A painted Munich chest of drawers
Softwood painted to resemble marble in porphyry and grey tones, gilding, stucco, carving. Three-drawer corpus with pierced apron and serpentine supports. The upper angles accentuated by pillars. Decorated with gilt mouldings, rocailles, foliage, and flowerheads. With foliate ornament handles. Some retouches and repairs. H 82, W 121.5, D 57 cm.
Attributed to François de Cuvilliés, circa 1750.
François de Cuvilliés (1695 - 1768) trained as a cabinetmaker in Paris in the early 1720s. He became a master builder at the court of Munich in 1725, bringing with him the rocaille motif to Bavaria. He was entrusted with major projects at the Bavarian court, but his career did not develop as expected, since other master builders constantly received preferential treatment. This was in part due to his poor grasp of German, but also the fact that he preferred to spend time working on his own designs instead of at the court building offices. Despite this, he still had a major influence on the design of the Augustusburg and Falkenlust Palaces in Brühl, the Amalienburg in Nymphenburg Palace gardens, and the sumptuous interiors of the Munich Residence.
Literature
Cf. this design by Hojer in: Ottomeyer (ed.), Die Möbel der Residenz München, vol. II, Munich 1996, p. 204ff.