Antique Chest Of Drawers

George IV gilt-framed convex Wall Mirror, George III carved walnut Armchair Frame, satinwood semi-circular Card Table

A George III small mahogany
Sideboard, circa 1800, with kingwood
banding and satinwood stringing, the
cutlery drawer above a tambour
cupboard flanked by a pair of deep
drawers, 90cm. high by 122cm. wide;
2ft. 11 !/2in. by 4ft.

A Regency mahogany four-tier Whatnot, circa 1810, with ring turned supports and apron drawer, on brass capping and castors, 130cm. high by 51cm. wide; 4ft. 3m. by  8m.  ?350-500

A George IV rosewood and cross banded Sofa Table, circa 1825, with two drawers, the chamfered pillar above a base, on metal leaf scroll feet and castors, leaf partially

detached, 93cm. wide when closed; 3ft.

A George III mahogany
break-front secretaries Bookcase, circa
1780, the key pattern cornice above four
astragal doors enclosing adjustable
shelves, the pedestal base with a fitted
writing drawer flanked by eight
graduated drawers, below is a shaped
apron and splayed bracket feet, restored,
244cm. high by 186cm. wide; 8ft. by
6ft.

A George III carved Settee Frame,
circa 1780, the guilloche decorated
frame with arched cresting rail and
carved pattered, the serpentine-shaped
seat above baluster turned and fluted
legs, restored, lacking upholstery, formerly
gilt.

A George III carved walnut Armchair Frame, circa 1780, in the French manner, the cartouche-shaped back and bowed seat with carved pattered, on cabriole legs, lacking upholstery,

restored.

A George III satinwood semi-circular Card Table, circa 1780, with broad banding and kingwood cross banding, the fold-over top with a medallion and revealing a green baize

lining, the tapered square legs with bell-flowers surmounted by pattered, restored, 91.5cm. wide; 3ft.

A Regency mahogany Card Table, circa 1810, the fold-over top with a green baize lining, the frieze with ebonized and satinwood strung borders, the sacred legs surmounted by

yew-wood lozenge medallions, 91.5cm. wide; 3ft.

A Regency mahogany Pedestal Sideboard, circa 1810, the sunk bowed centre with an arched back and three drawers, the pedestals each with a frieze drawer and a paneled door

enclosing a drawer, including a cellaret, on receded sacred feet, 183cm. wide; 6ft.

A set of six William IV rosewood spoon-back Chairs, circa 1835, with carved clasp-shaped mid-bars and cane seats, on lappet-clad ring turned legs .

A Regency rosewood Sofa Table, circa 1810, with two frieze drawers, the ring-turned end supports with splayed feet ending in brass paw finials and castors, 89cm. wide when

closed; 2ft. l

A George III mahogany Chest, circa 1790, the slide above four long graduated drawers, on shaped bracket feet, restored, 82.5cm. high by 86cm. wide; 2ft. 8V2in. by 2ft.

A George IV gilt-framed convex Wall Mirror, circa 1825, with dual-headed eagle surmount and acanthus apron, faults, 104cm. high by 61cm. wide; 3ft. 5in. by 2ft.        ?300-500
200    A George III mahogany Secretaries Bookcase, circa 1800, the pair of arched astragal doors enclosing adjustable shelves, the base with ebonized banding, the fitted

writing drawer above three long graduated drawers and a shaped apron, 109cm. wide; 3ft. 7in.

A George II gilt-framed Wall Mirror, made-up, the ornate pierced surmount with vase and foliate scroll motifs, the rectangular plate with margin plates, 81cm. high by 39cm.

wide; 2ft. 8in. by  32in.

A George IV carved and gilt
essay-framed convex Wall mirror, circa
825, with eagle surmount and foliate
apron, 86cm. nigh by 48cm. wide; 2ft.
by  7in.

A George III mahogany kneehole
Dressing Table, circa 1790, the frieze
drawer above a recess flanked by four
short drawers, on chamfered square legs
and later ceramic castors, 107cm. wide;
3ft. 6in.

A George HI mahogany Tripod
Table, circa 1790, the circular tilt-top
above a vase-shaped turned pillar.

