Chests-of-drawers before 1840. BACHELORS’ CHESTS. BOMBE COMMODES
Chests-of-drawers before 1840.
BACHELORS’ CHESTS
Bachelors’ chests, so-called because they were originally placed in a “bachelor’s bedroom apartments”, were conceived as multi-purpose chests for storage, dressing, and writing. Predominantly of walnut, although oak and elm were used for more provincial examples, the earliest bachelors’ chests date from the late 17th century. Betrayed by their bun feet and broad, domed moulding framing the deep drawers, early bachelors’ chests are usually veneered with straight-grained walnut and simplecross banding. During the early 18th century the form became increasingly sophisticated, with neat dovetailing and the introduction of a brushing-slide above the top drawer; the heavy bun feet were discarded in favour
of shaped bracket feet. Although the form was replaced by the fashionable French commode design in the mid-18th century, provincial furniture-makers continued the tradition throughout the 18th century. However, these later examples are usually betrayed by their larger scale, often with mahogany-lined drawers, and Rococo or Neo-classical handles.
BOMBE COMMODES
The concept of a free-standing chest-of-drawers was first introduced by Andre-Charles Boulle (1642-1732). Initially known as tables en bureaux, and representing perhaps the earliest fusion between the table form and a sarcophagus-shaped coffer, Louis XIV Boulle commodes are characterized not only by their brass inlaid decoration but by their swollen “sarcophagus” or Roman-tomb form. During the Regence (1715-23), this developed into the commode en tombeau, which was widely manufactured by Parisian cabinet-makers. Under Louis XV bombe commodes became increasingly Rococo. Veneered on pine or oak carcases and usually with oak-lined drawers, they arc invariably enriched with parquetry or marquetry decoration, usually embracing fruitwoods and numerous exotic woods, particularly tulipwood and amaranth. More elegant and serpentine in shape than their predecessors, these commodes stand higher from the ground on slightly splayed legs with ormolu sabots (”shoes”). The geometric parquetry was often subtle, while the ormolu Mounts conveyed the full-blown Rococo spirit, perhaps nowhere more so than in the commodes of Charles Crescent (1685-1768).
Inspired by French prototypes, mid-18th-century bombe commodes with parquetry decoration were made throughout Europe, particularly in southern Germany (usually in elm and fruitwood, with long drawers above low aprons), Genoa and Naples (with distinctive dished aprons and
starburst kingwood cube parquetry), and Sweden (upright bombe form, pine carcases, and spring-locking drawers, such as those by the cabinetmaker Johann Christian Linning; 1759-1801).
The desire throughout Europe for all things “exotic”, particularly lacquer, encouraged such specialist “japanners” as John Stalker and George Parker in England, Gerard Dagly ( 16,57-1715) in Berlin, and the Martin family in Paris to produce their own versions. The name Martin became synonymous with the art of japanning, and indeed the technique is still known as vernis Martin. Louis XV commodes mounted with panels in vernis Martin painted in imitation of Oriental lacquer, with posies of flowers, and arcadian landscapes, were invariably commissioned by marchand-merciers (dealers in luxury goods) such as Simon-Philippe Poirier (1720-85). Regarded as the height of fashion and extremely expensive, they were mounted with luxurious ormolu mounts, and many can be accurately dated to between 1745 and 1749 through a tax mark.
GEORGIAN CHESTS-OF-DRAWERS
The commode reached England through such celebrated pattern-books as The Universal System of Household Furniture (1762) by John Mayhew (1736-1811) and William Ince (c.1738-1804) and The GGentleman Cabinet-Maker’s Director (1754-62) by Thomas Chippendale (1718-79), who described the form as a “French commode tables)”. However, the majority
of George II and George III chests-of-drawers are simple and plain, and the vast majority of those that correspond closely to published patterns arc usually Victorian. They are often of mahogany, with canted rectangular or
serpentine-fronted moulded tops above graduated drawers and moulded plinths with shaped bracket feet refinements to this basic form include fitted dressing-drawers or brushing-slides; canted angles carved with either trailing foliage, cluster-columns, or Chinese blind-fret; ogee or carved bracket feet; and luxuries such as superb lacquered-brass handles, cedar-lined drawers, and S-pattern keyholes, all of which are characteristic of Chippendale’s workshop. However, during the 1760s sumptuous marquetry commodes in the Louis XV manner, introduced by Pierre Langlois (active 1759-81) of Tottenham Court Road, London, became increasingly fashionable. As a result, plain figured mahogany was often discarded in favour of exotic woods, including sabicu, rosewood, and ebonny, and later satinwood, often with parquetry. During, the 1770s the marquetry style that had been so swiftly adopted for commodes by cabinet-makers such as John Cobb (C. 1715-78) and the firm of Ince & Mayhew (est. 1787) became increasingly linear and Neo-classical in design.
TRANSITIONAL AND NEO-CLASSICAL COMMODES
The explosion of Neo-classicism was slow to filter through, and sometimes during the 1760s there was an unhappy fusion of Neo-classical decoration on Rococo forms. Commodes of this type are known as Transitional, a form particularly identified with the French cabinet-makers Jean-Francois Oeben (1721-63) and Roger Vandercruse ( 172 8-99 ).
