Napoleon III canapé (1848-1870)
This magnificent piece of furniture had been left in the house of my client by the previous owner. The absolute beauty of it was that it had never been reupholstered, so it was a real glimpse into the workings of the upholsterer from over 150 years ago.
As with most old pieces, the seat needed to be completely rebuilt, but the back upholstery was good enough for a gentle patch-up. Once I had stripped the seat, I found the frame had suffered considerable damage. These repairs were made using every clamp available!
I then rebuilt the seat using all the traditional techniques. I opted to use acrylic "horsehair" it's the first time I've used this product and I really like it - it really has the feel of animal hair, and much nicer than the coarse vegetable fibres, and it kept the costs down for the client.
The client had chosen her own fabric, iLiv Etched Vine in the Linen colourway from www.the-millhouse-online.co.uk. Because the width of the canapé was wider than the fabric some careful pattern matching lining up the delicate flowing stems and leaves of the flowers.
The statement feature of the canapé is the lumbar hump (or bosse). Because of the time and complexity involved in upholstering this feature, many of these pieces are reupholstered without the hump which really loses the integrity of the piece.
The canapé was finished off with nearly 12 metres of decorative nails!