A George III rosewood and
cross banded small drop-leaf Table, circa
1810, inlaid with stringing, the real and
opposing dummy frieze drawer above
tapered square legs ending in brass
capping and castors, restored, 48cm. when
closed;  7in.

FRENCH CHESTS AND CHESTS OF DRAWERS About 1675-1760
Polychrome bootie commode, about 1700.
Lidded chests continue to be made, but mainly in rural areas; regional variations become firmly established.
Chests of drawers in mid-17thC styles also made in provinces until well after 1700, but in major centres, panelled ends give way to flush surfaces, applied mouldings disappear from drawer-fronts, veneering, parquetry and marquetry are widely practised. Chests on stands with turned legs in the Netherlands. Rectilinear carcases until after 1700.
France is leader of fashion under Louis XIV, for whom a pair of curved chests of drawers – commodes en tombeau– were made by Boulle in 1708-9, derived from Roman sarcophagus shape already re-created for Italian Renaissance cassoni. During the transitional baroque/rococo period (Regence, 1715-30, covering childhood of Louis XV), serpentine-fronted and bombe (blown up) three-drawer commodes are made, until the Louis XV rococo form, with only two drawers, raised on cabriole legs, is created by Cressent. In the 1730s the full bombe shape, with gently undulating curves from top to bottom and side to side, has become popular throughout most of Europe, but provincial types often have curve on one plane only. In some centres, curves are exaggerated, e.g. ‘high-bosomed’ in Venice, ‘low-bellied’ in Holland.
Local timbers for country types, exotic woods for veneers, e.g. varieties of Dalbergia – rosewood, kingwood (’prince wood’), palisander (purpleheart). Pine or oak as foundation for veneering and with chestnut and poplar, as drawer-linings. Marble in various colours was used for tops of commodes, ormolu for handles and mounts.
1675-1720: Flush ends made with rub joints (glueing boards edge to edge, rubbing them together until surplus glue is expunged, clamping until set). Rails between drawers tenoned into ends. Drawers dovetailed, not always very finely; fronts extended to overlap rails; side-runners abandoned in favour of runners on bottoms of drawers.
Cross-section of drawer-fronts of bombe commode, extended to Conceal rail.
1720-1760: Serpentine and bombe shapes built up (see NEW WORLD, TABLES 1790-1840, p. 323). By about 1750, drawer-fronts in fine examples overlap rails sufficiently to conceal them and present a virtually uninterrupted surface for decoration.
Marquetry: Inlaying veneered surface with a figurative design composed of other veneers. The usual material was wood, sometimes tinted with coloured stains; but other materials were used, e.g. ivory, while Boulle per-Ormolu: Cast bronze, chiselled, gilded and burnished, used for handles and mounts. Commodes made by the Spindlers for Frederick the Great were loaded with ormolu mounts made by the Swiss-born Kambli.
Carving: In some areas, e.g. Scandinavia, carved and gilt mounts substituted for ormolu. Carved scrolls, flowers, foliage decorate fine French provincial commodes.
Marquetry was brought to a brilliant colourful finish by sanding down and coating with varnish before waxing. Coloured varnishes patented by the brothers Martin (vernis Martin) were used for special effects on fronts and ends of commodes, e.g. imitating oriental lacquer (see also EUROPEAN CUPBOARDS AND CABINETS, p. 213). Venetians used their own varnish – lacca– to paint vivid flowers on coloured grounds. A cheaper- version, lacca povera, was executed by glueing prints to surfaces before colouring and varnishing. The interiors of Venetian commodes – even the best – are often very poorly finished.
A first-class signed French commode is a millionaire’s status symbol, but many lesser items made in the provinces or in other parts of Europe sell at much more modest prices and can be every bit as agreeable.
MAKERS’ STAMPS
