Mid-17th-century Chest - Featuring The César d'Albert Coat Of Arms - Ebony Marquetry

A chest made of ebony marquetry on a pearwood background, decorated with a symmetrical pattern of stylized foliage and flowers.  
Hinged at the top, the interior originally featured compartments, adorned with the coat of arms of César d’Albert (1614–1676), beneath a ducal crown with marshal’s batons, as well as four intertwined C DALBERT monograms beneath a ducal crown in the spandrels.
Mid-17th century.
10 x 37 x 28 cm (restorations, cracks).

Bibliographic references:
D. Langeois, “Quelques chefs-d’œuvre de la collection Djahanguir Riahi,” Milan, 1999, pp. 12–13.
D. Alcouffe in “A Time of Exuberance,” exhibition catalog, Paris, 2002, pp. 243–245.

A medal case with very similar decoration (ebony marquetry on a pear wood background) is now housed at the Louvre Museum in Paris. These stylistic features are also found in the interiors of a series of ebony cabinets, notably those held at the Musée d’Écouen, the Château de Serrant, and the Musée de la Légion d’Honneur in San Francisco, California.

Born into a very old family of the French aristocracy, César d’Albert (1614–1676) was a close associate of the Princes of Condé in the 17th century. His loyalty to Cardinal Mazarin earned him promotion to the rank of Marshal of France and Duke of the Kingdom.