François Reizell (cabinetmaker, Paris, Master In 1764), Pair Of Louis XV Corner Cabinets, 18th Century

A pair of fine corner cabinets with pronounced curved fronts in rosewood and violet wood marquetry and gilt bronze mounts, opening with a serpentine door richly decorated in the center with a vase of flowers, scrolls, blossoms, and birds. Aleppo breccia marble tops. Both corner cabinets are stamped "F. REIZELL" and bear the guild mark. Parisian work, Louis XV period, 18th century. (Old restoration on one marble top, one lock not original) François Reizell, a native of Germany, received his master craftsman's certificate in Paris on February 29, 1764, while living on Rue Traversière-Saint-Antoine. Early in his career, he employed among his workers the cabinetmaker Joseph Baumhauer, known as Joseph, who would later distinguish himself as a favored craftsman of the King. Around 1770, Reizell moved to the Faubourg Saint-Germain, residing for a few years on the Rue des Saint-Pères, and then on the Rue du Petit-Lion. From 1773 onward, the Prince of Condé commissioned significant pieces from him, totaling over 12,000 livres, for the Palais-Bourbon and the châteaux of Chantilly and Villegénis. His wife, Marie-Claude Couffé, died in 1784. He himself succumbed soon after, on October 25, 1788. This cabinetmaker stamped his work, F. REIZELL, on tastefully crafted marquetry furniture. The Musée des Arts Décoratifs displays a corner cabinet by him, with a contoured shape and floral decoration. The collection of Countess F. de Bernard includes a corner cabinet in the same style, made of satinwood with amaranth scrolls. We know of several commodes from the late Louis XV period on which the master depicted landscapes, symbols, vases, and birds. I own a small piece of this type of furniture decorated in lovely light tones.