18th Century Italian Louis XVI Chest Of Drawers

The main characteristics of a Louis XVI chest of drawers are a straight, simpler, sober and geometric line, inspired by Greco-Roman classicism; the composure of the geometric forms thus contrasts with the whimsical, bizarre and complex volutes of Rococo.

Simpler and more sober, but still refined in its minute details, the Louis XVI style is characterised by the geometric rigour of the ornamentation and the sharpness of the volumes of the furniture.

This is an inlaid and threaded Louis XVI chest of drawers in walnut, rosewood, bois de rose and walnut interiors, with original marble, measuring 88 x 124 x 60 cm from the second half of the 18th century with a linear structure and a refinement of the landscape and musical inlays that lead back to the Levati workshop.

In the two lower drawers, the separation is not highlighted, thus creating a large mirror with the polished walnut sheen with the veneer arranged in a fishbone pattern to represent a seascape, a rarity, although sometimes already present in the cabinetmaker's workshop.

On this a double rectangular frame, first wooden and then inlaid, with a repetitive leaf motif encloses a circle with a large seascape scene. In the under-shelf drawer, the decoration emphasises its horizontality.

A frame similar to that of the two drawers, but of smaller proportions, closes a floral decoration that rhythms pearlised festoons with mythological figures in the middle The same frame, even richer and more refined, superbly constructed, is found on the sides where musical instruments are framed soberly and elegantly in a beautiful play of woods including walnut, rosewood and bois de rose that give colour and warmth to the piece of furniture itself.

The tapered legs have on their four sides a phytomorphic motif set in a frame that emphasises the shape, the nut stands out dark and with a floral decoration, having in addition on the sides a fine decorative curl executed only for the most important chests of drawers.

Looking at it in its essence, it appears to us to be a truly refined chest of drawers, warm in colour and excellently united in the construction of the woods; to this we add the unique inlay, almost unrepeatable despite the large number of Louis XVI chests of drawers on the market, which make it special and differentiate it from the masses precisely because of these delicate and fine details that enhance its appearance and its elegance.

The commode, in perfect condition, comes from a private home.