Style Charles X

Charles X, The Count of Artois, brother of Louis XVI and Louis XVIII, inherited the thrown in 1824. A great patron of the arts in the Ancien Régime (Former Regime), he later lost interest. During his reign, style was adapted to the tastes and needs of the new Bourgeois society. The novels of Balzac describe the comfortable apartments adapted to the new focus on family life.

Regency style furniture was imported from England.

The important furniture and cabinet makers of the times were the sons of Georges Jacob, Baudry, Jeanselme, Bellange, and Jean Jacques Werner.

Light coloured woods, yellow or bleached, such as lemon tree, maple, sycamore, orange tree, plane wood and the delicate gnarl of elm, of ash or Ambon wood were dominant. Marquetry was minimal: inlays of amaranth, de holly or rosewood, dark woods that contrast with the lighter hues. Stylised clasps and palmettes motifs were thus inlaid, fine lines of inlay underlined the structure of the furniture.

The table legs often rested on animal paws. Gilding and bronzes were reduced to the minimum. The marbles used were whites, light or dark greys and blacks.