A solid walnut Provençal commode mid 18th century, circa 1750

Provencal chest of drawers, Nîmoise solid walnut of the Rhone Valley carved, molded and waxed. Rectangular shaped convex crossbows, finely carved with a purely Provencal decor, it opens the front with three drawers long in three rows. As it should be in the Nîmoise cabinetmaking, the lower crossbar in the middle part is of course openwork. The amounts are straight, quadrilaterals for posteriors; in arc of circle raised of large and fat moldings treated in projecting elegies, with the concave ridge and the convex fall for the anterior ones. Two small feet, flattened, fine and curved punctuated with volutes chubby and back of acanthus leaf complete the set. A lush symmetrical decoration of fine sculptures of elegant acanthus leaves, powerful rockeries, intertwas and wreaths, runs on the frame, the drawers and the pierced cross. Each side is centered with a large asymmetric cartridge with vertically flat and laterally sinuous flats. The whole is capped with a wood top monoxyle where runs on the periphery a beak of corbin. This work, so specific to Provençal masters, gives this type of chest of drawers all its letters of nobility; we find the exuberance of the south combined with the theatrical taste of Italian magnificence.
Observation: it should be noted that in the decorative arts of Provence and especially Nîmes; dressers with three rows of drawers as opposed to two-drawer drawers are very rare. Because exclusively devolves to the private apartments of the householders. In addition, the quality of the choice of walnut used, a heart of walnut son, dense grains, very tight almost devoid of veins, indicates the financial ease of the sponsor who did not skimp on the expense for a piece of furniture private. In addition, the patina of this one allows to appreciate all the gouge of the sculpture, which it highlights. A property seal in red wax is present on the back.
Very special work of master Nîmois fuzes period early eighteenth century.