Antique Pair French Empire Mahogany Bedside Cabinets 19th Century

Rouge de Rance
is a  red marble from the town of Rance in the province of Hainaut Belgium. 

The red "marble" of Rance was very popular as a prestigious building material for decorative use. Although it has been exploited since Roman Antiquity it became most renowned since the 17th century because of its prolific use in the Royal Chateau of Versailles built for the French king Louis XIV. Large quantities were used for the most prestigious parts of the building, including the interior wall decoration of the "Galerie des Glaces" and the columns of the main portico on the "Cour des Marbres". To satisfy the vast demand needed for Versailles and other French royal residences a new quarry was opened and subsequently named "Trou de Versailles"

Since the 18th century "Rouge de Rance" was also very popular as a material for fireplaces and clocks, and as a top for furniture such as commodes.

The exploitation of the quarries in Rance stopped in the 1950s. A museum on Belgian Marbles was opened in Rance in 1979.
 

Empire style,
 
is an early-19th-century design movement in architecture, furniture, other decorative arts, and the visual arts followed in Europe and America until around 1830.

The style originated in and takes its name from the rule of Napoleon I in the First French Empire, where it was intended to idealize Napoleon's leadership and the French state. The style corresponds to the Biedermeier style in the German-speaking lands, Federal style in the United States and to the Regency style in Britain. The previous style was called Louis XVI style, in France.

The Empire style was based on aspects of the Roman Empire. It is the second phase of neoclassicism which is also called "Directoire", after a goverment system.
Furniture typically had symbols and ornaments borrowed from the glorious ancient Greek and Roman empires.

The furniture was made from heavy woods such as ebony, imported from the colonies, with dark finishes often with decorative bronze mounts. Marble tops were popular as were Egyptian motifs like sphinxes, griffins, urns and eagles and the Napoleonic symbols, the eagle, the bee, the initials "I" and a large "N." 

Gilded bronze (ormolu) details displayed a high level of craftsmanship.