MALMAISON: THE SPLENDOR OF EMPIRE STYLE

Malmaison, the Empire collection from Christofle, features everything from silver cutlery to decorative objects. Objects, such as the iconic candelabra, picture frames, and the elegant champagne buckets, display the collections inimitable style and are present throughout all categories  of the Art of the table.

*Our gift to you with purchase of our celebrated Malmaison collection:

Spend $1,500 to $3,499: receive a Malmaison butter spreader (online only)

Spend $3,500 to $9,999: receive our Malmaison 4x6 frame

Orders above $10,000: receive our Malmaison Tray

*purchase value within the Marly and Malmaison collections, while supplies last, gifts cannot be combined

(only one gift per order).

Malmaison frame and tray offer valid online and in Christofle Boutiques

Named after the Château de la Malmaison, the favorite residence of Napoleon Bonaparte and Empress Josephine, the Malmaison collection is characterised by its symmetrical motifs, alternating water leaves and palmettes, typical of the Empire style.

Under Napoleon III, nephew of Napoleon I, the Empire style became fashionable again. For their sumptuous receptions in Paris and Biarritz, Empress Eugenie and Napoleon III called on Christofle, which became the official supplier to the imperial couple.

In 1909, during the effervescence of the Roaring Twenties, Christofle brought the Empire style up to date by creating the Malmaison Empire Collection, which was simply renamed Malmaison in the 1960s.

The Malmaison collection is characterised by its palmettes motifs and the elegant outline of water leaves such as the lotus leaves often used in the form of friezes. A recurring decorative element since antiquity, both in decoration and architecture, the palm leaf or palmette evokes the exoticism of ancient Egypt, the East that fascinates.

The use of gadroons and the symmetry of their arrangement give the silverware in the collection its emblematic appearance.

In the collection of table accessories, such as the champagne bucket, evocations of the eagle recall memories of Ancient Rome before becoming the imperial emblem. The eagle is also the symbol of the powerful Jupiter, often associated with power and military victories. This symbol, used on many pieces of the collection, gave birth to certain emblematic pieces such as the Malmaison saucer or the centrepiece, which are still among the most appreciated today.

200 years after Napoleon's death, the Malmaison style is still relevant, still refined, a combination of rigour and audacity, it crosses the ages and still gives the table as much allure, while sharing its imperial pleasures.

SYMMETRICAL patterns

The EMPIRE style

Palmettes and royal EAGLES

The spectacular majesty of ANCIENT ROME

GEOMETRIC friezes

ASYMMETRICAL patterns

Louis XV style, ROCOCO

ACANTHUS leaves and SHELLS

The graceful luxuriance of ANCIENT GREECE

Rounded forms, in MOVEMENT

Period: from 1800 to 1820

Style: Majestic - spectacular - severe - rigorous - strongly Roman and Egyptian inspired.

Forms: Rigid - very symmetrical - with strict regularity.

Dominant ornaments : Water leaves - palmettes - Eagle - Sphinx - Ram - Swan necks.

Christofle models: Malmaison - Brienne (AM)