Louis Philippe ruled in unpretentious fashion, avoiding the pomp and lavish excesses of his predecessors and antique French furniture of that era reflects the austerity of the period. Abandoning the elaborate and carved elements of past French styles did not mean that French would depart from quality and superb craftsmanship in furniture, art or architecture. Louis Philippe period antique furniture is a true expression of the conflicts in the time when the regal authority was restored with restrained elegance.
This grand Louis Philippe eight-door bookcase, called by the French a bibliothèque, was meticulously hand-crafted from solid cherry wood, harvested from old-growth trees that no longer produced fruit. French artisans seasoned the wood for years to ensure its stability to last for generations, then sculpted it into such beautiful specimens as you see before you in this superlative example using time-honored joinery methods handed down from generation to generation, such as the hand-made pegged mortise & tenon joints that remain as tight as the day they were first fashioned. The clean lines of the Louis Philippe style stand out, yet provide no competition for the sheer natural beauty of the aged wood, exuding its refined age with the patina acquired over the course of a century and a half!
