WALNUT AND OAK “PROVENZAL” LOUIS XV WARDROBE. FRANCE, 18TH CENTURY.

Wardrobe in walnut and oak. Rococo, France, 18th century. Two-door wardrobe with a lower drawer with two circular die handles inside a concave disc, located on two vase-shaped front legs and two square ones at the back and finished off at the top by a fine protruding molding. The drawer and one of the doors close with a key, but do not have a lock shield. Although the absence of gilded bronze applications could indicate that the origin is not French, it is one of the so-called “Provençal furniture”. These are characteristic of that area, although not exclusive to it, and are characterized by this lack of richness in their materials and a greater simplicity in the decoration compared to contemporary French furniture from, for example, Paris. It is necessary to highlight the use of two different woods for technical reasons but, also and above all, to highlight the carvings and moldings. The upper part has a veined capital framed by a straight molding below and with marked straight lines, curves and countercurves at the top. These lines, along with volutes, are repeated symmetrically but in very marked moldings, cutting the door panels into three parts, the central one being wider. The lower area leaves the drawer between a band with two flowers and an oval above and a symmetrical vegetal and floral motif below, which accompanies the curves of the lower skirt of the cabinet. These curved lines highlighted with the adjacent countercurves are reminiscent of those that describe rockeries, and show that the furniture belongs to the Rococo style. This, in France, is also known as the Louis XV style after the monarch in whose reign it flourished. This artistic movement developed there between approximately 1730 and 1760, with great influence even after those dates and throughout Europe. Note the differences between Provençal furniture, such as this one, with courtly Rococo examples such as the designs of Juste-Aurèle Meissonier or the works of Jean-Pierre Latz, for example. Cabinets similar to the present one are preserved in the Hospice Pailloux-Haumonté (Burgundy), in the Museum of European and Mediterranean Civilizations in Paris (inventory 13058), etc.

· Size: 150x52x234 cms.