Antique Louis XVI Ormolu Mounted Walnut Marquetry Commode 18th Century

This is an impressive and rare antique Louis XVI gilt-bronze mounted walnut and marquetry commode, dating from the late 18th Century.

The stunning Breccia marble top over a bow front having two full width drawers fitted with the original scrolling ormolu handles.

The commode with walnut panels with kingwood crossbanding, superb decorative ormolu mounts and superb floral marquetry. It is raised on ormolu mounted shaped legs.

This is an exceptional piece of craftsmanship, a truly gorgeous piece that deserves pride of place in any furniture collection and will become the central focus point in your room.

It bears the impressed mark of the maker, Daguaneau, and is complete with original working locks and key.

Condition:

In excellent condition having been beautifully cleaned, French polished and waxed in our workshops, please see photos for confirmation.

Dimensions in cm:

Height 90 x Width 117 x Depth 57

Dimensions in inches:

Height 2 foot, 11 inches x Width 3 foot, 10 inches x Depth 1 foot, 10 inches

Breccia Marble

Is a rock composed of broken fragments of minerals or rock cemented together by a fine-grained matrix that can be similar to or different from the composition of the fragments.

Breccia rock can be any colour and is very colourful. The colour is determined by the colour of the matrix or cement along with the colour of the angular rock fragments.

The word has its origins in the Italian language, in which it means either "loose gravel" or "stone made by cemented gravel".

For thousands of years, the striking visual appearance of Breccias has made them a popular sculptural and architectural material. Breccia was used for column bases in the Minoan palace of Knossos on Crete in about 1800 BC. Breccia was used on a limited scale by the ancient Egyptians, one of the best-known examples is the statue of the goddess Tawaret in the British Museum.

It was regarded by the Romans as an especially precious stone and was often used in high-profile public buildings. Many types of marble are brecciated, such as Breccia Oniciata or Breche Nouvelle.

Breccia is most often used as an ornamental or facing material in walls and columns. A particularly striking example can be seen in the Pantheon in Rome, which features two gigantic columns of pavonazzetto, a breccia coming from Phrygia, in modern Turkey. Pavonazzetto obtains its name from its extremely colourful appearance, which is reminiscent of a peacock's feathers,pavone is "peacock" in Italian.

Ormolu - (from French 'or moulu', signifying ground or pounded gold) is an 18th-century English term for applying finely ground, high-carat gold in a mercury amalgam to an object of bronze.The mercury is driven off in a kiln leaving behind a gold-coloured veneer known as 'gilt bronze'.

The manufacture of true ormolu employs a process known as mercury-gilding or fire-gilding, in which a solution of nitrate of mercury is applied to a piece of copper, brass, or bronze, followed by the application of an amalgam of gold and mercury. The item was then exposed to extreme heat until the mercury burned off and the gold remained, adhered to the metal object.

After around 1830 because legislation had outlawed the use of mercury other techniques were used instead. Electroplating is the most common modern technique. Ormolu techniques are essentially the same as those used on silver, to produce silver-gilt.

During the time of Louis XVI, the ormolu mounts added a sculptural element to decorate furniture. Marquetry and gilt bronze mounts also emphasized the architectural lines of the piece in Louis XVI furniture. The guilds prohibited cabinetmakers from making their own mounts and had to be supplied by the guild of fondeurs-doreurs. Mounts were Neoclassical in design and consisted of of classical figures, Greek frets, pendants and swags