A painted, gilded and lacquered wood chest-of-drawers

This chest-of-drawers is decorated overall with chinoiserie landscapes with courtly figures following leisurely pursuits, and of peasants, within borders with trellis cartouches and fields with spears and flowers, all on a black ground in imitation of Japanese lacquer. The molded top is above two long drawers, each fitted with bronze pulls and escutcheons, and a shaped apron centered by a scallop-shell, all raised on cabriole legs, headed by foliate motifs in relief and terminating in goat hoof feet.



This fine lacquered commode was part of the contents of the Caprara Palace that was requisitioned by Napoleon after his conquest of the Italian peninsula. The emperor’s monogram under an imperial crown is branded on the backside.