From 1743 every piece made in Paris was supposed to be stamped with the maker’s name and, after vetting by a member of the guild’s jury, with their stamp – J.M.E.’ Uure des Menuisiers et Ebnistes). If the marble top is lifted off, these marks are frequently found stamped in the woodwork of a commode made between 1743 and 1791, but their absence is not necessarily damning (see GUIDE TO PERIODS AND STYLES, ROCOCO, P. 193) the technique of inlaying arabesques of engraved metal (brass, pewter) into a turtleshell veneer backed with coloured mica.
The pieces of shell were fitted into the spaces left after cutting out the brass, and vice versa, to produce pairs of commodes with the decoration of one the reverse of that of the other. The Spindler family and Muller of Bayreuth were among the many German craftsmen who made bombe commodes with fine marquetry.
Parquetry: Small diamond-shaped pieces of contrasting veneer laid in juxtaposition to create intriguing illusions of three-dimensional perspectives.
CHESTS AND CHESTS OF DRAWERS About 1760-1800
First stage of neo-classicism brings discipline to design of sophisticated commodes. Bombe shape unfashionable in Paris during reign of Louis XVI but survives in Germany and Holland, often in modified form (with curve from top to bottom only) into 1770s. Full bombe shape is continued in Sweden with gilt channels in rails between drawers.
Many country-made lidded chests and provincial chests of drawers – especially in Denmark – interpret new style in naive ways, sometimes showing English influence in crisp, economical shapes.
Mainly as in previous period: mahogany added to French repertoire in 1780s.
Full bombe shape (curved on two planes) difficult for all but best craftsmen to manage – only a few made drawer-sides with curves following line of ends – so its abandonment in favour of rectilinear shapes, or of bowed or serpentine fronts (curved on one plane only, from side to side) results in more attention to sound construction. Even basic features, e.g. dovetailed joint, show improvement. The cabriole leg is retained during the transitional Louis XV/XVI period but is eventually discarded and a variety of straight, tapered legs, square or turned, is adopted. Some commodes more like cabinets, with doors concealing drawers.
Marquetry: From about 1760 to 1780, still lavish but with growing tendency to restriction within defined areas, e.g. an oval or octagon at centre of commode front by Maggiolini of Milan inlaid with figures from classical mythology. David Roentgen of Neuwied, supplier to French and Russian royal families and supreme practitioner of marquetry, is quick to jettison it when plain mahogany becomes fashionable in 1780s, shortly before French Revolution.
Carving: Delicately carved commodes on slim legs produced in Rhineland, richly carved flowers on angles of serpentine-fronted commodes in Portugal.
Ormolu: Handles and mounts first features to exchange asymmetrical rococo squirts for neatly balanced, neo-classical masks, acanthus leaves and wreaths, but high quality maintained.
Bronze workers had own guilds guarding demarcation lines until disbandment of all guilds in 1791.
Below poicelainplaqu.
Painting: Delicate trellis patterns painted with coloured varnishes in France, panels painted with Pompeiian figures in Spain.
Pietre dure: Florentine mosaic panels in coloured hardstones — often cannibalized from earlier cabinets — used to decorate Louis XVI commodes (see CUPBOARDS AND CABINETS, p. 211).
Folk art: Country-made chests of drawers in many areas (e.g. Switzerland, the Tyrol, Denmark) painted in bright colours with flowers, landscapes, formally arranged, in keeping with the neo-classical style.
Highly-decorated Louis XVI commodes almost as expensive as Louis XV types; plainer ones much less so and easier to live with, whether French or of another nationality in the French-dominated style.
Above, a plain mahogany commode With ormolu mounts and secielaire drainer, about 1790-1800,
FRENCH COMMODES
In French commodes of the Louis XV/XVI periods, it is usual, though not essential, for the top edges of drawer-sides to be slightly rounded. This is not a guarantee of authenticity, nor is it conclusive evidence of French nationality (the same feature is found on many of the best 18thC English chests of drawers), but it is a favourable sign when present in French commodes, as it is not usually evident on 19thC copies.
North Italian marquetry commode, 1790-1800.

