The King's bed

3D model of the king's bed in the room of the King of the State Apartment.
The bed on display in the King’s Bedchamber, which has been there since 1701, is a reproduction of the summer furnishings in use between 1723 and 1785, commissioned by Louis XV when he returned to live in the Palace and delivered on 8 May 1723 by Lallier, who took inspiration from the summer furnishings supplied in 1705 for Louis XIV. In 1785, king Louis XVI, considering the material to be too worn, had it burned and replaced with a new bed for use the year round. In the 19th century, king Louis Philippe I, wanting to make the King’s Bedchamber a key part of the visit of the Palace, had a replica made. In the 1950s, the conservator, Gérald ven der Kemp, wished to return to a situation more like that during the Ancien Régime. The 1723 bed have been made without any visible woodwork, the Palace workshops were tasked with making the replica. The re-working of the brocade, material with a violet and crimson background, brocaded with gold and silver, decorated with rinceaux, cornets and large flowers and finished with gold fringes, was started in 1957, interrupted, then completed between 1972 and 1980; the work was carried out by two companies in Lyon, Prelle and Tassinari & Chatel, on the basis of original textile documents conserved in the Mobilier National, and was enriched with embroideries carried out by the Maison Brocard.