Louis XV French chest of drawers, 18th century

French Louis XV commode, 18th century.
Walnut wood and bois de violette with lemongrass fillets. Gilt bronze handles and keyholes. Marble veined on the top.
It presents marks of use and wear.
Measurements: 87 x 130 x 63 cm.
French commode of Louis XV period and transition style between rococo and neoclassicism. Thus, it combines a still bulging elevation, typically rococo, with a compartmentalization of the structure and a clearly neoclassical and structured marquetry. The drawers are already clearly differentiated from each other, with wide shelves, and their fronts are divided by geometric recesses that emphasize the harmonious relationship between the different parts and the whole, following a criterion typical of classical languages that represents a radical difference with respect to rococo, which tended to visually unify the structure, to hide it, through decoration. However, the bronzes are still rococo, based on floral elements worked with a naturalistic, fluid and organic language. Likewise, the front corners are still chamfered, but stand on straight legs, free of ornamentation. Another significant element is found in the arched floor plan, which, although it retains the Rococo sinuosity, is a typical solution of the transitional language, since it is a form directly taken from the Baroque and Regency models. In fact, French artists turned their gaze to the Regency style (transition between baroque and rococo) looking for solutions to move from an anti-classical language such as rococo to a totally classical one such as Louis XVI or French neoclassicism.