A French Restoration Bedroom1823
The style of this small but elegantly decorated bedroom is a reaction to the ornate, gilded and ormolu-encrusted taste of the Empire period. More about this work
About this work
The style of this small but elegantly decorated bedroom is a reaction to the ornate, gilded and ormolu-encrusted taste of the Empire period. Pale gray paneled walls and polished floorboards create a subdued background. Windows are hung with white muslin curtains, the swags trimmed with tassels. A simple blue needlepoint rug is placed on the floor in front of a blue velvet settee. A tall, six-drawer chest with a white marble top, a small cylindrical bedside table and a corner dressing table-with-mirror reflect the new concept of design in the Restoration period in France.
Text from Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum.
How it was made
- Watercolour
- Pigment in gum arabic, thinned with water and laid in transparent washes. Nothing white is painted: the light is the paper showing through.
- Graphite
- Pencil. Graphite has been used for drawing since the 1500s; in 1795 Nicolas-Jacques Conté mixed it with clay, so its hardness could be graded.
Rights and the museum’s record
Public domain. Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum has dedicated this image to the public domain under CC0, so anyone may copy, adapt and use it, for any purpose, without asking. Our prints and files are reproductions made from the museum’s image; the museum doesn’t endorse them.
- Object number
- 2007-27-5
- Credit
- Courtesy of Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum
- Type
- Drawing
- Department
- Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum
- Licence
- CC0 1.0 Universal
- Museum record
- See it on the museum’s site
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Close in colour
