A rectangular commode with rounded corners standing on four short bracket feet and showing a three zone front, with two large and two smaller drawers. The front and both sides with rectangular cartouches displaying elaborate trellis pattern marquetry on a walnut carcass. The drawers can be locked by keys, the keyholes with gilt bronze Louis XIV style framing. The Louis XIV commode or chest of drawers is topped by a moulded “Campan Grand Melange” marble plate.
Although this excellent Louis XIV/Régence commode does not bear a stamp (stamping furniture only became commonplace after 1745), it is very close in its shape, its elaborate geometrical marquetry and its quality of manufacture to the works of the important Louis XIV period cabinet maker Etienne Doirat (1675-1732).
Étienne Doirat came from a family of cabinet makers that had been established in Paris from the beginning of the 1600s. Doirat only began to stamp his furniture at the end of his career, and accordingly only few pieces bear his stamp and can serve as comparison pieces for newly discovered pieces of furniture. He constructed various furniture forms, including commodes, armoires, corner cupboards, and tables, often veneered with simple marquetry in exotic woods. Although he did not do the casting, chasing and gilding, Doirat tried to keep exclusive control over the models for his bronze furniture mounts. One year before his death, in 1731 Doirat established a shop to sell his work on the rue Saint Honoré, the famous street for luxury dealers. On his death, the shop was taken over by his son-in-law, also a cabinet maker or ébéniste.
Sampels of his work can be seen in the most famous museums of the world, such as for example the Musée Carnavalet and the Petit Palais in Paris, the J.Paul Getty Museum in Malibu and the Hermitage in St. Petersburg.
See: Pierre Kjellberg: Le Mobilier Francais du XVIII Siècle, Paris, 2008, p. 302-305.
Condition: very good, min. wear consistent with age and use, min. fading, shellac polish refreshed – detailed condition report on request
