A FRENCH ORMOLU-MOUNTED MAHOGANY AND EBONY COMMODE A L'ANGLAISE

The design for the present commode à l’anglaise is a 19th century variation of a model originally conceived by Joseph Stöckel for Marie-Antoinette in 1786 and later modified by Guillaume Benneman for the chambre de la Reine at St. Cloud. Guillaume Benneman was one of Marie-Antoinette’s preferred ébénistes who created splendid and profusely-mounted furniture during the ancien régime for Versailles, the Tuileries and Saint-Cloud. Though apparently unsigned, the popular model was reproduced by a number of preeminent 19th-century cabinetmakers, including François Linke and Alfred Beurdeley. An unsigned commode of comparable quality and equally palatial scale was sold at Christie's, New York, 10 October 2016, lot 113 ($131,250).