Pair of Napoleon III Armchairs to Reupholster, French Work, Circa 1900

This handsome pair of armchairs presents the characteristic abundance and eclecticism of the Napoléon III style: richly carved frames — in the manner of the fine Parisian ébénistes who supplied the great bourgeois houses and hôtels particuliers of the Second Empire — combined with a formal generosity of proportion that invited the voluminous silks and velvets of the period. The carved details, whether floral, scrolled, or geometric, are executed with the confidence of craftsmen working at the height of a style that celebrated ornament as a mark of prosperity and cultivation. Please note: the chairs require reupholstery.

The Napoléon III style, which flourished throughout the Second Empire and into the early years of the Third Republic, was one of the most exuberant and eclectic idioms in the history of French furniture. Drawing freely on Louis XIV, Louis XV, Louis XVI, Renaissance, and even Moorish sources, it produced an aesthetic of studied opulence that matched the ambitions and tastes of the newly enriched bourgeoisie who were its principal patrons. The great Parisian ébénistes of the period — many working in the faubourg Saint-Antoine — produced pieces of extraordinary quality and invention, their carvers and gilders the inheritors of centuries of guild tradition.

A pair of Napoléon III armchairs of this quality represents an exceptional opportunity for the collector or decorator who wishes to reinterpret a classic of the French furniture tradition. The carved frames, solid and well-preserved, invite a new upholstery programme — a bold velvet in jewel tones, a brocade in the grand manner, or a contemporary textile in a contrasting spirit — that will bring the chairs into dialogue with any interior, from the most historicist to the most strikingly modern. An investment in beauty and history alike.