Stripped 18th Century French Commode with Painted Black Top

Walnut and burled walnut. In 1700s France, the commode was considered the finest piece of furniture in the chateau. It was also placed in the most important areas so it could be seen. This particular commode from Bourgogne or Vallee du Rhone area, is very rare in its shape and storage area. The shaped sides are small cabinets with one shaped shelf each. Each door opens to the back so that the contents are kept private from any guests. The 'galbee' front features three full drawers with brass hardware. The veneered wooden insets on the drawers and sides are all burled walnut wood. All this rests upon four outward shaped feet. There are three keys for opening the side cabinets and front drawers. This rare and large French commode...

The straight grain and rich color of the cherry tree made it a desirable wood for constructing luxury furniture during the 18th century. One beautiful example is our period Louis XIV commode, which was hand-carved in France in the early 1700’s. Augmenting the lovely reddish-brown color of the commode is an arbalete top that slightly hangs over the three stacked drawers below. Each drawer has three bronze foliate fittings set inside geometric panels with recessed molding (two pierced foliate swag pulls flanking a small keyplate surrounded by a parted leaf). There is a unique, shallow pullout drawer with two concentric circle pulls built into the molded frieze. This drawer was most likely used to store jewelry and other small valuables. Canted corners can be seen along the front of the shaped top, with elongated asymmetrical panels beneath that flank the tiers of drawers...

In French, arbalete means “crossbow” and is typically used to describe the shape of furniture when the frontage has been carved in a sinuous manner. When the profile is viewed from above, it resembles the European Medieval crossbow. In the case of this walnut commode from Provence, the form is double arbalete. Two iron swag handles are affixed to each of the three stacked drawers by parted shell mounts. In between the pulls is a sinuous plate that surrounds a keyhole. Each drawer maintains the arbalete structure created by the thinly molded top. The apron is highly shaped, with many small arbaletes strung together. In the center is a gadrooned leaf and floret medallion surrounded by volute scrolls. The sides are straight but consist of recessed rectangular panels with asymmetrical tops...

More information coming soon… An exquisite walnut commode, hand-carved in Bordeaux during the 1700s, this three tiered chest of drawers has a beautiful breccia macchia vecchia marbl...

Antique French marble top commode with serpentine front, bronze mounts and parquestry drawer fronts. Top features small centre drawer...

Exceptional 18th century Regence commode galbe´e (curved). Curved front with exquisite rocaille carvings, having three drawers and a shaped apron....

18th century Country French painted commode represents the essence of the genre, with tailored lines and visually appealing scrollwork a...

18th century Country French painted Commode features subtle rococo styling cues with the molded detail and the contoured apron with scrolled legs, but they are so subtle that this re...