Prelle Manufacture, silk fabrics since 1752
Prelle Manufacture in France
- Mill and Headquarter
- 7 rue Barodet – 69004 Lyon
- Tel : (33)472.10.11.40
- Show-Room
- 5 Place des Victoires – 75001 Paris
- Tel : (33)142.36.67.21
Prelle Manufacture in the United States
- Show-Room
- 200 Lexington Avenue, Suite 407
– New York 10016 - Tel : (1) 212.683.2081
Prelle Manufacture on the Internet
- Email adress : info@prelle.com
- To contact us : contact
Save the Château de Malmaison’s Salon Doré
The stateroom at Malmaison has not always looked as it does today. Since the napoleonic era, this sitting room has gone through numerous changes.
In 1800 the first set of furnishings were ordered from the cabinetmakers, the Jacob brothers. The set consisted of two settees, two bergères, 8 armchairs, and 12 armless chairs in mahogany upholstered in blue silk velvet with gold trimming.
In 1811 the empress Josephine decided to remodel the sitting room. She ordered two loveseats, eight gondola shaped armchairs, 12 armless chairs, six cross-legged ornemental stools, and two foot stools. The woodwork for the set was painted white and picked out in gold. The furniture was upholstered in white silk embroidered in petit point with two interlaced J’s under a crown of roses in the center. After Josephine’s death, Eugène had the furniture sent to his palace in Munich considering it to be a family souvenir. It is now kept in the Nymphenbourg château and totally reupholstered.
As for the furniture currently kept in the Malmaison stateroom, it was ordered from the Jacob brothers
by Josephine for the St Cloud palace in 1802. There are eight armchairs, four armless chairs and two loveseats in gold leafed wood with volutes on the dossiers and egyptian styled figures on the armrests. There are also two foot stools and six mahogany chairs that are currently in storage. The furniture was installed in the château in 1866 by Napoleon III during a refurnishing project.
He had it upholstered in a yellow gros de Tours decorated with medallions and bunches of lilac that was woven in Lyon in 1812 by Jean-Pierre Seguin for the fourth parlor in Napoleon’s apartments in Versailles, but was never put into use durinng the 1st Empire. The furniture fabric woven with this design was used in 1819 at St Cloud for the duchess of Angoulême and the fabric for wall hangings was used on the Malmaison set in 1866.
The furniture for the Salon Doré has not been touched since the Second Empire and although the colors are still fresh and bright, it has suffered a considerable amount of wear.
Claudette Joannis, Chief curator in historical patrimony at the château de Malmaison
The goal of the Association for the restauration of napoleonic furnishings is to reestablish the beauty and brilliance of this set of furniture from the château.
Thanks to precedent patronage, the first reweaving campaign began in Autumn of 2007 at the Manufacture Prelle. Four chairs will soon be reupholstered in the sumptuous broché of Seguin’s design.
To see works in progress.
Bernard Chevallier, director of the châteaux de Malmaison and Bois-Préau, and Claudette Joannis, chief curator at Malmaison, have endlessly contributed their intellectual and practical support to seeking patronage as they strive to render to the Salon Doré all of her splendor. Address : Association pour la restauration du mobilier napoléonien, 1 rue du Général Foy, 75008 Paris, Tél: 33.1.53.04.35.00, e_mail:m@dusoulier.com
