Half moon chest of drawers - Charles Topino (1742-1803)

Richly inlaid period half-moon chest of drawers stamped Charles Topino.

Rosewood veneer, floral marquetry on a light wood background, chased and gilt bronze ornamentation, white marble top. The front opens with a drawer in the waistband decorated with a frieze of interlacing, two drawers and two side panels, tapered legs with simulated fluting (H85 cm, W98 cm, D47.5 cm).
The bronzes are probably by RAVRIO and chased by DUBUISSON.
Double-action central lock (one turn closes a drawer and the second closes by turning the key again).
The piece we are presenting belongs to a corpus of commodes, of which some fifteen examples are currently listed:

- Baltimore Museum of Art (USA).
- Former Delepouville collection (1989) then ARTCURIAL sale (16/05/17).
- Drouot sale 16/06/10.
- Garbisch collection, Christie's sale (13/12/06) one pair.
- Former Alice de Rothschild collection, then Fred Stettenheim, Christie's NY (23/10/98) a pair.
- Former Earls of Rosebery collection at Mentmore Castle, then Sotheby's NY (22/0597) one pair.
- Miss Broadway collection, Christie's London sale (03/07/86) a pair (one of the two chests of drawers reproduced in P.Kjellberg. Eighteenth-century French furniture, Les Ed de l'amateur P.885)
- Hillingdon Collection, Christie's London (07/29/72).
- Mortimer Schiff Collection, Christie's London sale (22/06/38).
- Moïse de Camondo Collection, Christie's London sale (17/06/37).

Comparative bibliography:

Sylvain Barbier Sainte Marie 'Charles Topino', Paris, 2005, P.132, fig.61.
Pierre Kjellberg, 'Le mobilier français du XVIIIe siècle', Paris, P.885.

This is the 16th model.