French CHESTS AND CHESTS OF DRAWERS About 1890 to 1940
Macassar ebony chest of drawers, 1930s.
1890-1920: Sinuous art nouveau line lends itself to leggy items – tables, chairs – more readily than to carcase pieces. Leading practitioners (Majorelle, Galle) adapt bow-fronted types by framing within stem-like mouldings, placing them on swept plinths and decorating with stylized plant forms, carved or inlaid – reminders that original chests were hollowed-out trees.
1910-40, Industrial Design: Theories of Le Corbusier and the Bauhaus, combined with practicalities of mechanized production, reduce chest to angular carcase.
1920-40, Art Deco: In reaction against industrial design, commode is treated by designers (Ruhlmann, Dunand, Follot) as item fit for drawing-room of a princess rather than cubicle of an institution. About 1930, price of one by Ruhlmann, Paris, higher than an important 18thC example – often source of inspiration exploited in novel ways. Style soon becomes debased, with flashy ornament added to angular or boldly curved shapes; but between extremes of machined austerity and Art Deco kitsch, are many hand-made, simply designed and discreetly decorated chests of drawers.
Except for birch plywood and Scandinavian pine used as secondary woods, most of the main timber for furniture of all types is imported into Europe from the tropics. Art Deco designers also use ivory, semi-precious stones and silver for inlay.
Although much woodworking machinery now in use, old techniques survive, hand-skills being essential for fine Art Deco commodes; but by 1930s, most dovetail joints and mortises cut by machines.
Rear view of handmade drawer with lipped front.
Art nouveau and Art Deco: Marquetry, carving.
Industrial design: Almost none.
Mainly French polishing. Some Art Deco commodes lacquered. Industrial design favoured natural finish paint, cellulose.
Art nouveau and Art Deco commodes, expensive when new, now command very high prices. Best buy: medium range 1930s chests of drawers in natural wood, hand-dovetailed.
Before paying a high price for an Art Deco commode, check that any veneers are in reasonably good condition. They were usually knife-cut very thin and prone to cracking and peeling.

EUROPEAN CHESTS About 1450 to 1600
Late-15thC french chest decorated with tracery and other Gothic Ornaments.
Late Gothic persists in Northern Europe, but is gradually influenced by the Renaissance in Italy where, from the late 15thC, classical Roman shapes and decorative features are reintroduced.
Oak in France, northern Germany, the Netherlands; pine and fir in Scandinavia; walnut, cypress in Italy; walnut, oak, chestnut in Spain; various fruitwoods where grown. Gesso (plaster hardened with size). Iron hinges, carrying handles, locks and keys.
Panelled: Framework mortised and tenoned, secured with pegs, rebated to receive panels bevelled at edges and fitted to allow play for unequal expansion and contraction, thus minimizing warping and splitting. Lids either panelled or flush planks nailed to cross-members.
Housed: Lighter versions of this method
(see CHESTS, p. 235) continued to be used in many areas.
Curvilinear: From late 15thC, some Italian cassoni (chests), imitating Roman sarcophagi, were built up sectionally and shaped to curved outline, leaving joins to be covered with gesso.
Late Gothic, Northern Europe: Panels carved with pointed arches, tracery, animals, foliage, linenfold (see BEDS, P. 198).
Renaissance: In Italy, some carving, more painting in tempera and gilding on gesso ground of biblical subjects and scenes from classical mythology. Gifted artists employed on decoration of marriage chests, often made in pairs from about 1470, when intarsia – inlay depicting architecture and still life groups –was also used. In the 16thC, intarsia was practised in the Netherlands (Antwerp) and Germany (Augsburg and Nuremberg). In Spain and Portugal – both immensely rich in the 16thC – chests were lavishly decorated with
carving and inlaid abstract patterns derived from Moorish sources. France and Burgundy adopted an Italianate style in the early 16thC (Franсois I). Mannerist (late Renaissance) elements, grotesque masks, elongated figures and ‘Romayne work’ – heads of men and women in carved medallions – were popular.
Painting on gesso and directly on to wood. Oiling, waxing, varnishing; much woodwork in Northern Europe left in natural state.
Many 16thC chests still survive and can be bought at prices that are modest in comparison with those of later pieces. Beware of 19thC fakes of painted Italian cassoni.
Panel rebated into mortised and tenoned frame.