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Commode

 (French, 1728–1799)
Directed production (French, 1689–1775)
Date1769
MediumOak veneered with various woods including maple, pearwood, bloodwood, and amaranth; gilt bronze, marble
Dimensions35 3/4 × 73 1/2 × 26 1/2 in. (90.8 × 186.7 × 67.3 cm)
Credit LineHenry Clay Frick Bequest
Accession number1915.5.37
Commentary

This commode was made for the bedroom of Madame Victoire, daughter of Louis XV, at the Château de Compiègne, where it was placed under a large pier mirror, opposite the fireplace. Depicting trophies, vases, and urns filled with flowers, the marquetry panels were meant to echo the princess’s bed hangings, curtains, and seating covers made of a taffeta chiné (a warp-printed taffeta) with “new patterns of flowerpots.” The colors of the fabric— green, gray, and yellow—were repeated on the commode, whose marquetry panels were stained with natural dyes that have almost completely disappeared. Archival documents attest that Gilles Joubert, cabinetmaker to the king in 1763, delivered this commode to the court. However, the furnishing of royal residences demanded more furniture than the elderly craftsman could provide, and Joubert often subcontracted work to other cabinetmakers, including Roger Vandercruse Lacroix, whose stamp, R.V.L.C., is found in four different places on this commode. Lacroix’s workshop was responsible for the woodwork while an unknown bronze maker designed, cast, and chased the gilt-bronze mounts.

Source: Vignon, Charlotte. The Frick Collection Decorative Arts Handbook. New York: The Frick Collection/Scala, 2015.

Collection History

Madame Victoire de France, Compiègne. Louis XVI, Compiègne. Lady Annette Mary de Trafford, Irwell Bank, Eccles, Lancashire. Duveen. Frick, 1915.

Source: Furniture in The Frick Collection: Italian and French Renaissance, French 18th and 19th Centuries (Pt. I). Volume V. New York: The Frick Collection, 1992.

Not On View
Commode with Pictorial and Trellis Marquetry
Jean-Henri Riesener
ca. 1780, and 1791
Secrétaire with Pictorial and Trellis Marquetry and gilt bronze decoration
Jean-Henri Riesener
ca. 1780 and 1790
Three-quarter front view of Longcase Regulator Clock
Balthazar Lieutaud
1767
Table with Trellis Marquetry and gilt bronze mounts
Martin Carlin
ca. 1770−75
Image of a cabinet made from Japanese black and gold laquer and ebonized wood with gilt bronze …
Bernard van Risenburgh II
ca. 1764
Image of a cabinet in black and gold Japanese lacquer and ebonized wood with gilt bronze mounts…
Bernard van Risenburgh II
ca. 1764
Mechanical Table with Sèvres Porcelain Plaques
Martin Carlin
ca. 1780
Commode with Floral Marquetry and gilt bronze mounts
Attributed to Hubert Hansen
1750–55
Commode with Tendril Marquetry (One of a Pair)
After André-Charles Boulle
ca. 1820−50
Commode with Tendril Marquetry (One of a Pair)
After André-Charles Boulle
ca. 1820−50
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