French Louis XVI Marquetry Chest of Drawers, 18th Century

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This is a beautiful antique french louis xvi walnut and ormolu mounted commode, circa 1790 in date. It has a … Read more This is a beautiful antique french louis xvi walnut and ormolu mounted commode, circa 1790 in date. It has a stunning shaped italian breccia marble top above a serpentine front having two short over two full width drawers, the drawers fitted with decorative scrolling ormolu handles. The bombe' commode with serpentine sides, parquetry, superb decorative gilded bronze ormolu mounts and raised on short shaped ormolu mounted legs. A lot of intricate workmanship by a master craftsman has gone into the creation of this wonderful commode. Complete with working locks and key. Condition: in really excellent condition having been beautifully cleaned, french polished and waxed in our workshops, please see photos for confirmation. Dimensions in cm: height 82 x width 100 x depth 50 dimensions in inches: height 2 foot, 8 inches x width 3 foot, 3 inches x depth 1 foot, 8 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 taweret 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. See less