ets, or the marble bases of clocks, are either reproductions of
mythological subjects from old Italian gems and seals, or represent the
battles of the Emperor, in which Napoleon is portrayed as a Roman general.
There was plenty of room to replace so much that had disappeared during
the Revolution, and a vast quantity of decorative furniture was made
during the few years which elapsed before the disaster of Waterloo caused
the disappearance of a power which had been almost meteoric in its career.

The best authority on "Empire Furniture" is the book of designs, published
in 1809 by the architects Percier and Fontaine, which is the more valuable
as a work of reference, from the fact that every design represented was
actually carried out, and is not a mere exercise of fancy, as is the case
with many such books. In the preface the authors modestly state that they
are entirely indebted to the antique for the reproduction of the different
ornaments; and the originals, from which some of the designs were taken,
are still preserved in a fragmentary form in the Museum of the Vatican.

The illustrations on p. 205 of an arm chair and a stool, together with
that of the tripod table which ornaments the initial letter of this
chapter, are favourable examples of the richly-mounted and more decorative
furniture of this style. While they are not free from the stiffness and
constraint which are inseparable from classic designs as applied to
furniture, the rich colour of the mahogany, the high finish and good
gilding of the bronze mounts, and the costly silk with which they are
covered, render them attractive and give them a value of their own.

The more ordinary furniture, however, of the same style, but without these
decorative accessories, is stiff, ungainly, and uncomfortable, and seems
to remind us of a period in the history of France when political and
social disturbance deprived the artistic and pleasure-loving Frenchman of
his peace of mind, distracting his attention from the careful
consideration of his work. It may be mentioned here that, in order to
supply a demand which has lately arisen, chiefly in New York, but also to
some extent in England, for the best "Empire" furniture, the French
dealers have bought up some of the old undecorated pieces, and by
ornamenting them with gilt bronze mounts, cast from good old patterns,
have sold them as original examples of the _meubles de luxe_ of the
period.

In Dutch furniture of this