Description
Antique Sofa
Antique sofa made during the Empire Period in approximately 1825-1840. This Empire Style antique sofa has many desirable features. With new upholstery fabric, this antique sofa certainly can transform a room and elevate it to very classic style.
Empire Style
This Empire style antique sofa has very beautiful shapes and lines. The back of the sofa stays quite straight. In addition, the arms drop straight down, with little curvature in the front. Indeed, this masculine sofa reflects traditional Empire style. During the first quarter of the 19th century, heavy and block-like furniture was en vogue. The shape of the antique sofa is very classic Empire style, with clean masculine lines. These construction techniques also make it a very sturdy piece of antique furniture.
These simple lines allowed the beauty of the fine materials – especially mahogany- to shine through. Craftsmen utilized rare and expensive mahogany on fine furniture for the upper classes. Indeed, this antique sofa has a very dramatic flame mahogany veneer. Many people find the mahogany veneer very elegant and striking. Of course, mahogany also signified great wealth and taste, as many could not afford such rare woods.
The upholstery is most likely the original velvet from the early 19th century Federal and Empire period. Some might consider the style to be Early Victorian Period. Unfortunately, the antique living room piece is missing the back panel of velvet. In fact, one can see the original upholstery webbing. The fabric has faded with time. You might be interested in having this sofa reupholstered. Indeed, you could have a lot of fun with choosing a new fabric to work in your bohemian style home.
This beautiful sofa came from the Edward McPherson Estate of Gettysburg, PA. McPherson was a two time US Representative and strong Lincoln supporter during the Civil War. This sofa survived the battles of Gettysburg. Of course, the provenance adds to the value of this antique sofa as an artifact of American History. However, even not considering the provenance of this artifact, this sofa remains a very elegant piece of antique furniture.
