Empire Style

The Empire style was created to express the grandeur of Napoleon's imperial ambitions. Designers Charles Percier and Pierre-François-Léonard Fontaine, working under imperial patronage, developed a furniture vocabulary drawn directly from ancient Rome, Egypt (following Napoleon's Egyptian campaign of 1798–1801), and Greece — monopodium supports in the form of animal legs, Egyptianate sphinx and caryatid figures, columns and pilasters, acanthus and palmette ornament — all executed in dark mahogany with gilded bronze (ormolu) mounts of extraordinary quality. French Empire furniture of the highest order was made by the Parisian ébénistes Jacob-Desmalter, who supplied the imperial palaces. American Empire (c. 1810–1840) translated the French style through an English Regency filter into a robust domestic furniture tradition. American makers used figured mahogany veneers on pine or poplar substrates, replaced French ormolu with gilded or brass-mounted details, and produced the characteristic American Empire forms: the sleigh bed with scrolled headboard and footboard, the pier table with marble top and gilded support, the sideboard with heavy ogee feet, and the secretary bookcase with heavy architectural cornice. Philadelphia, Baltimore, and New York were the primary centers. The style's bold proportions and dark wood surfaces have had enduring appeal, and American Empire furniture from quality Texas estates appears regularly in our auctions.