RARE PARQUETRY CHEST OF DRAWERS Louis XVI, Bern, circa 1785, by Johannes Äbersold (1737-1812) and his workshop. Rosewood, rosewood, curly maple, walnut, maple and partly engraved fruitwoods, veneered and solid. Two-tiered body, bevelled at the corners on the front, on angular legs tapering downwards in sabots on the front. Slightly protruding, original, moulded "Oberhasli" marble top in red-violet and white. The front without traverse and divided into three high rectangular fields, framed with a triple fillet. The inner fillet is illusionistically engraved in imitation of wrapped linen bales. The outer surface in fine rosewood. Gilt handles in the form of classical decorative vases with rams' heads on the sides, the pull rings in the form of laurel wreaths, the keyhole decorations with olive branches and loops. The narrow sides designed in the same style, the surfaces here bastion-like with fillet borders. Cut-out frame and protruding centre risalit. The final frieze with key beard-like meander. Inside lined with paste paper, original locks. 115 × 54.5 × 89 cm. In original condition with old polish. Provenance: From a Swiss private collection. The chest of drawers offered here is certainly one of the finest and most balanced products of the famous workshop of Johannes Äbersold (1737-1812). Our chest of drawers was probably made at the same time and possibly for the same patron as an oval table by the master, which was made in 1785 for Gabriel von Wattenwyl on the occasion of his election as mayor of the Outer Estate and is now in Oberhofen Castle on Lake Thun (Bernisches Historisches Museum, inv. no. 33191). In addition to the identical choice of veneer, both pieces of furniture also feature this unusual meander band drawn like a keyhole. Like only a few other pieces of furniture from the workshop, our piece is a perfect reference to Johannes Äbersold's Parisian period, around 1767, when he was able to experience the new fashion trends of the "Style à la grecque" at its peak and introduce such ideas to Bern at a time when the rounded forms of the Rococo style were still very much in vogue in the territory of the Old Swiss Confederacy. This Parisian influence is particularly evident in the commode furniture produced by the master and his workshop and his most important works were produced in Bern between 1775 and 1785, including the commode offered here, which has been preserved in its original condition. Hermann von Fischer, Johannes Äbersold 1737-1812: A Bernese ebenist between Mathäus Funk and Christoph Hopfengärtner. Catalogue of the exhibition at Jegenstorf Castle, 13.5-15.10.2000, ill. p. 26, cat. No. 16.