Louis XVI is the name given to the neoclassical style of French furniture and decoration associated with the reign of King Louis XVI, who came to the throne in 1774 and lost it in the Revolution. In practice the style emerged in the 1760s, before his accession, as a reaction against the curving asymmetry of the Rococo, and favoured straight lines, symmetry and ornament drawn from classical antiquity.
Louis XVI furniture is recognised by its tapering, fluted legs, rectilinear carcases, oval and medallion chair backs, and restrained gilt-bronze mounts of laurel swags, ribbon ties, beading, rosettes and Greek key. Leading Parisian makers included the ébénistes Jean-Henri Riesener and Adam Weisweiler and the menuisier Georges Jacob, several of whom worked for the royal household and for Marie Antoinette. Mahogany, fine marquetry, painted and gilded seat furniture and porcelain plaques all feature. The style was revived repeatedly through the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, so many pieces described as Louis XVI are later reproductions of varying quality. Collectors examine construction, stamps, the quality of the mounts and the crispness of carving to separate eighteenth-century work from revival pieces, both of which suit elegant contemporary rooms.