As the Transitional style became more refined, plain linear commodes, veneered in satinwood or mahogany and virtually denuded of mounts, were made. During the 1770s and 1780s the cabinet-makers Jcan-Henri Riesener (1734-1806) and Gilles Joubert (1689-1775) continued to supply the royal household with sumptuous commodes enriched with lavish Neo-classical ormolu Mounts and pictorial marquetry panels, while Etienne Levasseur (1721-98) and Adam Weisweiler (17441820) promoted a return to the “antique” style of the late 17th century particularly the brass inlay associated with Boulle. On a more modest level the basic commodes remained remarkably unchanged throughout the Louis XVI and Directoire (1795-9) periods. Made in the solid (as opposed to veneered) and usually of mahogany, although more provincial examples arc often of fruitwood, they have cared, moulded marble tops above two or three short frieze drawers and long panelled lower drawers, flanked by fluted angle columns, and stand on turned, tapering legs with toupie feet in brass caps. Dependent again on the figuring of the timber for impact, although this is often enhanced by brass stringing, they are restrained examples of architectural Neo-classicism. Particularly inspirational to English cabinet-makers through the influence of architects such as Henry Holland (1745-1806), this general form of commode was widely copied throughout Europe. It was through the work of the cabinet-makers David Roentgen (1743-1807), in Germany, and Christian Meyer (active 1787), who worked in Russia but may have trained under Roentgen, that this style reached its apogee.
MAGGIOLINI COMMODES
Neo-classical marquetry commodes were made throughout Europe from the 1770s. The fashion originated in Paris and rapidly spread across Europe. In Italy the Neo-classical style is synonymous with the Giuseppe Maggiolini (1738-1814) in Milan. His work is characterized by superb Neo-classical and arabesque marquetry in walnut, olivewood, and tulipwood, although he also used rosewood in the early 19th century. “Maggiolini” commodes are usually loosely constructed, with a rough-hewn softwood carcase and thickly dovetailed poplar-lined drawers. Owing to the prolific production of commodes from Maggiolini’s workshops during the early 19th century not to mention that of his competitors and imitators, the quality of work inevitably suffered. However, the enormously popular Maggiolini commode continued to be made during the 19th century.
EMPIRE AND RESTAURATION COMMODES
Empire furniture heralded a return to the ornament of Classical antiquity, inspired partly by Aventures dams la basse et la haute Egypte (1802) by Baron Vivant Denon ( 1747-1825). The French Empire style dominated European taste through such influential publications as Recueil de decorations interieures ( 1801-12) by Charles Percier (1764-1838) and Pierre Fontaine (c.1762-1853). These pattern-books illustrate the finest commodes executed for Napoleon I in the huge workshops of cabinet-makers including
Francois-Honore-Georges Jacob (1770-1841) and Bernard Molitor (c.1730-1833).
However, it is the designs of Pierre de La Mesangere, published as Collection de Meubles et Objets de gout (1802-35), that most clearly reveal the type of commode commissioned by less elevated patrons. These were initially veneered with mahogany on oak carcases, but the British blockade of 1806 prevented colonial timbers from getting to France, and the price of mahogany rose so high that cabinet-makers were forced to resort to such indigenous woods as maple, walnut, elm,ash, and yew. Empire commodes, both those with drawers and those
with doors (a vautaux), are linear in form, the marble tops often supported above panelled friezes with ormolu mounts, the drawers flanked by columns or Egyptian herm or caryatid figures, and often supported on ebonized hairy-paw feet.
Following the defeat of Napoleon (1815) and the restoration of the Bourbon monarchy, commodes became increasingly restrained and visually heavy relying on flame-figured timber for impact. Often with overhanging frieze drawers and largely denuded of mounts, even handles, they frequently stood on plain plinth bases, although shallow bun feet or plain square legs were also sometimes employed. As this style inspired European cabinet-makers, particularly those in Spain and Germany, it is often difficult the origin of Restauration commodes.
Under Charles X (1824-30) commodes in a lighter, less monumental taste again became fashionable, both in lighter woods, particularly bird’s-eve maple, and in the Gothic or a la troubadour style. Closely related in form to Restauration commodes, and largely unmounted, commodes in light woods were initially inlaid with stringing in exotic timbers such as amaranth and ebony, but during the 1830s and 1840s this evolved into increasingly lavish Boulle-style marquetry. In contrast, commodes made in the Gothic taste were made in mahogany and oak and were decorated with such carved ornament as crocketed finials and arcades. Although a revival of the Gothic taste had first been proposed by the architect Mansion as early as 1804, it was not until the 1830s and 1840s that it gained more widespread interest.
• VENEERING 17th- and 18th-century veneers are hand cut and thick ( 1-3min/tt in); later veneers were machine Cut and are paper thin; often the tops of chests-ofdrawers have been revenered because of damage (water, splitting), so it is important to check that the veneers are of the same uneven thickness all over.
• ALTERATIONS check that each of the drawers in chestof-drawers is of the same construction, as often one of them will have been changed because of damage.
• SHRINKAGE this is a common occurrence and is
frequently seen in the drawer bases; this is perfectly acceptable, and sometimes the splits have been repaired with canvas; those examples that do not show signs of shrinkage should alert suspicion.
• CONSTRUCTION Italian commodes are typically rather loosely constructed and made of cheap timber.