based on a close and rather pedantic study of actual pieces, or authentic representations of them, from the ancient world. The Greek chair of klismos form with sabre legs, the classical couch with scrolled end, the circular tripod stand of Roman times, the sarcophagus adapted as a wine-cooler, even the pyramid itself conceived as a support for a circular table-top - all these provided good basic shapes, as did the Roman curule (stool on X-shaped support) and the Egyptian throne-chair with its lion-legs. To these were added, in ever greater profusion, such imperial symbols as eagles, winged lions, bees, fasces of arms (from which fascism derived its name), not to mention Napoleon's cipher, the letter 'N' in a laurel wreath. An important medium for disseminating fashionable ornament, as well as simplified shapes, was La Mesangere's Meubles et objets de gout, first appearing in 1802 and then continuing in magazine form. It provided patterns for good, honest, bourgeois handmade furniture.

The basic Neoclassicism of La Mesangere, Percier, Fontaine and others was well under way before the Revolution and the rise of Napoleon but the direction this movement took in Napoleonic France, influencing as it did the development of furniture throughout Europe, was the result of a entirely conscious attempt to create a stage setting for the Emperor, as he was styled 1804 - 1814. As such it has a grandly theatrical air about it due, perhaps, in no small part to Percier's scenic work for the opera. For practical reasons, he and his partner often had to work as stage designers do when quick changes are called for; they could take their time over the throne-room at the Tuileries, but it was often necessary to run up something effective but temporary for one of the Emperor's lightning visits to an ill-prepared provincial city. For this kind of emergency, they made effective use of tent-like draperies in striped material, and so created a fashion for the decoration of rooms and particularly for hangings over beds.

The beds themselves lacked posts and were often elaborately shaped. The lit bateau was boat-shaped, with curving prow and stern. One side, rather than the head, was set against a wall and the drapes were suspended over it. In some examples, the ends of the bed were shaped to resemble swans. A simpler type, much favoured by the middle classes, was the lit droit with an architectural headboard of painted wood. The classical scroll-ended couch of Greek derivation became the immensely fashionable chaise-longue - David's famous portrait of Madame Recamier shows her reclining on one.

Another very popular item of non fitted furniture, was the psyche - a free-standing mirror, originally circular, slung between upright supports, and soon to develop into the rectangular, full-length cheval looking-glass. The commode began to lose its importance as a status symbol and gradually became relegated to the bedroom. It was rectilinear but not break-fronted, with flush drawers veneered in the fashionable mahogany - for those who could afford it. The blockade of France made the importation of exotic woods difficult and expensive, and native woods such as oak, ash, elm, walnut and fruitwood were promoted from the sphere of regional furniture to the more luxurious products of the capital.