A commode on low, splaying legs, of shallow, breakfront form, with two large drawers set beneath three frieze drawers. The commode is veneered sans traverse with purpleheart, bloodwood (bois satiné) and other woods, with a central panel of floral marquetry, set within a frame of veneers and gilt-brass mouldings; gilt-brass mounts; slab of Carrara Bianco marble

Design
A neo-classical breakfront commode, the rectilinear case wider at the back than at the front, fitted with three frieze drawers over two deeper, full-width drawers, The carcase is veneered with purplewood with, at the sides and front, panels of bloodwood (bois satiné) veneer running horizontally, edged with stringing in boxwood or holly, with inset, quadrant corners, on which are set gilt-brass paterae, the whole of the panels on the sides and main drawers outlined with a gilt-brass moulding, as are the upper side panels, at frieze level and the two outer drawers of the frieze. The outer frieze drawers are each set with a single handle of laurel-wreath pattern against a round back-plate and larger versions of these are set at either end of each large drawer, surmounted by a ribbon bow. The central panel of marquetry is set on the breakfront section, which runs, sans traverse, across both long drawers. It shows, against a ground of stained sycamore, a vase with flowers, all originally naturalistically coloured. The panel is edged with purplewood and framed with gilt-brass, the corners of the sycamore panel inset with quadrans that are set with gilt-brass paterae. The front of the breakfront, central drawer at frieze level is set with a continuous gilt-brass mount of entrelacs, with a central keyhole but no handles. Below the main panel is a shallow plinth, below which is a shaped apron set with a symmetrical gilt-brass apron mount of foliage.

The commode is set with a slab of Carara Bianco marble, the edges moulded and shaped in plan to the outline of the commode, with canted front corners and curving sides.

Construction
The case is built as a dovetailed box, the sides through-dovetailed to the case top and bottom.

Bequeathed by John Jones

In the collection of John Jones before 1882.

A commode of almost identical form was sold by Christie's, Paris, 7 March 2017, lot 69, from the collection of Boni de Castellane and Anna Gould, either at the Palais Rose or the Château du Marais, Paris. The Christie's commode lacked the lower mount that remains on the V&A piece; its sides are not concave, as they are on the V&A commode; the circles of the guilloche on the upper mount in the centre are empty, lacking the ornament filling those on the V&A piece. Otherwise the commode at Christie's was closely similar, only with differences in the marquetry, but with the same thick pads under the paw-footed mounts. On both the commodes the floral marquetry is on a ground of sycamore, referred to by the author of the Christie's entry as 'fond tabac'. The entry also refers to two further commodes, supplied to Marie Antoinette in 1780s for the first apartment of the Queen in Compiègne (Reunion des Musées Nationaux inventory numbers C74.001 and C74.002). Those are less similar, except in overall form and the central panels show bouquets in baskets. There is another series of commodes which show some similarities but on which the central panels are trapezoidal in form.

This commode or chest of drawers was undoubtedly made by the French royal cabinet-maker Jean-Henri Riesener (1734-1806). Although it is not marked with his stamp, he is known to have made several other commodes of closely similar form, also decorated with panels of floral marquetry. The earliest recorded ones were supplied for members of the royal family at Versailles in 1776. This commode is slightly less elaborate than those pieces, but certainly to the same design. When the collecting of French 18th-century furniture became a widespread fashion in the middle of the 19th century, Riesener became the most sought-after maker.

1087-1882