Like France’s Empire style, Regency-style furniture was rooted in neoclassicism; the characteristics of its bedroom furniture, armchairs, dining room tables and other items include clean lines, angular shapes and elegant details.
Dating roughly from the 1790s to 1830s, antique Regency-style furniture gets its name from Prince George of Wales — formally King George IV — who became Prince Regent in 1811 after his father, George III, was declared unfit to rule. England’s Regency style is one of the styles represented in Georgian furniture.
George IV’s arts patronage significantly influenced the development of the Regency style, such as the architectural projects under John Nash, which included the renovation of Buckingham House into the formidable Buckingham Palace with a grand neoclassical facade. Celebrated designers of the period include Thomas Sheraton, Henry Holland and Thomas Hope. Like Nash, Hope instilled his work with classical influences, such as saber-legged chairs based on the ancient Greek klismos. He is credited with introducing the term “interior decoration” to English with the 1807 publishing of Household Furniture and Interior Decoration.
Although more subdued than previous styles like Rococo and Baroque, Regency interiors incorporated copious use of chintz fabrics and wallpaper adorned in chinoiserie-style art. Its furniture featured fine materials and luxurious embellishments. Furniture maker George Bullock, for instance, regularly used detailed wood marquetry and metal ornaments on his pieces.
Archaeological discoveries in Egypt and Greece informed Regency-era details, such as carved scrollwork, sphinxes and palmettes, as well as the shape of furniture. A Roman marble cinerary chest, for example, would be reinterpreted into a wooden cabinet. The Napoleonic Wars also inspired furniture, with martial designs like tented beds and camp-style chairs becoming popular. While the reddish-brown mahogany was prominent in this range of pieces, imported woods like zebrawood and ebony were increasingly in demand.
Find a collection of antique Regency tables, seating, decorative objects and other furniture on 1stDibs.
Vintage English Donegal Handmade Gray & Tan Designed Wool Rug
Located in Norwalk, CT
Beautiful vintage English Donegal hand-knotted wool rug with a gray color field. This piece has a tan-designed frame with peach, yellow and gray accents in a leafy vines pattern desi...
Wool
Mid-19th Century English Regency Period Brown Floral Axminster Rug
Located in New York, NY
English Regency Period Brown Floral Axminster Rug Made in England, circa 1830 Wilton carpet, Regency period 24' 6" x 16' 9" (747 x 511 cm)
Wool
Smaller 19th Century English Needlepoint Carpet
Located in Shipston-On-Stour, GB
Large decorative late 19th Century English needlepoint tapestry carpet. The chequerboard centre with Prince of Wales plumes of feathers. Within a red border of heraldic shields and f...
Wool
Gorgeous Antique Donegal Arts & Crafts Style Rug Designed by Gavin Morton
Located in New York, NY
Donegal Carpet Ireland 10’4” x 13”6” - 315 x 411 Early 20th century; c. 1910 Wool pile of symmetric knots on a wool foundation Designed by Gavin Morton The Donegal factory in Killybe...
Wool
Mansour Handwoven Arts & Crafts Donegal Rug, Wool, Kashmir, New Design
Located in West Hollywood, CA
Originally designed and crafted in Donegal Ireland in early 1900s, this magnificently decorative brand new Donegal-inspired carpet was hand woven and created in Kashmir. This Arts & ...
Wool
Antique English Needlepoint Carpet
Located in New York, NY
An antique English needlepoint carpet from the early 20th century. Measures: 9' 3" x 11' 9"
Wool
$21,000
W 164 in L 168 in
1900s Red Floral Antique English Edwardian Axminster Carpet 13'8"x14' Wool Rug
Located in New York, NY
The brilliant orange-red of this very late Victorian carpet - Early Edwardian displays floral sprays in lighter orange with a lacy, broken border with poppies in the corners and cent...
Wool
$28,000Sale Price|20% Off
W 135 in L 183 in
1950's Irish Donegal Biophilic Wool Rug Inspired by CFA Voysey & William Morris
By Charles Voysey, William Morris (English)
Located in Dallas, TX
78758 Vintage Irish Donegal Rug Inspired by William Morris, 11'03 x 15'03. Irish Donegal rugs, originating from County Donegal, Ireland, are celebrated for their thick pile, intricat...
Wool
$88,000
W 96 in L 120 in
Antique 19th Century English Needlepoint Rug with Chinese Dragons - Rug & Kilim
Located in Long Island City, NY
Hand-embroidered in wool circa 1880, this 8x10 antique English needlepoint carpet joins Rug & Kilim’s European collection. It features a striking Chinese dragon motif amid styliz...
Wool
$4,950Sale Price|20% Off
W 18.9 in L 120.87 in
English Antique Axminister Rug, 1870 Handmade Carpet Runner Wool Hallway Runner
Located in Wembley, GB
This high-quality rare English Axminister rug Features asymmetrical repeat pattern, woven in beige pink and cream. Revealing meandering scrolls and floral motifs. This beautiful Ant...
Wool, Cotton, Organic Material
$60,000
W 198 in L 234 in
Sophisticated Red Color with Floral Design Antique Donegal Arts & Crafts Rug
Located in New York, NY
Early 20th Century Donegal Arts & Crafts Carpet 16'9" x 21' - 510 x 640 cm
Wool
$10,000
W 56.69 in L 45.28 in
Mid 19th Century - Napoleon III Period - Antique Aubusson Wool & Silk Rug
Located in New York, NY
-Mid-19th Century Napoleon III Period Handwoven Antique Aubusson Wool & -Material: wool & silk -Dimensions: 155 x 144 cm; 5.1 x 4.7 ft Boccara Gallery has an important collection of Aubusson rugs from the XVIIIth to the XXth centuries. The style developed in Aubusson is recognized today as one of the most influential of the European rug and tapestries History. Workshops to produce Aubusson flat-woven rugs were established under the royal warrant in 1743 to manufacture pile carpets primarily for the nobility. Many weavers who settled in France were Huguenots who had fled Spain during the Inquisition in the early sixteenth century. By issuing the edict of Nantes, Henry IV granted all non-Catholics freedom of worship, thereby protecting the carpet weavers in Aubusson. Aubusson weavers became the finest craftsmen in the world. Louis XIV’s influential Prime Minister Colbert established the long and hard...
Wool, Silk
$32,000
W 138 in L 204 in
Antique European Axminster Rug Colorful Intricate Floral Vines - Rug & Kilim
Located in Long Island City, NY
This 12x17 oversized antique Axminster rug is an exciting new addition to Rug & Kilim’s Antique rug collection; a masterpiece of the traditional style. It is hand-knotted in wool and believed to originate from Sweden circa 1920-1930. On the Design: This exceptional antique Axminster carpet...
Wool
$45,500
W 172 in L 194 in
1820s Pink & Camel Floral European English Axminster Rug 14'4" x 16'2" Carpet
Located in New York, NY
Early 19th Century English Armorial Axminster Carpet (14'4" x 16'2" - 437 x 497) This is a particularly colorful late Regency period Axminster carpet, with an astonishing double flor...
Wool
Late 19th Century Antique French Needlepoint Pink & Green Floral Wool Carpet
Located in New York, NY
Antique French Pink and Green Floral Wool Carpet Needlepoint, Handwoven Wool France, circa 1890 This needlepoint features a soft sage-green field divided into three central panels o...
Wool