Italian Louis XV Trumeau

A trumeau, a French term, is commonly understood to mean a piece of furniture with a double body, the lower of which consists of a chest of drawers with a riser and the upper of which consists of a back structure, with two doors closed by mirrors (ground or engraved) or by glass and terminating in a cornice. The word originated to indicate, in Gothic architecture, a sculptural element dividing two openings (doors or windows). 

The term trumeau is well known to antique enthusiasts and in particular to lovers of 18th century furniture, but perhaps not all people associate the French term with the precious piece of furniture that in Italy we sometimes call trumò.
The trumeau, or trumò, is a piece of furniture that in its lower part is similar to a chest of drawers with a riser while in the upper part there are two precious doors, or more rarely only one, that conceal shelves and small drawers.
The original piece of furniture thus consists of two distinct bodies, separated from each other by a drop-leaf top, constituting a felicitous marriage of different pieces of furniture traditionally associated with different functions.
The trumeau is, in fact, a piece of furniture that by its mere presence furnishes a room in an elegant, sometimes discreet and in other cases baroque way, given the variability of styles that inspired the eighteenth-century cabinet-makers and the skilled craftsmen who reproduce the art today.

This is a Lombard trumeau made of walnut, walnut root and ebonised frames, measuring 280 x 125 x 60 cm, from the second half of the 18th century.
The wavy profile of the front is emphasised by a base that is lower than the slightly moulded upper part that follows the perimeter and rests on candle feet at the front.

In the lower body, the black-stained wood can be found in the carved and moulded uprights that emphasise the verticality of the cabinet: in the lower and upper moulded bands that close the wavy front; in the frames that enclose the three drawers and in the mouldings that follow the contour of the rectangular cartouches that surround the drawer.


The slightly protruding band underneath the calatoio top presents a very harmonious triple frame, while on the hinged door that conceals six drawers and a secret, the decorative motif that divides the drawers is composed of a single design.
The upper part with two doors and original mercury mirrors culminates in an incised harlequin motif broken up and surrounded by a black moulded profile. 
The handles and patches are chiselled bronze.

In this particularly slender Louis XV trumeau, the typically Lombard contrast between ebonized decoration and walnut and walnut-root panelled surfaces is more evident due to the lighter tone of the latter.

dark wood, the agile, slender shelf feet stand out, joining the low moulded frame enclosing the lower perimeter.
We have to admire the main features of this wonderful trumeau: on the one hand its being mammoth, and on the other its being agile thanks to a central and lateral move that gives the whole piece of furniture ample scope.
The drawers inside and the candle holder also move.