The term “Empire” describes the decorative and architectural style that developed in France during Napoleon's reign as emperor (1804–14), though it is often extended to cover the period 1750–1840 and is thereby loosely synonymous with French Neoclassicism. Antique forms and ornament, already seen in the Louis XVI style, blended with Napoleon's imperial symbols, which included the bee, the laurel wreath, stars, the eagle, and exotic hieroglyphic motifs.