Louis XIV Chest Of Drawers – Besançon, Circa 1740

Rare and interesting Louis XIV chest of drawers made in Besançon, around 1740–1750. This remarkable chest of drawers illustrates a rare and precious Besançon production, datable to the first third of the 18th century, at a time when cabinetmaking from Franche-Comté was barely emerging in the French decorative landscape. It constitutes an exceptional testimony to regional furniture art still influenced by Louis XIV, prior to the more widely represented curved Regency forms. Architecture and construction: The frame is made entirely of softwood, a characteristic common to provincial productions, but also found in Paris during the Regency. The piece of furniture has a straight structure in plan, with rounded front uprights and a very slightly arched front, in the purest Louis XIV tradition. The piece of furniture opens with three independent drawers separated by visible crosspieces, in a robust and functional layout, typical of the still classic style of this period. Veneer & decor: The richness of the decor is based on a plum veneer carefully arranged in a frieze, following the tradition of the time, creating an effect of structured geometric panels alternating between diamond point connections, herringbone, large diamond and rectangle. This fruit wood, warm and finely grained, is framed by wide walnut burl fillets, visible on the sides, uprights, apron and base. Walnut burl elegantly highlights the belt of the top and the front crosspieces, giving the whole a subtle but refined contrast. This choice of noble veneers, all local, underlines the regional identity of the piece while evoking a refinement worthy of Parisian workshops.Marble: The top is topped with an exceptional turquin marble from Caunes, 45 mm thick, molded in a corbin beak with a lower groove refining and avoiding any heaviness. This marble, with blue-grey tones veined with red, harmoniously marries the warm shade of the plum tree and the depth of the walnut burl, in a very balanced chromatic dialogue. Bronzes and ornamentation: The chest of drawers is decorated with a set of gilded bronzes in the Parisian style, of very fine workmanship: Drop handles with gadrooned rosettes, Keyholes with the mask of Ceres, a motif popular in the great Parisian cabinetmaking of the Regency but also used notably by Thomas Hache in Grenoble. The use of such a decoration, as careful as it is expressive, testifies to the high level of culture and technique of the cabinetmaker. Locks & Besançon attribution: Two of the three locks are original, and present the regulatory hallmark of the master locksmiths of the city of Besançon. This hot-stamped coat of arms (eagle surmounted by a key) is attested by the regulations of 1716, which required Besançon locksmiths to mark their production intended for carpentry and cabinetmaking (Ordinances, regulations and statutes of the locksmiths of Besançon, article XII). The use of punched locks was a mandatory condition of authenticity in the city of Franche-Comté, and their presence allows for a certain attribution of the chest of drawers to Besançon. This hallmark is documented and reproduced in the book by Bernard Deloche & Jean-Yves Mornand, L'ébénisterie provinciale au XVIIIe siècle (Éd. Faton), where several pieces of furniture are compared. In particular, the authors emphasize that few antique Besançon furniture pieces have retained this hallmark, and that the presence of such a mark makes it possible to date and locate a piece with certainty. By comparing the chest of drawers presented here with other models reproduced in the book, it clearly appears that this one is older, still very Louis XIV in its structure, where the published examples already present the full curves of the Régence and the Louis XV curves. An exceptional document on Besançon cabinetmaking: This chest of drawers is not only decorative. It constitutes an extremely rare historical document on the appearance of cabinetmaking in Besançon. It stands out as much for its integrity, the quality of its materials, as for its documentary value. It embodies regional know-how in its noblest form, at the precise moment when Parisian influence began to spread to provincial workshops. Conclusion: By its still classical form, the richness of its decoration, the elegance of its bronzes and the authenticity of its punched locks, this chest of drawers stands out as a rare collector's item, rigorously attributed to Besançon, and worthy of the finest collections of French provincial cabinetmaking.