18th Century French Furniture Style Guide

Over the course of the eighteenth century, the French royal court was the dominant force in defining taste and style throughout Europe, making French furniture of the period highly sought after. The combination of fashionable design and impeccable artistry ensured that French craftsmanship reigned supreme.

Régence (1700–1730)

Among the foremost masters of the Régence and early Rococo periods was Charles Cressent, celebrated for his virtuoso use of exotic timbers such as palissandre and amaranth. His bombé commodes were richly adorned with sculptural and decorative ormolu mounts, often to the point where form and function gave way entirely to the dynamic curves and movement of the gilt bronze. A superb example of this style, dating to around 1730, can be seen in the collections at Waddesdon Manor.

The Régence marks a transitional period in 18th-century French furniture, bridging two great styles: the heavy Baroque classicism of Louis XIV’s court, directed artistically by Charles Le Brun, and the emerging lightness of the Rococo.

As early as 1699, Louis XIV himself called for a fresher approach in the redesign of the Château de la Ménagerie at Versailles, remarking that “youthfulness” was lacking in the initial drafts. Even the King sought relief from the omnipresent pomp and majesty of the official style that dominated Versailles. He found respite in the more intimate and graceful settings of Trianon and Marly.

The interiors at Marly were conceived in deliberate contrast to Versailles. Comfort, elegance, and grace took precedence over grandeur. The highly sculptural forms of the Baroque, with their bold classical orders and monumental scale, were gradually reduced under the guidance of architect Jules Hardouin-Mansart (1646–1708).

A distinctive decorative feature of the Régence was the use of strapwork as a three-dimensional motif, linking architectural details and appearing as ornament on furniture. Notable designers of the day included Jean Bérain (1640–1711), Claude Audran (1658–1734), and Pierre Le Pautre (c.1648–1716), whose designs helped shape the elegance and refinement of this transitional style.

Under the direction of the Regent, the Duc d’Orléans, the French court moved from Versailles to Paris. In 1715, the young Louis XV, then only five years old, took up residence in the Tuileries. Versailles by this time had become “gloomy and faded”, and with the shift of the court, artists and intellectuals followed.

France, however, was in financial crisis after the costly wars of Louis XIV’s reign. As a result, much of the patronage for the new style came not from the Crown but from private individuals commissioning furnishings for their new hôtels particuliers in the fashionable districts of the Faubourg Saint-Honoré and Faubourg Saint-Germain. This shift gave rise to a flourishing market for 18th-century French furniture of great elegance and innovation.

Rococo (1730–1755)

One of the most important figures of the Rococo period was Jean-François Oeben, cabinetmaker to Louis XV. Oeben was celebrated for his ingenious mechanical pieces, in which secret drawers and hidden chambers could only be revealed by those familiar with their intricacies.

While his furniture retained elements of Rococo – such as cabriole legs and the gentle curvature of commodes and cabinets – Oeben’s designs were overall more ordered, rational, and refined. Floral marquetry took precedence over ormolu ornament, giving his works a lighter and more controlled aesthetic.

A fine example of this stylistic evolution can be seen in Oeben’s writing/toilette table, c. 1750, now in the Getty Museum, which beautifully demonstrates the transition from the exuberance of Rococo to the more restrained elegance of mid-18th-century design.

Rococo (1730–1755)

The Rococo period falls under the reign of Louis XV and is generally considered to span from 1730 to 1755 in France, though the style flourished elsewhere in Europe well into the late 18th century. Rococo was fanciful, decorative, and opulent – a deliberate divergence from the classical severity of Louis XIV’s Baroque. Whereas the Baroque was rooted in the architectural language of antiquity, Rococo abandoned classical columns and Roman capitals in favour of organic, playful, and often exotic ornament.

A Style of Pleasure & Intimacy

For the mid-18th-century elite, pleasure, informality, and intimacy became more important than the ceremonial grandeur of the previous reign. Townhouses were redesigned with lighter, more comfortable rooms: tall elegant windows admitted abundant daylight, while mirrors between them multiplied both natural light and the glow of candlelight in the evening. Panelled walls were carved with flowing rocaille ornament – shells, scrolls, and natural motifs – often painted in soft pastel tones to enhance the sense of airiness.

As Pierre Le Patte observed in his Discours sur l’architecture (1754):

“Previously dwellings were designed purely for display, and nothing was known of the art of living in comfort, for one’s own benefit. It is the pleasing distribution of space in the hôtels of the present day that transforms our dwellings into abodes of charm and delight.”

These comments highlight the shift towards intimate domestic spaces rather than the imposing ceremonial halls of Versailles.

