Italian Commode Empire Style Furniture

Antique Italian commode Empire Style Furniture

Northern Italy, circa 1730-40.

Dimensions : 57 H x 62 W x 48 D cm.

Rare piece of Antique Italian Furniture , This antique italian commode with a later moulded and rectangular top above the waisted sides centered by a flowering basket, above a foliate spray and flanked by C-scrolls with husk-trails. The sides are adorned with a large foliate spray and present foliate scrolled feet.To read more about original direction that the Empire style took in Italy during the period of French rule and of the Restoration, up to around 1840 ,

Louis XVI Style Console Table

Antique French Console Table Louis XVI Style

Circa of this piece of antique furniture :1880

Dimensions :36H x 70W x 25D inch

This Louis XVI Style Console Table has a D-shaped marble top, above a conforming frieze. . The central shaped panel is centered by a scrolled leaf ornament and accented with scrolled leaves and branches.

Louis XV bed

Antique Louis XV Bed

Circa 1755.

Dimensions: 160 X 200 cm - 180 X 200 cm.

Original: Private antique furniture collection, French manor.

The upright nature of the headboards of this Louis XV Bed guarantees a definitive period of style in this feautiful beds creation. One should particularly notice the sturdy contours associated with the deep moulding and beautifully carved floral and plant trim. Top of head- and footboards have ornamentation of a difference and exceptional quality presenting hunting motifs (quivers, game bags, guns, etc). Perhaps this louis XV bed was intended for a hunting lodge.

Louis XV desk

Circa 1760.

Dimensions : 76 H x 150 W x 75 D cm.

This Louis XV desk has long been part of the antique furniture of the Comédie Française. A first trace dates from 1884, when the Treasurer of the time used it for his desk. It then appears

in the 1977 inventory, when put on stage in Marivaux’s False Confessions, directed by Michel Etcheverry in a set designed by Olivier Etcheverry.

This antique desk appears to be the exact copy of an 18th century design. Composed entirely in harmonious curves gently forming ogee outlines, the taut lines of the legs are in the S-scroll similar to the legs of a console table by André-Charles Boulle. This writing-table speaks of its noble origins, inspired as they are by the work of

the master cabinet makers creating

the Louis XV style at its zenith.

The graceful simplicity of the unit limits its sculpted ornamentation to only the discreet bronze-work on the feet and in the key plates of the three drawers.

Wooden Louis XV Fireplace

Antique Fireplace Louis XV Style

Circa 1745.


Dimensions : 116 H x 164 W x 40 D cm.

Original : Grand salon,

18th century period house, Brussels.

Wooden Fireplace surrounds are much rarer than those in marble or stone. The remarkable and very sensitive sculpture-work magnificently embellishes this unique serpentine-lined style which reigned at the height of the Louis XV Fireplace 

The mantelpiece is bow-shaped, and one can make out the Rocaille shapes on which the floral and plant motifs in high relief are based.

This antiqes furniture magnificent piece can hold pride of place on its own, even if in the past it surely was part of a unit of sculpted wooden panelling. It will easily embellish any room that one would wish to be as welcoming as it is beautiful.

Louis XV winged fireside bergere

Louis XV winged fireside bergere - Jean-Baptiste Cresson

Circa 1755.


Dimensions : 109 H x 81 W x 61 D cm.

Seat height : 46 cm.

Original : Private collection, Allier-France.

This Louis XV bergere Created by talented woodsman Jean-Baptiste Cresson, this magnificent wide and comfortable winged chair invites one to relax. Known as a panelled or winged chair, it resembles a fireside bergère with its low seat, ample dimensions and functionality, but is rarer with its elegant and bold ornamentation which gives it its noble bearing.

A succession of generous serpentine curves creates a rhythm in the piece’s welcoming lines marked by sculpted plant motifs which date this rare and elegant chair as from the mid-18th century.

Jean-Baptiste Cresson (1720-1781)

This master antique furniture cabinet-maker worked in 1741 in Rue de Cléry in Paris ; he descended from a long line of cabinet-makers apprenticed to other famous woodsmen such as Nadal. A remarkable feature is the excellent quality of this master craftsman’s work, in both the Rocaille and Louis XV styles.

