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Lot Essay
The stamp is probably that of Jean-Charles Saunier, maître in 1743 and father of Claude-Charles Saunier, acting as a repairer.
A tantalising question about the possible origin of the maker of this group of commodes is raised by a pair of commodes now in store at Schloss Willnitz, Dresden, but originally from Schloss Moritzburg. The Dresden commodes are veneered in oak and walnut but are of strikingly similar form to this one. They have overhanging marble tops with moulded ormolu edges but, most importantly, the pilaster angles continue down into hipped pierced legs and splayed ormolu hoof feet. The Dresden commodes are of a plain bowed form of four long drawers with brass handles flanking a central escutcheon but the overall effect is extremely close. The Dresden commodes are dated to 1720-30 and are illustrated in G. Haase, Dresdener Möbel des 18 Jahrhunderts, Leipzig, 1983, p. 265, fig. 28
There is a distinct group of boulle commodes of this form. One, without pierced legs, is in the Wallace Collection (F.J.B. Watson, Wallace Collection Catalogues: Furniture, London, 1956, no. F.39, pp. 16-17 and pl. 38); another, from the collection of comte Philippe de Rochefoucauld, was sold at Parke Bernet, New York, 16-17 May 1952, lot 383; another was sold anonymously at Sotheby's New York, 27 October 1990, lot 54; and, finally, a three-drawer commode, very similar to the present lot was sold at Christie's New York, 26 April 1994, lot 180. This commode's top is inlaid with a mosaic of brass and tortoiseshell with richly fretted and acanthus-wrapped ribbons, celebrating the Triumph of Love. In a lozenge-scrolled compartment, Venus's chariot is revealed on a laurel-wreathed and drapery-festooned pedestal beneath a baldaquin. The car, drawn by festive Bacchic satyrs, is driven by Cupid, whose companion bears the Nature Goddess's triumphal-garland on a pennant.
A tantalising question about the possible origin of the maker of this group of commodes is raised by a pair of commodes now in store at Schloss Willnitz, Dresden, but originally from Schloss Moritzburg. The Dresden commodes are veneered in oak and walnut but are of strikingly similar form to this one. They have overhanging marble tops with moulded ormolu edges but, most importantly, the pilaster angles continue down into hipped pierced legs and splayed ormolu hoof feet. The Dresden commodes are of a plain bowed form of four long drawers with brass handles flanking a central escutcheon but the overall effect is extremely close. The Dresden commodes are dated to 1720-30 and are illustrated in G. Haase, Dresdener Möbel des 18 Jahrhunderts, Leipzig, 1983, p. 265, fig. 28
There is a distinct group of boulle commodes of this form. One, without pierced legs, is in the Wallace Collection (F.J.B. Watson, Wallace Collection Catalogues: Furniture, London, 1956, no. F.39, pp. 16-17 and pl. 38); another, from the collection of comte Philippe de Rochefoucauld, was sold at Parke Bernet, New York, 16-17 May 1952, lot 383; another was sold anonymously at Sotheby's New York, 27 October 1990, lot 54; and, finally, a three-drawer commode, very similar to the present lot was sold at Christie's New York, 26 April 1994, lot 180. This commode's top is inlaid with a mosaic of brass and tortoiseshell with richly fretted and acanthus-wrapped ribbons, celebrating the Triumph of Love. In a lozenge-scrolled compartment, Venus's chariot is revealed on a laurel-wreathed and drapery-festooned pedestal beneath a baldaquin. The car, drawn by festive Bacchic satyrs, is driven by Cupid, whose companion bears the Nature Goddess's triumphal-garland on a pennant.