"Louis XIV Period Lacquered Chest Of Drawers"
This chest of drawers features a polychrome lacquered decoration, adorned on the top, front and sides with garlands of flowers, flower vases, birds and knotted ribbons, framed by spandrel fillets. It opens with three rows of drawers, separated by crosspieces. The ornaments are in gilded bronze and chiseled into pull handles, lock entries and sabots. From the Gobelins manufacture. This is a Parisian work from the end of the Louis XIV period, approximately from the first quarter of the 18th century. Condition of use; accidents. H. 79 x W. 109 x D. 63 cm This Mazarine chest of drawers in softwood has a crossbow front, opening with three drawers. The wooden top is richly decorated with flowers, birds, bouquets and garlands which converge towards a flowered basin in its center. The whole is framed by a fretted gilt fillet. The decorated uprights stand out from the piece of furniture in a play of curves and counter-curves. The rectangular sides have a rich polychrome decoration with a predominance of gilt in the fillets, a wreath of flowers surrounded by a finely painted and detailed gilt interlacing. The drawers are extremely decorated with garlands held by flower buds and tied with pink ribbons. Each flower is finely detailed and vividly colored. Ornamentation in chased and mercury-gilt bronzes including gadrooned swinging pull handles, mascaron lock entries, deer hooves topped with an acanthus leaf. Thus, due to the rarity of its decoration and the care taken in its making, we can affirm that our chest of drawers is of exceptional quality, to say the least. This chest of drawers stands out as one of the rare examples of French lacquered furniture dating from the beginning of the 18th century. In 1713, Jacques Dagly (1669–1729), originally from Spa and from a family of varnishers, opened a lacquer workshop in Brandenburg before joining his brother to develop the family business. It became very prosperous and particularly productive. He was probably the first in France to produce lacquered chinoiserie of a quality significantly superior to that of his contemporaries. Settling in Paris, he founded the Vernis des Gobelins company with Claude Aubran III and Pierre de Neufmaison. The Council of State then authorized the Gobelins varnish to be applied to any type of support, leather, wool, silk, fabrics for a period of twenty years. Dagly then took over the management of the “Ouvrages de la Chine” workshop within the prestigious Manufacture des Gobelins. At the same time, Louis-Henri, Duke of Bourbon-Condé (1692–1740), established a workshop in Chantilly, during the first half of the 18th century, dedicated to the creation of lacquered furniture, thus contributing to the development of this refined art in France.