The Antique French Louis XV chair (1723-1774)

To the existing range of seating, from stool to couch, were added forms intended for more and more specific uses, such as the «chauffeuse», a low armless chair which allowed ladies to do their needlework in comfort, or the cabriolet antique French Louis XV chair (or armchair) with a seat shaped in a semi-circle behind, matching the incurving back which offered better support to the sitter. The bergère, which took various forms (such as the roomy « marquise » and the version equipped with an arm-rest on which another person might lean), became the perfect drawing-room chair. The observer’s chair or «voyelle de femme» was a Louis XV chair with an arm-rest on the upper part of the back on which one could sit astride, and was ideal for card-games.

The studios produced many types of multiple seating to facilitate conversation, such as the couch (armless and resembling an easy-chair), the cushioned sofa with padded side-pieces like those on a bergère, the ottoman or padded couch, gondola-shaped and of Turkish origin, or the famous confidante’s couch, comprising two corner-chairs at its ends, separated by arms. There were many lounging-chairs: the « duchesse », which was a type of chaise longue, the day-bed with its side-pieces of different heights, and the Turkish couch or « sultane », a kind of backless bench with two scrolled ends of equal height, which was placed against a wall.

Towards the end of Louis XV’s reign, wood was carved into irregular shapes and heavily sculpted. Lines were serpentine. Fiddle-backs were scooped at the base, leaving a space between the elements. Consoles and arm-rests became less prominent and finally vanished. Panniered gowns were in fashion and ladies needed to be able to sit down easily in them.

Richer antique furniture models were carved with flowers (especially roses), open pomegranates, acanthus leaves and seashells ornamented with foliage, linked together by curlicues or irregular, rock-like formations.

The front legs were carved in elongated curves terminating in scrolling, mouldings or acanthus leaves.The rear legs had cambered ends. The front edge had moul-dings. The seat was light and elegant, with the rear edge forming a semi-circle when viewed from above. Backs began to change shape, curving inwards to follow the shape of the seat. Chairs or armchairs with backs which enfolded the sitter were said to be «en cabriolet Armchair». Arms became smaller and smaller. Stretcher-bars disappeared.

An important development was the invention of chairs with portable frames, which permitted a change of décor accor-ding to season or for particular occasions. A wider variety of woods came into use. Most of these chairs were painted, so that there was no point in using any special type of wood. They were highly- polished. Chairs were embellished with carving, sometimes picked out in gold leaf, like those of royalty. Upholstery was more voluminous. Cane-bottomed chairs had pierced squares in place of cushions. Cushions were stuffed with feathers or with down. The mechanics of construction were carefully disguised and the finish was becoming perfect.

Italian baroque style chair and Oriental art had their influence on France, as did the Chinese and Turkish styles. Fabrics were dyed in the Oriental fashion (as re-presented by the East India Company) and decorated with birds (whose reputation for bringing bad luck resulted in their being eventually banished). Most of the fabrics were silk, since the import of Indian fabrics was forbidden in France. Besides the fabrics already in use, Utrecht velvet made its appearance, as did Beauvais and Gobelin tapestries showing pastoral scenes, bouquets of flowers or amoretti. Braid and decorative studding provided the finishing touches. Around 1750, a royal decree made it compulsory for furniture to be stamped with a maker’s mark and the hallmark of the guild of joiners and cabinet-makers.

Louis XV Style French Antique Furniture

Louis XV Style French Antique Furniture is The French style period from approximately 1730 to 1770, although this king was on the throne from 1715 (the Regence period ran from 1715 to 1723) until 1774.

Inspiration taken from plants, hence a curvilinear style.

Following the period of transition of the Regency, French style expanded to influence the whole of Europe. The style of Louis XV predominated for more than a century, fulfilling the desire for comfort of the nobility and the bourgeoisie. From the beginning of the 18th century, etiquette was less stiff, society became more frivolous. Card-games and peaceful activities were popular. Rooms were more intimate, laid out in a more rational manner and more specific in their uses (boudoirs, greater and lesser salons, music-rooms ...) This variety led to the invention of new kinds of antique furniture, including more comfortable seating of exceptional quality. Remembered among the great chair-makers of history are the names of Boulard, Cresson, Delanois, Gourdin and Nadal. The names of the tapestry-makers are not known, except through inventories.