This beautifully decorative French banquette is unequivocally neo classical in style. The settee exhibits many hallmarks of Charles X , with its stylistic roots still firmly anchored in the classical lines of the preceding Empire period. The emporer Napoleon wished to be surrounded by the pomp and ceremony associated with the generals of ancient Rome. The furniture that he commissioned was inspired by the classical designs of that period and was often direct copies of original pieces that he had plundered in his campaigns.This settee still has distinctive Empire shaping but the decoration has been somewhat softened with the use of more whimsical floral patterning in the place of formal napoleonic symbols and classical motifs .The use of an ebonised finish with parcel gilt decoration is very typical of the Louis Philippe period when darker toned woods and black painted finishes were favored over lighter tones. The settee dates to the Louis Philippe period, circa 1840.