Louis XIV chest of drawers in flower marquetry attributed to the cabinetmaker Renaud Gaudron (circa 1653-1727)
Circa 1695
Rich floral marquetry on an ebony base. The top is adorned with a large flowering vase on an entablature set between broad foliage scrolls featuring birds and butterflies, stylised snails, hunting scenes and masks. There are four drawers in three rows on the front, adorned with ormolu escutcheons and handles. The front jambs are canted and have four feet terminating in ormolu lions' paws. Later period lingotière.
H 83,5 cm L 117,5 cm P 62 cm
This type of marquetry appeared as early as the 1670s on several types of furniture that were fashionable at the time. These included the so-called Mazarin chests, cabinets and desks, made by the cabinetmaker Pierre Gole. A small group of chests of drawers feature this decoration from the time of the invention of the commode form itself, at the very end of the 17th century. Some of these chests of drawers have fairly recently been attributed to Renaud Gaudron, a cabinetmaker working for the Crown's furniture repository. A chest of drawers with very similar decoration and bronzes attributed to Gaudron is now in the Musée des Châteaux de Versailles et de Trianon, Louvre depository, inv. 4655, cf: Calin Demetrescu, Les ébénistes de la Couronne sous le Règne de Louis XIV, La bibliothèque des Arts, Lausanne, 2021, fig. 221, p. 207.
