Attribué à JACQUES DUBOIS (Pontoise, 1694-Paris, 1763)

COMMODE WITH DOORS ON TWO CONSOLE LEGS Paris, Louis XV period, circa 1745-1750 Oak frame; veneer of violet, satinwood, cherry and coralwood; mercury gilt bronze; green Campan marble Restoration and maintenance H. 88 cm, W. 118 cm, D. 35 cm Provenance Former collection of an aristocratic family from the Basque Country Private collection, Paris, since 2005 This two-leaf chest of drawers, curved on the front and sides, resting on two console feet, formed a pair with another chest of drawers dispersed at the time of the estate. It presents a remarkable frieze work combining violet and satinwood on the outside and cherry and coralwood on the inside of the leaves. The undulating effects of the veneer on the outer leaves and on the side panels are channelled by the diamond patterns around the edge, which also go around the original push-button lock with its rich rocaille bronze palate. The falls and hoofs that adorn our chest of drawers are linked together by rods that emphasize the structure. Acanthus leaves emphasize the double brace of the apron. Our "commode en bas d'armoire", to use the terminology employed by Lazare Duvaux in his diary book, corresponds to a type of furniture that is rarer than that of the chest of drawers. Moreover, this is a variant with two legs instead of four, as was the case with BVRB II and Criaerd (fig. 1). A model of this type, delivered by Gilles Joubert to Madame Adélaïde in 1755, is still kept in Versailles (fig. 2). These chests of drawers with two doors and four legs develop vertical symmetry effects comparable to those of our model. The veneer sets enriched with gilded bronzes are, however, closer to the manner of Jacques Dubois, which we find in the Dubois' style that we find, for example, on a console chest with two hidden drawers in the Wrightsman collection (fig. 3). Jacques Dubois, who was awarded the title of Master in 1742, had some of his bronze models in his workshop. The cartouche used on a flat desk attributed to him is identical to the one on our lock (fig. 4). The bronze falls and the drawer veneers are also identical. Our chest of drawers with console doors would therefore be the work of the same cabinetmaker. Additional information from the collector is available by QR Code in the PDF. Collector's information sheet updated with the results of the brass analysis following the Heginbotham protocol