An Early 20th Century Regence Style Gilt Bronze Mounted Parquetry Medallion Commode

A serpentine marble top above a pair of doors each centered with an oval medallion with mythological figures, within a foliate and ribbon-tied surround, hung with medals and foliate pendants, the interior with a pair of drawers to each side, the concave-shaped sides each with an oval medallion, on scrolled legs, each with a ram’s mask to the knee, on scrolled feet.

After the famous 18th century model designed by the Slodtz brothers and executed by Antoine Gaudreax.

This commode is based on the commode médallier by Antoine Gaudreaux (d. 1746), so called because it contained a set of the famous series of medals known as the medallic history of Louis XIV and Louis XV which included portraits of the leading crowned heads of Europe and to which medals of the most beautiful buildings of the reign of Louis XV were later added. It was delivered on 10 January 1739 for the Cabinet aux tableaux in Louis XV’s new apartments at Versailles. It was referred to at the time as ‘Par les Srs Gaudreaux ébéniste et Slodtz frères, sculpteurs, pour servir dans le cabinet aux tableaux avant la petite galerie à Versailles’. In 1755 a matching pair of encoignures were made by Gilles Joubert (d. 1775) which were removed with the commode médallier by the order of Louis XVI and placed in the Medal Department of the Royal Library. However in 1960 the suite returned to Versailles where it remains on display.

Details:
Height – 38 inches / 97cm
Width – 71 inches / 180cm
Depth – 25 inches / 64cm