Pair Of 19Th Century French Kingwood And Vernis Martin Petit Commodes

A wonderful pair of gilt bronze mounted kingwood marble topped commodes with Vernis Martin painted panels, late 19th century.

Provenance...Cambridge, Esq.

Paris made circa 1880

This fine pair of hauteur d'appuis, or pier cabinets, are essentially small commodes in the Louis XV manner. Veneered principally in kingwood and with elaborate ormolu mounts of exceptional quality in the rococo style, these cabinets are exquisite works of art, retaining their original thick cut shaped Breche marble tops.

Each having very impressive and fine quality Vernis Martin japanned or painted images to the centre of each cabinet. These pictures show Cupid and two muses or goddesses with a dove and a goldfinch symbolising the pursuit of love, peace and happiness which are enclosed by cartouche frames cast with flowers, scrolls and foliage within keeled front corners with scroll-cast chutes and similarly cast sabot. The paintings are very much in the manner of Boucher and his contemporaries.

The cabinets are made in the advanced bombe or double serpentine form and the mounts, quite beautifully cast and finished, have a recurring floral theme to them, appropriate for the naturalism of the rococo period they are in the manner of. Cabinets of this quality were only produced by a small number of firms in Paris, foremost amongst them Francois Linke and Joseph-Emmanuel Zwiener. Both of these firms used mounts supplied by LÈon MessagÈ (1842-1901), regarded as the best mount maker of this period. It is hard to discern the maker of these commodes but it was certainly by one off the leading cabinet makers of their time to the like of Zwiener.

Of additional interest with our pieces is the presence of a depository label from the well known firm of Maple and Co. The writing on this label is difficult to read but stamped across the centre is "Cambridge Esq", suggesting that rather than a place name, this is the name of one of the previous owners of these fine pieces.