BY HENRY DASSON, PARIS, DATED 1878

Conceived in the goût grec, this cabinet recalls the neo-classical style of Jean-Henri Riesener (1734-1806), court ébéniste of King Louis XVI and Queen Marie-Antoinette. The expertise and confidence of Dasson is such that he borrows different elements from Riesener’s oeuvre, combining them together with a flare equal to his predecessor, to create a cabinet which is both an homage to the Louis XVI style and uniquely of its time. The form of this cabinet is loosely based upon Riesener's celebrated series of commodes, notably that supplied in 1776 to Louis XVI for his cabinet intérieur at Fontainebleau. Albeit Dasson’s cabinet is elongated in height, he borrows from the commode the volute corbels heading the angles: a signature neoclassical mount variously employed by Riesener also on his sécretaire The elaborate key-hole escutcheon (shown opposite) appear to a writing table and commode in the Frick Collection, New York (T. Dell, The Frick Collection An Illustrated Catalogue, Vol. VI, New York, 1992, 14.5.74, p. 51 & and 18.5.71 p. 62). A cabinet of identical form by Dasson, with different vernis Martin panel is illustrated in C. Mestdagh, L'ameublement d'art français: 1850-1900, Paris, 2010, p. 232. Also compare a cabinet by Dasson dated 1879 sold Sotheby’s, Paris, 7 November 2013, lot 392 and larger commode, sold Wapler, hôtel Drouot, Paris, 3 July 1996, lot 599.