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A very fine Louis XV Transition Louis XVI oak-lined marquetry commode attributed to Pierre Roussel, inlaid with bois de rose, amaranth, green tinted wood, boxwood, sycamore and ebony, the moulded shaped rectangular breakfronted brocatelle marble top above two drawers decorated overall with three panels within interlaced geometric frames à la Grecque, the central panel enclosing musical trophies amid stylised flowers and foliage, the two outer panels with abundant floral bouquets, with similar panelled decoration to the sides, each drawer with ring handles and a central ribbon-tied escutcheon above a shaped apron with a Classical cast mount flanked by rounded angles with fluted inlays and headed by stop-fluted pilaster mounts with laurel swags above cabriole legs with trailing mounts terminating in scrolled foliate sabots
Paris, date circa 1760-70
Height 87 cm, width 130 cm, depth 60 cm.
The Transition style between the Louis XV and Louis XVI is always exciting, being a synthesis between the light and playful elements of the Rococo (evident here in the colourful floral and musical inlays) and the more angular forms and overt references to Antiquity within Neo-classicism (as shown in the overall design, inlaid frames and angle and apron mounts). As one of the finest ébénistes of his day Pierre Roussel (1723-82; maître 1745) was always at the forefront of fashion and thus throughout his illustrious career adapted his furniture to accord with the Louis XV and subsequently Transitional style.
Although the present commode is not stamped there are a number of other commodes bearing Roussel’s stamp that share similar elements as seen here to enable a firm attribution to the master. Firstly Roussel excelled at marquetry and lavishly inlaid his commodes, encoignures, secrétaires as well as bureaux with exquisite, intricately designed floral and foliate panels as well as with musical and floral trophies (e.g. a pair of Louis XV encoignures in the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris). At other times he decorated his pieces with landscapes (e.g. a Transition table à écrire et à coiffer at Waddesdon Manor, Buckinghamshire), utensils and draperies (e.g. a Transition commode Musée Jacquemart-André, Paris) as well as geometric marquetry (e.g. a petite commode, illustrated in Pierre Kjellberg, “Le Mobilier Français du XVIIIe Siècle”, 1998, p. 740, pl. B).
As we see here Roussel’s Transitional period work often featured frames à la Grecque, (e.g. a petite commode in the Musée de Carnavalet, Paris) and another commode of similar style and proportions but with the addition of an inlaid frieze à la Grecque (illustrated Kjellberg, ibid. p. 741, pl. A). As here Roussel tended to favour the use of bois de rose and amaranth as well as bois satiné inlays combined with a variety of other woods. Interestingly the present commode compares very closely to another much smaller example bearing Roussel’s stamp, as illustrated and described on p. ? (old no. 110) in this book, which also includes a short biography on this prodigious and well-respected marchand-ébéniste.
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