A Fine Napoleon III Gilt-Bronze Mounted Burr-Amboyna and Ebonised Side Cabinet

Description

An Exceptionally Fine Napoleon III Gilt-Bronze Mounted Burr-Amboyna and Ebonised Side Cabinet. Attributed to Grohé Frères, Paris.

This cabinet of exceptional quality is richly mounted with an exuberance of gilt-bronze ornament recalling the Louis XVI style as interpreted by the great ébénistes of the Second Empire. The gilt-bronzes retain their original exquisite matte and burnished mercury gilding. The top is a fine and original white marble with Cavetto moulded edge. The central frieze drawer has pierced berried leaf frames and the flanking drawers have scrolled acanthus panels. Between are female masks. The veneers are of the finest burr-amboyna and ebony mounted with neoclassical acanthus and foliate gilt-bronzes. The central door has a relief cast oval roundel of Venus and putto at cupid’s altar flanked by floral swags. The flanking door and sides are applied with gilt-bronze attributes of ribbon-tied musical instruments. The interior is fitted with four tiers of burr-maple fronted drawers with loop handles arranged with four wide drawers besides four narrow drawers.

Conceived in the Louis XVI repertoire indebted to Riesener’s oeuvre, this cabinet combines striking gilt-bronzes with a richness of well-ordered sumptuosity. It is exemplary of the finest furniture produced in Paris during the opulent heyday of Napoleon III and Empress Eugénie and relates to furniture made for the imperial household’s apartments at the Château de Saint-Cloud. Compare side cabinets made by Wassmus Frères and a cheval mirror by Fourdinois, of mahogany with richly chased bronzes, visible in a watercolour by Fortuné de Fournier of the dressing room of the Empress at Saint-Cloud, which was famously occupied by Queen Victoria when she visited France to attend the Paris Exhibition in 1855. The modern furniture is designed in the Louis XVI style to compliment period pieces and shows the Empress’s artistic preferences for the cult of the martyred Marie Antoinette.

Watercolour by Fortuné de Fournier of the dressing Room of the Empress Eugenie at Saint-Cloud, 1860

The attribution for the present cabinet to Grohé Frères is with reference to the especially sculptural gilt-bronze mounts and comparison to known cabinets including a meuble d’appui by Grohé that was exhibited at the 1867 Exposition universelle in Paris, as engraved in ‘The Illustrated Catalogue of the Universal Exhibition’ Published with the Journal by Virtue and Co, p. 211.

A cabinet by Grohé Frères shown at the 1867 Paris Exposition Universelle

France, Circa 1860.