Louis XVI Style Chest Of Drawers Attributed To André Mailfert – Early 20th Century Work.

Charming rectangular two-drawer chest of drawers with canted front uprights and sheathed feet, made in the pure Louis XVI style. It is entirely veneered with precious woods, notably rosewood, joined in quatrefoils, framed with composite fillets alternating light and dark woods, with a braided ribbon pattern, typically neoclassical. The uprights as well as the feet are decorated with maple reserves framed with black fillets, evoking the wide fluting emblematic of the Louis XVI style. The front opens with two drawers without crosspieces, allowing to display a remarkable marquetry centered on a musical trophy in native and exotic woods: sycamore, plane tree, almond tree, holly, amaranth... The decoration represents musical instruments - horn, tambourine, pan flute - suspended by a ribbon in the middle of olive branches. The chest of drawers is richly decorated with gilded bronzes: sabots on the four legs, decorative falls with capitals, keyholes with knotted ribbons, pull handles adorned with rows of pearls. It is topped with a gray Saint-Anne marble molded in quarter round. The proportions, the tapered legs with cut sides, the rigor of the assembly and the overall composition testify to a perfect mastery of the codes of the Louis XVI period. This piece of furniture is designed using traditional techniques: uprights assembled with mortise and tenon joints, veneers applied with hot glue. Note the exclusive use of old woods, particularly for the backs, where walnut panels from old furniture (assembled with tongue and groove joints) were reused. All these technical and stylistic elements, as well as the quality of execution, allow an attribution to André Mailfert (1872–1943), an emblematic figure in the world of French decorative arts of the early 20th century. Mailfert was a cabinetmaker, antique dealer, and founder of the Ateliers d'Art du Centre in Orléans. He specialized in reproducing antique furniture—mainly from the 18th century—made with old wood salvaged from dismantled furniture (notably roller beds and 19th-century wardrobes), which he had brought by the trainload to Orléans. In his book Un maquilleur au pays des antiquaires (A Makeup Artist in the Land of Antique Dealers) (1935), he describes with humor and derision his profession, his practices, and the art market of his time. Mailfert fully embraced the manufacture of furniture "in the style of," while denouncing the dealers who then resold it as authentic. This chest of drawers can be attributed to Mailfert's first production period, before the creation of the Mailfert & Amos brand, and is distinguished by its great rigor of execution, research into the woods, and the desire to remain faithful to the original models. An elegant, refined piece of furniture, revealing the talent of a craftsman who knew how to combine tradition, illusion and humor at a time when the French art of living was at its peak. Dimensions in marble: Height: 75.5 cm Width: 73 cm Depth: 43 cm