Writing Desk with Shelf

Code :  ANTSCR0000196

not available
Writing Desk with Shelf

Code :  ANTSCR0000196

not available

Writing Desk with Shelf

Features

Style:  Napoleon III (1848-1870)

Age:  19th Century / 1801 - 1900

Year:  Seconda metà '800

Origin:  France

Main essence:  Brazilian Rosewood Various Wood Essences Rosewood

Description

An elegant serpentine writing desk, undercounter drawer with leather insert. Made of bois de rose and rosewood. The shelf has a pair of aligned drawers and two doors with elliptical handles. Richly inlaid and embellished with gilded bronze decorations and frames. Manufactured in France, second half of 1800.

Product Condition:
The item shows signs of wear due to age. It may require restoration and buffing.

Dimensions (cm):
Height: 122,5
Width: 80
Depth: 53

Additional Information

Style: Napoleon III (1848-1870)

With Napoleon III as emperor, France experienced a period of extraordinary economic prosperity, a factor that allowed it to reconstitute a formidable war machine.
In short, we relive the dream that already belonged to Bonaparte: France, a great European hegemonic power.
Euphoria and grandeur find perfect correspondence also in the furnishings that characterized the Second Empire.
In Italy, the Napoleon III style had initially insignificant effects, imposing furnishings of imitation Louis XVI with an ornamental value only resolved in carving and completely devoid of bronze trappings, in compliance with a more sober taste that will always characterize the Italian client.
Only in the first decades of the twentieth century did "French" furniture find important commercial outlets in our country.
This is the name of the artistic production of France under Napoleon III, president in 1848 and emperor from 1852 to 1870, the year of his abdication.
More than a style, we can speak of a set of styles, or rather of revivals, given that in recent years the eclectic trend that had already appeared during the previous Louis Philippe reign developed to its extreme consequences.
The drive to re-evaluate history and the Middle Ages also derives from the romantic spirit, as well as from the nationalistic one.
The houses are then decorated mixing different styles and drawing from both the past and the East, with a trend towards luxury and pomp that reflects the emperor's desire for grandeur.
In general there is a return to the whole of the eighteenth century, with particular attention to Louis XVI, the fashion for dark woods (ebony and rosewood), exotic ones and bronze applications is confirmed.
From the seventeenth century the inlay created by André-Charles Boulle, the great cabinetmaker of Louis XIV who created an inlay technique in gilded bronze and tortoiseshell, is recovered, in which one of the two materials acts as a background for the perforated designs of the other. < br/> Compared to the refinement of the original pieces, the "Boulle" furniture of this period is heavier and even more eye-catching, given the addition of bright colors through painted foils or parts in blue, red or green colored horn.
Always in the wake of eclecticism, Venetian furniture arouses particular interest, which stimulates the production of polychrome and gilded furniture, in which figures of Moretti often appear as a support.
The latter are also to be connected to the passion for the exotic that leads to the fashion of chinoiserie (especially after the conquest of Beijing in 1860).
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FineArt: Chandelier - O. Lelièvre & Susse Frères, Paris, last quarter of the 19th century < / a>
FineArt: Napoleon III sideboard

Age: 19th Century / 1801 - 1900

19th Century / 1801 - 1900

Main essence:

Brazilian Rosewood

It is a hard, light blond wood, but with strong red and pinkish veins, which is obtained from tropical trees similar to rosewood. Its veins are reminiscent of striped tulips, which is why it is called tulipwood in English-speaking areas. It is used for inlays, often combined with bois de violette. In the 1700s and 1800s it was highly appreciated and used in France and England for precious veneers. It gives off scent for decades if not centuries after curing.

Various Wood Essences

Rosewood

Under the term Rosewood various exotic, hard and heavy woods have been united, characterized by a color that varies from pink to violet. Their origin is usually from Latin America, India and Africa and are still considered very valuable woods. Until the end of the eighteenth century, this name also referred to the bois de violette . In general, rosewood woods began to be imported into Europe starting in 1750 and were first used for veneers and inlays in England, flanked, by contrast, with lighter woods. Later, entire valuable furniture was manufactured both in England, mainly in the Regency style, and in France, starting from the Neoclassical period.