EARLY 19TH CENTURY, PROBABLY TUSCANY

The distinctive 'antique' crescent form of these stools, accented with applied stars, foliate carving and paw feet and with characteristic white and gilt decoration, are representative of Tuscan Empire furniture of the early 19th Century. The Empire style that was promoted by Messrs. Percier and Fontaine, architects and designers to Napoleon, in their Recueil des Décorations Intérieures of 1801, was adopted throughout Italy. French influence in Italy at this time was more than merely artistic; Rome was virtually a second capital for Napoleon, who crowned himself King of Italy in 1805, and he carefully placed his family in key positions there, including naming his brother Joseph as King of Naples in 1806. For further examples of Italian Empire furniture with similar curved seatrails and decoration, see E. Colle, Il Mobile Impero in Italia: Arredi e Decorazioni d'Interni dal 1800 - 1843, Milan, 1998.