The Empire style: authority as decoration

The Empire style is a political language before it is a taste. Between 1804 and 1815 furniture borrows from Rome and Egypt to give a young regime the look of continuity.

Forms are massive and symmetrical: detached columns, tapering pilasters, black or grey marble tops. Dark figured Cuban mahogany acts as a ground for gilt bronzes: palmettes, swans, winged victories, bees.

An Empire piece does not blend into a room. It becomes its centre. That is why it should stand alone against a pale wall, with space around it.