Commode

When in the eighteenth century "a French aristocrat or nouveau riche had a stately home built for him, in Paris or in the provinces, he was well advised to listen to his architect's warning that the cost of construction amounted to no more than a mere quarter of total expenditure, and that the rest would have to be spent on interior decoration in order to make the edifice conform to the accepted patterns of living in the grand manner."[1] This wry observation in Louis-Sébastien Mercier's Tableau de Paris (1780) held true not only in France but in other countries as well, since the European upper classes looked to Paris for everything à la mode. But the princes of the often small, scattered territories of the Holy Roman Empire lacked the financial resources to build and decorate on a grand scale. Thus, economy and thrifty inventiveness reigned in the workshops of most south German courts. Appearance counted for everything, trumping inconspicuous quality. In cabinetmaking, cheap pine or spruce was used as a secondary wood instead of oak or other hardwood for carcase construction, and paint was chosen instead of veneer to bedeck it. A handsome design in combination with an imaginative execution compensated for skimping on the fabric of show pieces that emulated much more expensive Parisian works. This kind of furniture, known as Bildhauermöbel ("sculptor's furniture"; see also acc. no. 52.56.1),[2] reflected the mutual efforts of a designer, a cabinetmaker for the body, an artisan carver (called in German a Schneidkistler, or "cut-cabinetmaker"), and a skillful gilder and painter (Fassmaler).[3]

The exuberant gilded decoration on this commode-in particular, the corner terms with satyrs' heads emerging from scroll feet-alludes to the works of celebrated Parisian masters of veneer and ormolu, such as André-Charles Boulle (1642–1732) and, in the next generation, Charles Cressent (1685–1768), whose metal mounts frequently attract more attention than the veneered furniture itself (see the catalogue entries for acc. nos. 1982.60.82 and 1982.60.56). These heavy metal mounts (and especially their labor-intensive mercury gilding) were infinitely more expensive than gilded wooden substitutes. This commode's gilded decoration is not even completely wood-based: the side panel and drawer front ornaments are cut into applied gesso, in the way plaster was applied to the ceilings and walls of contemporary south German churches and then painted and gilded so that the architecture seems to vanish, creating the illusion of "heaven on earth." When new, the skillfully water-gilded satyrs' heads and openwork aprons could surely be mistaken for gilt-bronze. Comparable examples that are less worn indicate that great care must have been given to the final finish and polishing of the gilded and painted areas of this commode to achieve a smooth and sparkling surface.[4] It is interesting to note that in comparison with French furniture the body is only slightly serpentine and that the gilded ornaments form a refined frame for the carcase in the way a precious-metal setting intensifies the look of a sparkling jewel. Only the functional hardware-the handles and the escutcheons, which protect the painted surface surrounding the keyholes from being scratched by the metal keys-is of cast and gilded bronze. Their relatively flat surface-the result of a poor job of chasing-is another indication that economy played a role in the assembly of this showcase piece.

The commode's design can be attributed to the ingenious Bavarian court architect François Cuvilliés, one of the leading exponents of the Rococo style in Germany (see the catalogue entry for acc. no. 52.56.1). His celebrated furniture designs influenced Abraham Roentgen (1711–1793), the greatest German cabinetmaker of the 1750s to the 1770s (see the catalogue entry for acc. no. 41.82).[5] The present commode does not exactly match any of the twelve commodes published in Cuvilliés's Livre de diferents dessein de commodes between 1738 and 1742, which have more exaggerated and noticeably bulging contours;[6] however, a "Décoration de Lambris" design by Cuvilliés illustrates a commode with carved bearded heads crowning term volutes at its corners, as seen here.[7] Furthermore, the gilt-gesso decoration on the sides of the Museum's commode, a female bust on an elongated C-scroll pedestal framed by scrolled foliage and trelliswork, corresponds closely to an ornamental engraving in the architect's oeuvre.[8] A characteristic Cuvilliés detail is the foot, and especially its curling element, which also appears in the furniture at the Amalienburg hunting lodge at Nymphenburg, designed by Cuvilliés and carved by Johann Joachim Dietrich between 1735 and 1739.[9] Dietrich's name is mentioned in Munich court documents for the first time in 1729. On 14 March 1736, he was named court sculptor and praised for "good workmanship" in his appointment document.[10]

