Exceptional commode “aux Guerriers” after Riesener

Exceptional commode “AUX GUERRIERS” late 19th century. This chest of drawers is made after the 1775 model of the great cabinetmaker Riesener for Louis XVI’s bedroom in Versailles. In marquetry of amaranth and colored wood, mounted with gilded bronzes. It presents two large drawers with a hidden support crossbeam centered by a large panel of marquetry of flowers and ewer in a frame of trellis, foliated garlands and cherubs in chased and gilded bronzes. The side leaves, also inlaid with trelliswork, are placed under imposing military trophies in gilded bronze. The angles are decorated with four mythological figures: “Prudence” (wisdom) and “Temperance”(moderation), “Mars”, holding a shield in one hand and a spear in the other, and “Hercules”, holding his club. On both sides of the body in the middle of the chest of drawers sit two children in bas-reliefs, one representing “Justice” and the other “Beneficence” (charity). The low belts are centered by a blue, fleur-de-lysed globe on a bed of acanthus leaves and leafy horns of plenty. A memoir by Riesener, dated 1777, allows us to affirm that a globe with fleurs-de-lys was indeed on the original piece of furniture. It rests on four large hoofed legs with acanthus base. Double molded Brèche d’Alep marble top.

Size: H 100 cm x W 212 cm x D 81 cm

Parisian cabinetmaker’s work from the end of the 19th century.

Bed : The royal piece of furniture is kept in the Condée museum of the Château de Chantilly, France.