Minor restoration was required for this Regency commode, known as a sarcophagus commode. A few veneer repairs and a refinishing of the varnish were all that was needed to restore its former glory.
The sarcophagus-shaped chest of drawers?
It was only a few years after the first examples completed by André Charles Boulle, during the Regent period, that the curved commodes appeared in plan and elevation which would be called throughout the 18th century commodes "à la Régence" (and similarly, it would be necessary to wait until 1720 to see commodes with two rows of drawers again, often called "à la Cressent").
This type of commode should be seen as an intermediary between the Louis XIV and Regency commodes. Rarer and more classic, with its restrained forms, this model boasts a very clean and refined design. The "sarcophagus" style, exhibiting characteristics of the "bridge" commode, is quite common, but is always of high quality. Master craftsmen such as Noël Gérard, the Poitou family, François Lieutaud, and Louis Delaitre, who seems to have continued producing this model longer, even beyond the Regency period (these are practically the only ones sometimes found stamped with the maker's mark), were involved in its manufacture.
This commode is topped with a molded Incarnat Turquin marble slab from Caunes-Minervois, featuring a corbelled edge, and adorned with chased and gilded bronze mounts. The drawers have twisted drawer pulls (known as "torchon" pulls) and swirling rosettes, small keyhole escutcheons with radiant female masks flanked by dolphins, and large keyhole escutcheons with shells and garlands. The uprights feature prominent female espagnolettes with palmette diadems and openwork floral drops, gadrooned astragals, and slippers with a mosaic background and acanthus leaves punctuated by palmettes. The sides display prominent Ceres masks with palmettes and acanthus leaves curled into scrolls. The apron has a wide corbel formed by a cartouche with a fleuron flanked by acanthus scrolls.
It opens with four drawers in three rows and is covered with a violet wood veneer, sawn on the back and at an angle, arranged in chevrons, diamond points, and, most notably, butterfly wings. The traditional horizontal divisions of the Louis XIV style are found in the form of brass fluting on the front rails.
Although this chest of drawers is tall and slender, its silhouette is subtly delicate: the drawers in the first row are curved, then slightly concave; the middle drawer is curved, then slopes inwards; and finally, the bottom drawer appears almost flat but is imperceptibly concave. The sides are S-shaped at the top third and continue downwards in a slight concave curve. The unusual attachment of the corner pieces, placed very low, creates a trapezoidal effect and reinforces the vanishing point towards the apron.
The chest of drawers' frame conforms to Regency style, primarily constructed of high-quality softwood (drawer fronts, base, top, intermediate shelves, and back), but with hardwood uprights (oak and ash) and, most notably, walnut for all the finely crafted, mortise-and-tenon drawer boxes. The construction, lacking mortise and tenon joints but using blind dovetails and edge-jointed planks, along with grooves for the bottom made of closely spaced boards, is also typical of the short Regency period.
