Object Description
This is a stunning antique French walnut, kingwood and marquetry Louis Revival bombe commode, circa 1880 in date.
This gorgeous commode features a stunning shaped Rouge Griote marble top above three full width drawers for ample storage, and was inspired by the Louis XV style. Elaborately detailed, the commode features exquisite scrolling foliate marquetry complimented by exquisite gilded ormolu handles and mounts.
Complete with working locks and key.
Provenance
Private Scottish Collection, Morayshire
Condition:
In excellent condition having been beautifully cleaned, polished and waxed in our workshops, please see photos for confirmation.
Dimensions in cm:
Height 87 x Width 70 x Depth 39
Dimensions in inches:
Height 2 foot, 10 inches x Width 2 foot, 4 inches x Depth 1 foot, 3 inches
Rouge Griotte marble – is named after the griotte cherry because of its remarkable bright red colour. The more red the marble, the higher quality it is. When the marble contains many goniatites full of white calcite the marble is called “Partridge eye”.
The quarries, still active today, are in the Herault region and the name “Griotte from Italy” is a marketing label. Red Griotte was the favourite marble for Royal apartments in the 18th century, particularly for mantles, like the one in the office of Louis XIV in Versailles.
Marquetry
is decorative artistry where pieces of material of different colours are inserted into surface wood veneer to form intricate patterns such as scrolls or flowers.
The technique of veneered marquetry had its inspiration in 16th century Florence. Marquetry elaborated upon Florentine techniques of inlaying solid marble slabs with designs formed of fitted marbles, jaspers and semi-precious stones. This work, called opere di commessi, has medieval parallels in Central Italian “Cosmati”-work of inlaid marble floors, altars and columns. The technique is known in English as pietra dura, for the “hardstones” used: onyx, jasper, cornelian, lapis lazuli and colored marbles. In Florence, the Chapel of the Medici at San Lorenzo is completely covered in a colored marble facing using this demanding jig-sawn technique.
Techniques of wood marquetry were developed in Antwerp and other Flemish centers of luxury cabinet-making during the early 16th century. The craft was imported full-blown to France after the mid-seventeenth century, to create furniture of unprecedented luxury being made at the royal manufactory of the Gobelins, charged with providing furnishings to decorate Versailles and the other royal residences of Louis XIV. Early masters of French marquetry were the Fleming Pierre Golle and his son-in-law, André-Charles Boulle, who founded a dynasty of royal and Parisian cabinet-makers (ébénistes) and gave his name to a technique of marquetry employing brass with pewter in arabesque or intricately foliate designs.
Our reference: A3305