SCHREIB – KOMMODE RETOUR D’EGYPTE
Austrian Empire, City of Vienna
(Around the Period of the Congress 1814 - 1815)
Walnut, burr, ebonized and gilded details, cm. 89 x 140 x 70
Schreib-Kommode, or fall-front chest of drawers, made during the years of the Congress of Vienna. For the arts, this particular political transition phase marked a moment of strong contamination between what was still linked to the Empire style and the Napoleonic era and the new Biedermeier style still being defined. Thus, in this chest of drawers, the ebonized pilasters tapered downwards with heads and feet in gilded wood, take inspiration from Egyptian sarcophagi according to the taste called retour d'Egypte, in vogue after the Napoleonic campaign in the land of the Pharaohs.
The walnut feather veneer is mounted open-book matched on all drawers and also on the top. The first fall-front drawer with turned columns is internally ebonized, while the five small drawers have a burr veneer coordinated with the frame of the top edge, of the same essence, under which an important gilded ovolo edge is semi-hidden.
Despite the large size, the truncated-pyramidal feet give the furniture elegance and lightness at the same time.
