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  • Jacob Petit and Paris porcelain

    In the 1830s, while Parisian decorators and porcelain manufacturers provided designs that perpetuated the neoclassical vocabulary, Jacob Petit (1796-1868) challenged tradition by proposing

  • The Small Blue Lounge

  • The Louis-Philippe style (1830-1848)

    Beginning at the end of the Restoration (1830), the reign of Louis-Philippe continued until the Revolution of 1848 when Parisian revolts forced him to abdicate and go into exile. The new

  • The Empire style (1804-1815)

    The Empire style developed under the impetus of Emperor Napoleon I (1769-1821), who reigned from 1804 to 1815. The first stirrings of the Empire style can be found as early as the Directory (1795-1799), but

  • Tips for furnishing an Empire-style living room in a castle, mansion, or luxury apartment

    For over 25 years, Galerie Atena has been helping its clients decorate their interiors: castles, manor houses, beautiful homes, luxury apartments… with unique pieces, carefully restored in their original state

  • Mythology in 19th Century Decorative Arts

      Against the white-painted wainscoting stood eight mahogany chairs. An old piano supported, beneath a barometer, a pyramidal pile of boxes and cartons. Two tapestry armchairs flanked

  • Atena and her collection of Romantic-era art

    "Romantic Paris, 1815-1848": The Petit Palais's landmark exhibition. From May 22 to September 15, 2019, the Petit Palais presents "Romantic Paris," an immersive exhibition that plunges us into the atmosphere of..

  • Napoleon III tables and pedestal tables

    The Napoleon III style, which spans from approximately 1852 to 1870, is distinguished by a broad blend of styles from the 16th to the 18th centuries. A large number of pieces of furniture feature marquetry in tortoiseshell and metal

  • Edition Bronzes in 19th Century France

      Edition bronze: a social phenomenon. Small-scale sculpture or edition bronze is a surprising phenomenon due to its scale and the variety of technological and commercial means employed

  • Libraries and display cases, or the art of presenting collections

    The bookcase as a storage unit. The bookcase is a piece of furniture designed for storing books that appeared in England at the end of the 16th century, a little over a century before France where they were first introduced

  • The Transition style (1765-1775)

    The term Transition refers to the stylistic evolution which, in the second half of Louis XV's reign and the very beginning of Louis XVI's reign, is characterized by the abandonment of the curves and movement of the Romanesque style

  • Rocaille, the story of an ornament

      The rocaille style, often discussed in contrast to classical antiquity, emerged in Baroque Europe and developed to the point of transforming the very structure of furniture and objects. The pieces of the

  • The French clock

    From the late 18th century onwards, artists rebelled against classical rigidity and the cult of ideal beauty, expressing their preference for more realistic subjects, closer to their own time

  • Lighting fixtures in 19th-century France

    19TH-CENTURY CHANDELIERS A chandelier is a piece of furniture designed to capture light and enhance the brightness of an interior. It can already be found in the Middle Ages, made of wood and equipped with candles. (Apart from...)

  • Silverware in the 19th century

    The housewife, an 18th-century invention. The practice of placing cutlery on the table, around each plate, became widespread from the 17th century onwards, and especially in the 18th century. The grand sewers

  • The Restoration style (1815-1830)

    After Napoleon's defeat at Waterloo on June 18, 1815, power in France was taken over by the two brothers of Louis XVI: the Count of Provence, who would reign as Louis XVIII (1815-1823),

  • The mirror, an iconic decorative object

    The history of the first mirrors dates back to around 6000 BC. The oldest examples are made of polished stone, then later of polished metal, copper or bronze

  • Cylinder secretary after Riesener

      The cylinder desk: an 18th-century invention. The cylinder desk is a piece of office furniture created in the mid-18th century, during the reign of Louis XV. It has drawers and compartments made of

  • How are porcelain biscuits made?

    In our previous article, we explored the rich history of porcelain biscuit. This time, let's turn to the techniques used to create these exceptional objects. Before the creation..

  • Large format paintings in our collections

    Large Format and History Painting: In the 19th century, painters interpreted everything related to their own time and ancient times, allegorical and mythical scenes, on large canvases

  • The Louis XVI style (1774-1790)

    After the period of experimentation with the Transition style (1765-1775), the Louis XVI style emerged in the early 1770s as the elegant expression of a return to classicism, free from the rigidity of taste

  • Poul Cadovius - Modular Design

    Who was Poul Cadovius? Poul Cadovius was a Danish furniture designer who lived from 1911 to 2011. He began his career as a cabinetmaker's apprentice at the age of 16 and worked for several