Aug. 27 (Bloomberg) -- Napoleon Bonaparte scorned the rooster, France's national symbol popularized by the Revolution.

``It's a weak animal that can't represent the Empire,'' he told the advisers who prepared his coronation. ``You have to choose between the eagle, the elephant and the lion.''

It was the eagle that came out on top. As their personal emblems, Napoleon and Josephine, his first wife, had already selected the bee and the swan.

These symbols of power under the Empire are the subject of a charming exhibition at Paris's Musee des Arts Decoratifs.

The Empire style, spanning Napoleon's reign as First Consul (1799-1804) and Emperor (1804-15), was not only a French phenomenon. It influenced the whole of Europe, including hostile England, and the U.S.

One textbook for the new style was the 1801 ``Recueil des Decorations Interieures'' by Pierre-Francois-Leonard Fontaine and Charles Percier, who transformed Malmaison, Josephine's country house on the western outskirts of Paris. The work used the term ``interior decoration'' for the first time.

The Empire style was not a complete break with the past. Fontaine and Percier as well as the leading craftsmen of the period had been trained under the Ancien Regime and remained true to the Greek and Roman motifs of the neo-classical style.

Seductive Swan

Before, the swan was associated with Venus: An elaborate bronze clock in the show presents the goddess of love in a carriage pulled by a swan. The coquettish Josephine may have also been referencing the myth of Leda, Helen of Troy's mother, who was seduced by Jupiter disguised as a swan.

The bee is a surprising symbol for a professional soldier and most aggressive ruler of his time. It was the outcome of a debate between experts who, in the end, agreed that the fleurs- de-lis in France's royal arms since the 12th century were in fact badly drawn bees -- the heraldic animal of the Merovingian kings.

The show plays down the Egyptian motifs -- sphinxes, pyramids, lotus leaves -- typical of the Empire style. Napoleon's Egyptian campaign of 1798 ended in disaster, yet had a profound influence on decorative arts. You see little of it here.

Despite its misleading title ``Symbols of Power under the Empire,'' the exhibition emphasizes the private and sensual aspects of life. Looking at the 250 items -- furniture, jewelry, porcelain, textiles and wallpapers -- you would never appreciate the turmoil the country faced.

After the horrors of the Revolution, they longed for the pleasures of the Ancien Regime.

One of the novelties of the period was the psyche, named after Amor's beloved, a freestanding dressing mirror that could be tilted to allow the viewer a full-length inspection of his -- or rather her -- body. A dish made in 1805 in the Sevres porcelain factory has Apollo aggressively accosting Daphne, another mythological beauty.

A bronze cup in the form of a female breast looks unsteady but would have delighted Sigmund Freud.

The Musee des Arts Decoratifs is at 107 Rue de Rivoli. The show runs through Oct. 5. For details, click on http://www.lesartsdecoratifs.fr or call +33-1-4455-5750.

(Jorg von Uthmann is a critic for Bloomberg News. The opinions expressed are his own.)

To contact the writer of this review: Jorg von Uthmann in Paris at uthmann@wanadoo.fr.

Last Updated: August 26, 2008 19:48 EDT