Salda On Sale

Salda is synonymous with luxury furniture. This high-end Italian manufacturer has been producing gorgeous Louis XVI-style pieces for more than 150 years. Its sumptuous armchairs, opulent dining tables and stately sideboards have graced the interiors of royal houses and historic hotels. Now a fifth-generation family business, Salda advances the art of distinguished furniture-making into the 21st century.

Salda was founded in Brianza, Italy, in 1870. Not far from Milan, the Brianza region is a hub of Italian furniture production. The company was established by Arcangelo Besana, a determined entrepreneur, and his wife, Giovanna Saini. Her parents were designers for European dynasties, and her extended family in Milan were antique dealers. The couple worked as decorators for the Austrian royal family before establishing their business to produce furniture and accessories for the French nobility. Arcangelo brought an enterprising spirit, while Giovanna provided an extensive knowledge of design, taste and style.

The company’s sophisticated and high-quality furniture was a resounding success. By the early 20th century, Salda was a top furniture supplier for many of Europe’s aristocratic families. Buyers were attracted to the preservation of historical techniques and details and the clean and simple elegance of Salda furniture.

Salda has produced furniture for ultra-luxury hotels in Rome, Milan, Paris and Monaco. Today, each new Salda creation comes from the extensive Besana family archives. Brimming with original drawings and sketches, the archives have been carefully preserved and passed down through the generations. Every piece of Salda furniture is unique, and the Salda fire-branded mark guarantees its authenticity. The mark contains a quality certificate and an exclusive code that traces the origin and history of the item.

On 1stDibs, find Salda seating, case pieces, tables and more.

Reflecting the final era of royal opulence before the upheaval of the French Revolution, antique Louis XVI furniture features more angular shapes than the Rococo curves of the Louis XV style, harkening back to the imposing grandeur of Louis XIV.

Dating between 1750 and 1800, an era that overlapped with the last king of France whose reign was cut short by the guillotine, Louis XVI furniture, known as the goût grec, is emblematic of the neoclassical revision that French furniture underwent during the second half of the 18th century.

Authentic Louis XVI furniture characteristics include clean lines and carved details such as scrolls and acanthus flourishes that were inspired by ancient Greece and Rome. This was informed by a burgeoning interest in antiquity in the 18th century, owing to new archaeological excavations at sites including Pompeii and Herculaneum. It largely eclipsed the more East Asian–influenced ornamentation of Louis XV for something more geometric and symmetrical.

The Louis XVI style was defined by what was being created for the palatial rooms at Versailles and Fontainebleau, particularly for the queen, with cabinetmaker Jean-Henri Riesener being a favorite of Marie-Antoinette’s for his luxurious pieces accented with gilded bronze and marquetry. Furniture maker Jean-Baptiste-Claude Sené was also a major designer of the period, with his pieces for the royal residences adorned with giltwood and neoclassical touches like tapered columns for chair legs and laurel leaf carvings. Cabinetmaker Adam Weisweiler occasionally incorporated into his furniture porcelain panels produced by Sèvres, a popular manufacturer of European ceramics that served the crown with serveware, vases and other decorative objects.

Find a collection of antique Louis XVI seating, tables, cabinets and other furniture on 1stDibs.