Text: Jennifer Boles
For the first half of the 18th century, French furniture was at its shapeliest. Chairs were supported by curved cabriole legs, while commodes, or chest of drawers, usually had rounded forms, in keeping with that era’s preference for the lyrical rococo style. But after decades of furniture makers and their patrons being in thrall of the S curve, the defining feature of rococo design, tastes began to flatten out, so to speak.
Instead of sinuous curves and elaborate ornamentation, straight lines and neoclassical motifs emerged to the forefront of the decorative arts. It was a shift prompted in part by the excavation of the ancient Roman cities Pompeii and Herculaneum during the 1760s, something which renewed European interest in classicism. Known in France as the Louis XVI, or Louis Seize, style, in honor of the late-18th-century king, the new classically rooted style influenced all manner of furniture, especially commodes, one of the most popular, if not practical, furniture types of the 18th century.
More sober looking than their early-18th-century antecedents, Louis XVI commodes combined French flair with classical antiquity. Legs were generally straighter and more upright than previous models, with fluting or grooving sometimes being added in semblance of classical columns. Likewise, the commode’s body became more angular than in years past. Typically comprised of three large drawers, or sometimes three narrow frieze drawers surmounting two large drawers, the body of the chest was almost always rectangular. However, as restrained as the designs could be, Louis XVI commodes were not devoid of ornamentation. Carved details were often borrowed from ancient Greek and Roman architecture and included acanthus and oak leaves, laurels, and fretwork. The crowning touch was usually a marble top, sometimes embellished with a brass gallery surround.
Although Louis XVI commodes collectively had an air of restraint, they could occasionally be quite grand, specifically those made by Paris’s famed cabinetmakers, such as Jean-Henri Riesener, one of France’s foremost ébénistes, or cabinetmakers, of the mid to late 18th century. In such accomplished hands, commodes were flourished with marquetry veneers in a variety of designs, from landscape scenes to geometric patterns. Applied gilt-bronze mounts and hardware, which again depicted classical motifs, were added for flair, as were, on occasion, Sèvres porcelain plaques. It is little wonder that the likes of Marie Antoinette gravitated to such lavish designs, despite the style’s earnest reputation.
The French Revolution, which began in 1789, marked the end of Louis XVI’s reign, and with it went much of the splendor associated with royalty. But what did remain relevant was an adherence to neoclassicism. The ensuing Directoire style borrowed many elements of the Louis XVI style, particularly motifs rooted in the classical past. So, too, with the early-19th-century Empire style that characterized Napoleon’s reign. Provincial French furniture, however, lagged behind Parisian trends, with Louis XVI–style commodes continuing to be produced throughout the 19th century, a testimony to the timeless appeal of the regal, pared-down style.
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