This is a beautiful Empire Revivalburrmapletallchestdating from the late 20th Century.
This stunning chest features abeautifulVerde Anticomarble top, attractive ormolu mounts and eight useful drawers.
The craftsmanship on display throughout the piece is thoroughly impressive.
Add a touch of unparalleled style to a special room in your home with this beautiful tall chest.
Condition:
In excellent condition, please see photos for confirmation of condition.
Dimensions in cm:
Height 134 x Width 58 x Depth 36
Dimensions in inches:
Height 4 foot, 5 inches x Width 1 foot, 11 inches x Depth 1 foot, 2 inches
Our reference: 02209
Maple
occurs primarily in Sugar Maple and is a very hard wood with divergent grain structure caused by the presence of theBirdseyes.
In the days when all furniture was made essentially by hand,BirdseyeMaple was used by only the most capable cabinetmakers. These artisans had developed the tools and skills to work and finishBirdseyeMaple successfully. Antique furniture made out ofBirdseyeMaple is rare and beautiful.
The divergent grain that makesBirdseyeMaple beautiful also makes it difficult to work. Early woodworking machines ran at lowrpmsand had only 2 knives percutterhead. This often producedBirdseyesurfaces that were chipped and torn. It took many hours of hand planing and scraping to get these surfaces to a high sheen.
This limited the use ofBirdseyemaple to projects whose value could justify the extra labour cost. Examples of this are fine furniture and musical instruments.
Empire style
is an early-19th-centurydesignmovement inarchitecture,furniture, otherdecorative arts, and thevisual artsfollowed in Europe and America until around 1830.
The style originated in and takes its name from the rule ofNapoleon Iin theFirst French Empire, where it was intended to idealize Napoleon's leadership and the French state. The style corresponds to theBiedermeierstyle in the German-speaking lands,Federal stylein the United States and to theRegency stylein Britain. The previous style was calledLouis XVI style, in France.
The Empire style was based on aspects of the Roman Empire. It is the second phase of neoclassicism which is also called "Directoire", after a goverment system.
Furniture typically had symbols and ornaments borrowed from the glorious ancient Greek and Roman empires.
The furniture was made from heavy woods such asmahoganyandebony, imported from the colonies, with dark finishes often with decorative bronze mounts. Marble tops were popular as were Egyptian motifs like sphinxes, griffins, urns and eagles and the Napoleonic symbols, the eagle, the bee, the initials "I" and a large "N."
Gilded bronze (ormolu) details displayed a high level of craftsmanship.
Ormolu
(from French 'or moulu', signifying ground or pounded gold) is an 18th-century English term for applying finely ground, high-caratgoldin amercuryamalgamto an object ofbronze.The mercury is driven off in akilnleaving behind a gold-coloured veneerknown as'gilt bronze'.
The manufacture of true ormolu employs a process known as mercury-gilding orfire-gilding, in which a solution ofnitrate of mercuryis applied to a piece ofcopper,brass, or bronze, followed by the application of anamalgamof gold and mercury. The item was then exposed to extreme heat until the mercury burned off and the gold remained, adhered to the metal object.
No true ormolu was produced in France after around 1830 because legislation had outlawed the use of mercury. Therefore, other techniques were used instead but nothing surpasses the original mercury-firing ormolu method for sheer beauty and richness of colour.Electroplatingis the most common modern technique. Ormolu techniques are essentially the same as those used onsilver, to producesilver-gilt(also known asvermeil).
Antiques.co.uk Ref: 8DH26JH37
- Width (cm):
- 58
- Height (cm):
- 134
- Depth (cm):
- 36
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