Empire Style

アンピール様式 / 1804–1814 / Style / Furniture and Interiors

Empire is the style of interiors, furniture and dress that spread out of France during and after Napoleon's empire of 1804 to 1814. Large plain veneered surfaces carry gilt metal mounts placed as isolated points rather than as continuous carving. Lions' paws, winged sphinx heads, lotus and round rosettes arrive in symmetrical pairs, which is what makes it read heavier than the neoclassicism before it.

Empire Style — Jacob workshop, Joséphine's chair with swan-shaped arms, c. 1804, Château de Malmaison — Wikimedia Commons / CC0 — Jacob workshop, Joséphine's chair with swan-shaped arms, c. 1804, Château de Malmaison — Wikimedia Commons / CC0 · CC0

Empire Style — Ceremonial bed made for Talleyrand, c. 1805 — Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 4.0 · © Stevensaylor — Ceremonial bed made for Talleyrand, c. 1805 — Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 4.0 · CC BY-SA 4.0 · © Stevensaylor

Empire Style — Jacob-Desmalter, jewel cabinet of Empress Joséphine, 1809, Musée du Louvre — Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 4.0 · © Gordibach — Jacob-Desmalter, jewel cabinet of Empress Joséphine, 1809, Musée du Louvre — Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 4.0 · CC BY-SA 4.0 · © Gordibach

At a glance

Visual cues

Gilt mounts sit as evenly spaced points on plain mahogany surfaces
Front legs end in a lion's paw below and a winged sphinx head above, which carries the arm
A row of round rosette mounts runs along the lower rail of the back at equal spacing
Chairs come in matched pairs, with seat and wall covered in the same dark silk

Best used for

When a room has to declare authority through the size of its plain surfaces and a few gilt points, not through more carving
When matched pairs of furniture are used to set the axis of a room

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Dictionary entry

Type: Keep lettering off the furniture and on the textiles or the wall. Set Roman capitals in one line with wide spacing and add no decorative strokes.
Composition: Place furniture in pairs against the axis of the room and divide the wall into three horizontal zones. Gather the empty space into a few large plain surfaces instead of scattering it.
Material: Lay mahogany veneer across broad surfaces and fix gilt bronze mounts onto it. Cover seat and wall in the same silk, with a dark blue or red ground so the gold reads as points.
Caution: Add mounts until they fill the surface and the plain ground vanishes, taking the style back to rococo busyness.
Further study: the 1804 to 1814 bracket given in the Getty AAT entry Empire (300021269), and its reach across interiors, architecture and dress / the pairing of lion paws and sphinx heads on the armchair from the Jacob Desmalter workshop in the V&A (O74821) / the route by which imperial period furniture was carried to houses outside France and later sold off together

Related entries

Neoclassicism (新古典主義)Shared effects: Trust / Luxury.Compare Empire Style and Neoclassicism
Bentwood (Thonet) (曲木家具（トーネット）)Same Furniture and Interiors lineage.Compare Empire Style and Bentwood (Thonet)

Often confused with

Biedermeier (ビーダーマイヤー)compare

Cite this entry

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Link: https://indexstyle.org/styles/empire-style
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