This fifteen-year period between the French Revolution and the Empire was the most troubled in French history. Three successive regimes marked the passage between the absolute monarchy of the Bourbon kings to the Empire established by Napoléon I. Gone were the Bourbons and the customs, tastes and decors of the old regime. Luxury, power and privilege were condemned. Equality, simplicity and civic virtue replaced them. However, the ideals of the Revolutionists were not always played out in their true form in the fashion of the day. Affectations of simplicity often existed side by side with conspicuous luxury. The revolutionaries suppressed the furniture guilds during this period, and thus, craftsmanship was no longer guaranteed. The new clients of the day did not have the sophistication to demand the high quality work that had been produced by the menuisiers and ébénistes of the court, and the Directoire government lacked the authority to insist upon it.

Abroad
England: End of the Adam style
Italy: The Neoclassical style
Spain: The Carlos IV style

Furniture
The weak economic situation during the Directoire had a direct impact on the furniture production of the day. The simplification process begun under Louis XVI along with a taste for classical forms continued. The furniture of this period is elegant and gracious, heralds references of antiquity and comes to fruition in the Empire style.

Materials and Techniques
Most furniture from this period is solid wood: elm, walnut, fruitwood or beech. Only luxury work is made of solid and carved mahogany or has mahogany veneer. Painted pieces in gray, white, sea green and lime green boasted carved ornament painted in a contrasting color or different shades of the same color. Marquetry disappeared entirely and bronze fittings became rare.

Ornament
Directoire ornament is spare and light and is inspired by the Greek and Pompeian models. Lines are straight with crisp geometric forms. Surfaces are flat and corners are clean. Characteristic motifs include squares, rectangles and palmettes. Single lozenges contain a motif, often a Greek urn or medallion. Motifs of antiquity of the Directoire period also include tureens, columns, arrows, dragons, winged lions, swans and gryphons. Sphinxes, lotus flowers, pyramids and caryatids began to appear after the French expedition into Egypt.


Source: Chadenet, Sylvie. French Furniture from Louis XIII to Art Deco. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 2001.