TRANSITION PERIOD ROYAL CHEST OF DRAWERS Attributed to Simon Oeben In satin-finish and satin-finish veneer, decorated with chased and gilded bronze, top in restored Flanders marble, the recessed front opening into five drawers in three rows, the uprights with canted sides, the cambered legs finished with bronze claws. Marks: F N 183 (mark of the Château de Fontainebleau furniture repository F under a closed royal crown) on the back and reverse of the marble top, the frame and reverse of the marble top stencilled with the number 9; minor damage and missing parts, the veneer sunlit. H. 86 cm (33 ¾ in.) l. 148 cm (58 ¼ in.) P. 65 cm (25 ½ in.) Provenance: Most likely delivered for Étienne François, Marquis de Stainville, duc de Choiseul at the Château de Chanteloup, circa 1765; Mentioned in 1786 at the Château de Fontainebleau in the bedroom of the Dauphin Louis Joseph (1781-1789); Mentioned in 1787 at the Château de Fontainebleau in the bedroom of the Dauphin Louis Joseph (1781-1789). Comparative bibliography : V. Moreau, Chanteloup, un moment de grâce autour du duc de Choiseul, Paris, 2007, p.248-249. A Transitional royal gilt-bronze mounted and satinwood commode, attributed to Simon Oeben This lot is sold in aid of the 30 Millions d'Amis Foundation. This lot is being sold in aid of 30 Millions d'Amis. The stencil mark F (crowned) N°183 on the back and reverse of the marble top of our chest of drawers corresponds to the inventory of the Château de Fontainebleau in 1787: " N°183. A chest of drawers with two large drawers and 3 small ones in the frieze veneered with plain satinwood, coloured bronze rings and sabots, Flanders marble top, 4 1/2 feet wide [1m46]" (1). During the inventory of the château the previous year (1786, O1 3397), the chest of drawers was described in the same terms in the same room of the Dauphin Louis Joseph, without an inventory number or a number from the Journal du Garde-Meuble de la Couronne that could identify its delivery date. It seems certain that this chest of drawers was not one of the deliveries made by the usual suppliers to the royal furniture repository (Joubert and then Riesener), duly recorded on a daily basis in the furniture repository's register. It is more likely that it was part of a batch of furniture purchased from a dealer. A similar satinwood commode, also by Simon Oeben and with the Fontainebleau mark F (couronné) N°976, was placed in the bedroom of the Duchesse d'Orléans in 1787 (Sotheby's Monaco sale, 26-27 February 1992, n°220, then Edmond Safra collection, then Christie's London, Exceptional sale, 6 July 2023, lot 27) (fig. 1). Like the commode shown here, it could not be identified by a number in the journal of the Garde Meuble Royal, but had brush numbers on its frame (no. I Chambre). Its marble was that of chest of drawers N°974, which formed its counterpart in the bedroom of the Duchess of Orléans with the same brush marks (from N°I C in the chapel). There were therefore three similar chests of drawers, by Simon Oeben, with no reference in the journal of the Garde-Meuble, but with brush marks corresponding to an earlier inventory. Given that Simon Oeben's main client was Étienne-François, Duc de Choiseul (1719-1785), whose Château de Chanteloup and Parisian residence he furnished, these chests of drawers can be compared to the Chanteloup furnishings. After Choiseul's death, when the château was sold to the Duc de Penthièvre in 1786, some of the furniture was retained, but a comparison of Choiseul's inventory and that of Penthièvre shows that many pieces were sold, the dates coinciding with the appearance of the chests of drawers at Fontainebleau. In Choiseul's inventory of 1786 (2), no fewer than thirty chests of drawers were listed in the château's flats, including three in mahogany, three in satinwood and twenty-four in "bois des Indes", a vague term used at the time to refer to veneers of exotic woods. Their descriptions are too brief to confirm that they correspond to this type of chest of drawers, although later inventories point to this model. It is therefore likely that some of this furniture was sold by the Choiseul estate to the Garde-Meuble de la Couronne, according to Christian Baulez (3). Only two chests of drawers in the bedroom of the Duchesse de Choiseul had their ornaments in gilded bronze. In the bedroom at number 9, the following items were inventoried: "a table of Indian wood, a chest of drawers of the same wood", which, along with a set of crimson lampas furniture, fetched the substantial sum of 1800 livres. This could therefore correspond to the number 9 found on the frame and reverse of the marble top of our copy. Attribution to Simon Oeben Stylistically dating from 1765-1770, this chest of drawers with a central recess is one of a series of three-row chests of drawers in satinwood or mahogany made in Simon Oeben's Gobelins workshop. The design was inspired by the Greek-style chests of drawers made by his brother Jean-François Oeben for the Marquise de Pompadour at Ménars around 1760-63, with three rows of drawers instead of side panels. Comparable examples that have come up for sale in recent years include : - Sotheby's Paris sale, 14 April 2010, lot 163 (attributed) (Fig. 2); - Hôtel Drouot, Paris, 16 October 2009, lot 248 (Fig. 3); - Sale in Brest, 5 December 2006 (stamped) (Fig. 4) ; - Sale in Paris, Hôtel Drouot, 24 October 1979, lot 64 (attributed) (Fig. 5) ; - Sale in Paris, 6 December 1965, lot 193 (stamped) (Fig. 6). (1) National Archives, 01 3398. (2) Arch. nat. Minutier central, Et. LXXXIV/530. (3) V. Moreau, Chanteloup, un moment de grâce autour du Duc de Choiseul, Paris, 2007, p.249.