A Transitional ormolu-mounted marquetry commode stamped Jean Petit

A small Transitional period chest of drawers, stamped J PETIT for Jean Petit and stamped with the Jurande de Paris JME, of quadrangular rectangular form with a tripartite front with a double projection, convex in the central part; it is inlaid with tulipewood in cartouches with a buttress of amaranth wood, decorated with grecques bordered with boxwood fillets in natural and stained colours on a frame of oak. The front jambs are rounded with an inner recess set back from the profile of the front; the back jambs are recessed, and the whole rests on slender arched legs linked by poly-lobed crosspieces. Our chest of drawers opens with three long superimposed drawers, two of which are wider with concealed rails. These are locked by atypical locks; the lock for the lower drawer, positioned at the base, has its bolt located below the drawer and is embedded in the apron of the lower crosspiece. This ingenious system allows the drawer handles and lock escutcheons to be offset from the central decoration. Beautiful ornamentation of chased gilded bronzes such as ribboned knot lock escutcheons, mobile pull handles, apron and acanthus leaf hooves. The whole is topped with a violet breche of peach blossoms whose moulded contours with recesses and protrusions follow the frame. The stamp J Petit and the jurande are stamped on the side of the crosspiece of the top drawer.
Marble dimensions: width 95.6cm - depth 50.7cm - height 83.4cm
Jean PETIT received his master's degree in Paris on 5 October 1767 and died before 1782. He was the paterfamilias of the Petit dynasty of cabinet-makers, established on rue du Faubourg Saint-Antoine, opposite rue Traversière. An elegant chest of drawers with a generous gale in coloured wood marquetry signed Jean Petit was part of the former Paul Eudel collection.
Fleur de Pêcher is a veined marble with a violet background dotted with white, red and pink veins. It evokes the shapes of flowers, hence its name. The original quarry, opened in the 17th century, is located in Serravezza in the Carrara basin in Italy. In the 17th century, it was used extensively in religious decoration. The Regency period mantel in the Salon Ovale at the Hôtel de Soubise in Paris is a perfect example.