An extraordinary French Louis XV Régence style gilt-ormolu-mounted parquetry commode à pipée des oiseaux after the celebrated model by Charles Cressent by Maison Millet circa 1720, Paris
The serpentine marble top above a pair of drawers inlaid with trellis parquetry, centered by ormolu urn flanked by reclining putti and courting doves on oak branches and foliate ormolu works above a serpentine scalloped apron centered by a fine burnished leafy shell cartouche, the angles with crossed oak trunks with a putto to each angle holding a bird, raised on four cabriole tapering legs with leafy ormolu oak-trunk front cast sabots. Ref#CC43R 130 X 85 X 50 cm Charles Cressent: Charles Cressent (1685-1767) is indisputably the most representative craftsman of the Régence period when fashion started to turn to furniture finished with relatively simple wood veneers, but fitted with ormolu mounts of increasing sculptural quality and splendour. In this arena Cressent stood alone, his early training as a sculptor being more than evident in the originality and quality of the mounts which he produced. He became master sculptor in 1719 and a member of the Academy of Saint-Luc. He is recorded as both sculpteur and ébéniste to the Duc d'Orléans, and he was constantly in difficulties with the guild of fondeurs and doreurs because, in contravention of the guild rules, he chased and gilded bronzes in his own workshop. In many instances he had even supplied models, which he had created himself, to the casters. His defense against this was that it enabled him to supervise the quality of the work and to prevent unauthorized copies being made; it has to be said that his defiance of the guild regulations has left a legacy of ormolu mounts of unparalleled distinction.
Louis XV Régence commode à pipée des oiseaux after the model by Charles Cressent
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