Caveat Emptor
The quality of furniture from this period was often suspect. Napoleon had abolished the guild system in France during the first years of the Empire. This ended the blatant inequalities of the old system, but it also lowered the standards of craftsmanship of many of the middle- and lower-level shops in Paris and the provinces. The democratization of Napoleonic Europe also created a strong demand among the newly free populace for the latest styles. Between 1800 and 1813 over 10,000 workmen earned their living in the furniture trade in Paris, and many of them engaged in the mass production of shoddy but fashionable pieces to supply the new middle classes with the furnishings they desired. This particular legacy of the Empire requires that collectors in today's marketplace buy furnishings from this period with a careful eye.
Collectors should also be aware that the popular conception that mahogany was the primary wood of the Empire should be qualified in two ways. First, after 1806 the continental blockade drastically reduced the import to France of mahogany from the English colonies, where most of it was harvested. This had the double effect of exaggerating the value of mahogany, unarguably the favorite wood of the Empire, and intensifying the use of local woods, especially walnut, elm, ash, yew, and beech. So, a notable quantity of Empire furniture is therefore not mahogany and, further, what may appear to be provincial Empire furniture can actually be finely crafted Parisian work, but made from lighter-colored, local woods. Conversely, the coastal Atlantic cities of Nantes and Bordeau often received imported wood as either pirated or smuggled cargo. So in those cities, provincial cabinetwork in the Empire style was often executed in mahogany.
New Forms
There were two new pieces of furniture introduced during the Empire period, and two others that became wildly popular. The curved back chair, called en gondole, or gondola-shaped, made its appearance during this period, as did the psyche, or cheval mirror, a tall looking glass suspended on a frame. The mirrors, which were pivoted and produced in both rectangular and arched forms, gave the viewer a full-length reflection. Gaining tremendous popularity during the period were the fall-front secretary, which appeared in nearly every Empire interior except the dining room, and the console table, which became one of the most distinctive pieces of Napoleonic furniture, produced with both marble and solid tops, and hundreds of variations of front supports.
The Style's Enduring Legacy
The Empire style covered all of Europe and reached as far as Russia, where Alexander I was one of its most fervent advocates. Its power, pomp, and circumstance are intoxicating, as perhaps Napoleon intended. If one were to track the rising arc of Western cabinetmaking skills through the 17th and 18th centuries, the curve would reach its pinnacle during the final years of the Empire, and then begin its slow descent.
