A Pair Of Louis XVI-era Polish-style Beds.

A pair of Louis XVI-era Polish-style beds, made of walnut and beech, with molded, carved, and painted details.

The two beds form a genuine original pair: identical in dimensions, construction, and decoration, they were designed together and have retained their various structural and assembly elements.

Each features two symmetrical headboards with solid panels, topped by a curved crossbar shaped like a basket handle. The frame rests on tapered, fluted legs, while square connecting blocks provide the transition to the uprights.

The long crossbars of the bed are punctuated by a regular succession of vertical grooves, a decorative motif repeated on the band of the canopy, thus creating continuity between the lower and upper parts of the ensemble.

At the four corners of each bed rise fluted and dentilled columns. They support four curved iron bars that converge toward the canopy and provide its structural support.

The canopy, which is smaller than the sleeping surface, has a rectangular plan with cut-off corners. Its central section consists of radiating arches converging on a large, foliage-adorned rosette.

This design is characteristic of the so-called “Polish-style” bed, a type that developed in France during the 18th century and whose name appears in the records of the Garde-Meuble de la Couronne as early as 1765.

Unlike the French-style bed, whose canopy roughly matches the dimensions of the sleeping area and rests on vertical posts, the Polish-style bed is a crosswise bed with two headboards, surmounted by a smaller canopy. This canopy is traditionally supported by four curved metal rods extending from the columns at the corners of the bed frame.

Historical treatises and documents show that the shape of the canopy could vary: often oval, it could also be square or rectangular. The examples preserved in public collections also attest to this diversity.

The design of our pair is fully in keeping with this Louis XVI style: symmetrical basket-handle headboards, tapered legs, fluting and rudentes, connecting cubes, a regular pattern of grooves, and the geometric architecture of the canopy.

Several Louis XVI-era Polish-style beds now held in public collections or appearing on the market exhibit comparable characteristics. An example from the Carnavalet Museum, dated around 1785, features two headboards and a rectangular canopy supported by four fluted circular posts. The Cognacq-Jay Museum also houses an important Polish-style bed from around 1785, attributed to Georges Jacob, whose canopy is supported by four curved posts shaped like fluted columns.

A Louis XVI-period bed documented by Christie’s features basket-handle headboards, fluted posts, and tapered legs with serrated fluting—all elements belonging to the same stylistic repertoire as those of our pair.

While 18th-century Polish-style beds are well documented and several examples are now preserved in public collections, it is much more unusual for them to have been preserved as a pair. The two beds presented here, identical even in their dimensions and construction, constitute a genuine original pair that has remained together.

Fully disassemblable, they retain their original assembly components, notably the original lag screws used to assemble and disassemble the various parts of the frame.

The structures are sound, and the wood is in very good condition.

The original paint shows numerous chips, signs of wear, and discoloration. It can be left as is to preserve the patina developed over time, or repainted according to the desired decorative style.

The beds are sold without curtains or fabric upholstery, without a box spring, and without a mattress, thus allowing complete freedom for their textile restoration and integration into a new decor.

Dimensions of each bed:

Total height: 298 cm

External length: 207 cm

External width: 115 cm

Headboard height: 145 cm

Crossbar height: 35 cm

Sleeping area: 190 × 105 cm