Of by its previous history and the multiple influences that it undergoes, it would seem that one can not define the characteristics of the style Napoleon III.

It gets free however of it some number :

* Dark or darkened wood

* A great use of the "contreplacage", under a craft or industrial form.

* The inlays of copper, of hard stones, of mother-of-pearl, of china or of enamel.

* The employment of the roulettes in the feet of the seats.

* Motives the Renaissance or Louis XV.

* Numerous small pieces of furniture.

* Painted furniture on black bottom.

* The unity of tissues and of complexion in the furnishing, or free the opposition of tints (green, red, for example).

* A theatrical taste of the decoration, red and but most of the time.

The originalities of the style Napoleon III

If it is necessary to recognize that the style Napoleon III was, in great part, inspired by the previous centuries, one can not deny him, however, some rather important creations to give him its real face, and remained indissolubly bound to the idea that one is done inside of time.

Quite in him the wealth, the taste of the good reflect to live, on the good to eat : it is a time " confortable ".

The buffer : this element of decoration stemming from a tendency Louis-Philippe, took an extension that it is possible to call of unbounded . The fashion is such as the wallpapers reproduce it in trunk the eye, allowing so to give to the bulwarks the comfortable aspect of the furniture.

The materials : what would be the brilliant tissues without the dark wood ? Sometimes, the building material has the whole importance, except the furniture made only of wood, heightened of sculptures taken in the mass, there are the furniture in cast iron, and the furniture in rattan, new materials had to in the perfection of the industrial art and in the importance given to Far East.

Among the artists of time let us quote Liénard ( 1810-1870 ), main thing protagonist of the style " Renaissance ", became especially attached to the construction of the piece of furniture. The models are those of the XVI-th century and it does not create original motives. He was the main artisan of the dining rooms " Henri II " which stood out, without a shadow of a doubt, all period long.