AFTER THE MODEL BY BENNEMAN AND STÖCKEL, LATE 19TH CENTURY

The design for the present commode à l’anglaise is a 19th century variation of a model originally conceived by Joseph Stöckel for Marie-Antoinette in 1786 and later modified by Guillaume Benneman for the chambre de la Reine at St. Cloud. Guillaume Benneman was one of Marie-Antoinette’s preferred ébénistes who created splendid and profusely-mounted furniture during the ancien régime for Versailles, the Tuileries and Saint-Cloud. Though apparently unsigned, the popular model was reproduced by a number of preeminent 19th century cabinetmakers, including François Linke and Alfred Beurdeley. Two unsigned commodes of comparable quality and equally palatial scale were sold at Sotheby's, New York, 19 April 2007, lot 148 ($102,000) and Christie's, New York, 21 October 2008, lot 383 ($86,500).