19th Century, French Purple Wood Showcase with gilt bronze

19th Century, French Purple Wood Showcase with gilt bronze

This valuable showcase was made in Paris in the second half of the 19th century, when there were great blacksmiths and bronzers whose skills are also found at the expense of this furniture.
In the Louis XVI style, the showcase is veneered in purple wood and inlaid in bois de rose in order to create chromatic effects of great decorative impact. The cabinet is composed of three parts and the central one, double the width is protruding compared to the side. Three glass doors close the shelves, lined with silk. The top is in marble, while the frame below the floor has a refined decoration in gilded bronze and chiselled with great skill. The central bronzes depict the head of the goddess Ceres, with fruit and cornucopias, and next to two goats with large racemes and spirals and volutes with phytomorphic elements. Laterally, but always on the front of the cabinet, next to the leafy circles, a pair of putti with goat legs play the horn. Above runs a thin golden bronze frame with flowers and fruit, while below, and around the glass, two golden frames. Applications in gilded bronze carved in the shape of a flower decorate the corners of the glass.
The mouthpieces of the locks, in golden bronze, are enriched by branches of laurel. In the middle of the lower part of the display case, in an oval golden bronze frame, surrounded by ribbons, laurel leaves, branches of roses and other vegetal decorations, there is a ceramic plaque of the English manufacture of Wedgwood.
The showcase rests on six feet with tip and golden bronze ring.
This splendid showcase has a very refined structural architecture, which makes it slender and graceful without proving its importance. It is therefore easy to fit in different environments, thanks to the strong decorative and the sophistication of its decorations, treated in detail.
In good condition, the marble top has a fracture.