Commode with Marquetry Decoration
Artist: Joseph Baumhauer (French, died 1772)
Date: about 1767-1772, possibly a decade earlier
Dimensions:
34 x 50 in. (86 x 127 cm)
Medium: oak veneered with tulipwood (bois de rose), kingwood, casuarina, and purple-heart; gilded bronze mounts; breccia marble top
Classification: Furniture
Credit Line: Purchased with funds from the Florence Scott Libbey Bequest in Memory of her Father, Maurice A. Scott
Object number: 1976.38
Label Text:An early 18th-century creation, the commode was originally conceived as a hybrid of a table and a chest. By the second half of the century, the decoration of these chests of drawers sought to conceal the division between the drawers to allow the front to be treated as a single decorative unit. On this piece, gilded bronze mounts have been skillfully integrated with the marquetry—inlaid wood—design.
Joseph Baumhauer, known simple as Joseph, was a German furniture-maker who settled in Paris prior to 1745. He later received a royal appointment as master cabinetmaker, allowing him to use fleurs-de-lis (the French royal symbol) with his name stamp. This commode is stamped “Joseph” between two fleurs-de-lis on an interior surface.
Joseph Baumhauer, known simple as Joseph, was a German furniture-maker who settled in Paris prior to 1745. He later received a royal appointment as master cabinetmaker, allowing him to use fleurs-de-lis (the French royal symbol) with his name stamp. This commode is stamped “Joseph” between two fleurs-de-lis on an interior surface.
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In Collection(s)