Rocaille, Singerie & Chinoiserie

The very word Rococo may derive from rocaille – the decorative use of shells, rockwork, and watery forms in grottoes and fountains. Combined with C- and S-scrolls drawn from natural shapes, these motifs became central to Rococo design. The style also delighted in fantasy and exoticism, expressed through singeries (whimsical depictions of monkeys) and chinoiserie.

At Waddesdon Manor, the rare Green Boudoir panels (c.1725–30) feature a gilt cornice of cavorting monkeys, marking the transition between Régence restraint and Rococo exuberance. Comparable interiors include the celebrated Grand and Petit Singeries at the Château de Chantilly.

Decline of the Rococo

By the mid-1750s, Rococo came under attack from classicists and moralists, who associated its frivolity with the perceived immorality of Louis XV’s court. Simultaneously, archaeological excavations in Italy renewed interest in the art of Greece and Rome, paving the way for the rise of Neoclassicism. Transitional furniture of the period reflects this shift, with Rococo features such as scrolling arms paired with straighter, fluted legs – a foreshadowing of the new order.

Neoclassicism (1755–1798)

By the late 1750s, Classicism had returned with force. Inspired by the ancient art of Greece and Rome and its revival during the Renaissance, Neoclassicism emerged as both an artistic and moral corrective to Rococo excess. Where Rococo was intimate and playful, Neoclassicism was rational, ordered, and imbued with a sense of virtue and gravity.

The style spread rapidly across Europe. In St Petersburg, Neoclassicism reshaped the city’s streets and palaces. In England, architects such as Robert Adam reimagined country houses as Arcadian idylls, combining classical ideals with modern comfort. The movement dominated the last decades of the 18th century and extended well into the 19th, shaping not only furniture but also architecture, painting, and decorative arts.

Jean-Henri Riesener’s period of eminence followed that of his master Oeben and is characteristically Neoclassical. His furniture is distinguished by the use of decorative motifs such as running guilloche, egg-and-dart borders, and fluted, tapered legs. A fine example, dating to around 1780–85 and now at Waddesdon Manor, demonstrates these hallmarks.

Riesener’s close connection to Louis XVI and Queen Marie Antoinette gives his work not only great decorative significance but also profound historical importance. His luxurious creations epitomise the splendour and refinement of the late ancien régime, serving as symbols of the opulence that ultimately contributed to the Revolution.

Stylistically, classical references from antiquity abound in both his furniture and the interiors for which it was conceived. As with Rococo before it, Neoclassicism was very much le goût du jour, with design vocabulary drawn directly from the ancient world: ram’s heads, husk swags, paterae, fluted columns, pilasters, anthemia, friezes, scrolls, volutes, acanthus leaves, classical terms, and river gods. These motifs flowed seamlessly from the drawing books of Parisian designers into the workshops of cabinetmakers, bronziers, architects, artists, and artisans of every discipline, creating one of the most unified and refined decorative languages of the 18th century.

Louis XVI Satinwood Commode, Ferdinand Bury “ Dit ˜Ferdinand˜

Classicism in late 18th-century France was often celebrated through restraint and refinement, where lavish ornament gave way to purity of line and the use of exceptional materials. Exotic timbers such as satinwood and amaranth, combined with finely cast gilt-bronze mounts, exemplified designs that were simple in outline yet highly sophisticated in execution.

With the fall of the monarchy, post-revolutionary France embraced the Empire style, championed by Napoleon. Furniture designs by Bellangé, such as the set of drawings dated c.1800, demonstrate this transition: heavier forms, darker woods, and decorative motifs drawn from a fusion of classical and Egyptian sources. These pieces carried a new sense of grandeur and dominance, quite distinct from the lighter, more elegant creations of the preceding Neoclassical period.

One of the enduringly attractive features of French furniture is the system of stamping introduced under the Parisian guilds. From the 17th century, statutes required that all furniture bear the stamp of the registered master and workshop, ensuring quality control and protecting the prestige of the guilds. Regulations were strict – Charles Cressent, for example, was fined and even imprisoned for producing his own bronze mounts, a practice reserved for specialised bronziers. Today, these stamps are invaluable for attribution and authentication, unlike English furniture, which was rarely marked.

The emphasis placed by Waddesdon Manor on its extraordinary French furniture collection is well justified, yet such pieces are not confined to museums and stately homes. At Nicholas Wells Antiques, we are proud to offer original, stamped French furniture dating from Louis XIV through to the Empire period – from commodes and chairs to elegant desks.

Take a look at our current selection of French 18th-century furniture – museum-quality pieces of remarkable craftsmanship, ready to bring history, elegance, and distinction into your home.