Antique Continental Furniture 3

Empire

Following the luxurious tastes of the eighteenth century, there was a revival of comparative austerity when the excesses of the Revolution finally died away. Instead of the richly mounted and colourful marquetry, the fashion was for plain mahogany with perhaps an inlay of brass and restrained ormolu mounts. The mahogany used was often of a darker colour and more oven grain than that favoured in England, but there are a number of similarities between the Empire style in France and the Regency. Chairs, in particular, often had the sabre leg in both countries. It must be emphasized that old French furniture was costly when it was made, and has always maintained a high price.

Louis XVI small table.

During the past hundred years, those who could not afford the genuine article bought copies which were made to sell at reasonable prices and, apart from these copies which were not made with intent to deceive, it has paid the unscrupulous to spend time and money in making fakes. Remembering the years that have passed since most of it was made, some two centuries, and the fact that much was destroyed and damaged during the Revolution, it is surprising that so many fine examples have survived. A lot of these have been repaired skillfully: lost veneer replaced, lost tops of tables restored, cupboards converted into drawers, and so forth. Thus, with French furniture as much as with any other, the collector must be very cautious indeed, and the subject needs careful study before its qualities can be appre­ciated and assessed.

With English furniture it is rarely possible to name the maker unless bills or other definite evidence has been preserved. Only very occasionally is a cabinet-maker's label found pasted inside a piece. French craftsmen, however, had the custom of marking their productions (or the majority of them) with a steel stamp bearing their name or initials. This was followed, when applic­able, by a monogram of the letters J M E, standing for jurande des menuisiers-ebenistes; showing that the article was up to the standard required by the Corporation of French cabinet-makers and had been inspected by their appointed jury. This custom, also, has had the attention of the fakers, and more pieces bear the alleged stamp of famous craftsmen than they could ever have had the time to make.

The following is a very brief list of the more eminent French cabinet-makers of the eighteenth century, of whom there were nearly 1,000 working in 1790:

J. H. Reisener L. Boudin
Bernard Van Reisen Burgh P. Roussel(Stamped B.V.R.B.)
J. F. Oeben D. Rontgen
Martin Carlin C. C. Saunier
Roger Vandercruse Lacroix A. Weisweiler (Stamped R.V.L.C.)
G. Jacob (Specialized in making chairs)

Continental furniture page 4...