18th Century Italian Burl Walnut Chest of Drawers

An en tombeau is a type of commode with three tiers of drawers and short legs. Our walnut wood chest of drawers was hand-carved in Provence, France d...

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...

Masterfully hand-carved in Bordeaux, France, during the 1700s, this walnut commode has tremendous movement, with bombé curves on multiple planes. The form is embellished by the (orig...

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...