It has been suggested that the construction of this commode should be attributed to Johann Michael Schmidt, but there is no real evidence for this.[11] Adolf Feulner connected the commode with a display cabinet in the Munich Residenz that has comparable ornamental details and proposed that the commode had been made for the counts of Lerchenfeld either for Schloss Kefering, near Regensburg, or the Lerchenfeld Palace in Munich;[12] but this, too, now seems highly unlikely.[13]

In 1928 an advertisement for the commode was placed in Pantheon by the Munich firm of L. Bernheimer.[14] This art dealer had bought a closely related pair of commodes of almost the same size in 1918 for a then record amount at the auction of the collection of the Munich writer and publisher Georg Hirth.[15] Two other pairs of commodes, with only minor differences in their measurements and with similar features, are known: one pair, with female corner terms, is in the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, and the other is in the Archbishop's Palace in Munich, the former Holnstein Palace, which was commissioned by Count Franz Ludwig von Holnstein and most likely designed by Cuvilliés.[16]

During conservation of the Museum's commode, diverse paint layers were discovered: a lead-white ground without dirt residue, then a blue layer and partial gilding, covered in turn by the present color and gilding. The commode may originally have been colored blue and partially or completely gilded.[17] It probably had a pair, which, if it could be located, might give clues to the original appearance of both and to their original provenance. The top of the Museum's commode is a polished slab of mottled Tegernsee limestone,[18] original to the piece.

[Wolfram Koeppe 2006]

I am grateful to Mechthild Baumeister, Conservator, Department of Objects Conservation, Metropolitan Museum, who restored the commode in 1989, for discussing it with me. She contributed much valuable information to the departmental file on this interesting piece. I also thank Afra Schick, Furniture Curator, Staatliche Schlösserverwaltung Berlin-Brandenburg.

Footnotes:

[1] Louis-Sébastien Mercier. Tableau de Paris. 4 vols. Amsterdam, 1780, vol. 1, pp. 283-84; quoted in translation in Michael Stürmer "Höfische Kultur und frühmoderne Unternehmer: Zur Ökonomie des Luxus im 18. Jahrhundert." Histoische Zeitschrift 229 (1979), p. 496.

[2] Eighteenth-century inventories describe similar items as furniture "with gilded sculptor's work." See Brigitte Langer and Alexander Herzog von Württemberg. Die deutschen Möbel des 16. bis 18. Jahrhunderts. Vol. 2 of Die Möbel der Residenz München, ed. Gerhard Hojer and Hans Ottomeyer. Kataloge der Kunstsammlungen/Bayrische Verwaltung der Staatlichen Schlösser, Gärten und Seen. Munich and New York, 1996, p. 205.

[3] Heinrich Kreisel. Die Kunst des deutschen Möbels: Möbel und Vertäfelungen des deutschn Sprachraums von den Anfängen bis zum Jugendstil. Vol. 2, Spätbarock und Rokoko. 2nd ed. Rev. by Georg Himmelheber. Munich, 1983, p. 172.

[4] In a conversation with the author, Josef Sieren, head of the painting and gilding workshop, Verwaltung der Staatlichen Schlössern, Nymphenburg, Munich, revealed that a pair of related commodes in the Archbishop's Palace in Munich retain such a finish. Details of this conversation are recorded in a note in the archives of the Department of European Sculpture and Decorative Arts, Metropolitan Museum.

[5] Jean Laran. François de Cuvilliés: Dessinateur et architecte. Les grands ornemanistes. Oeuvres choisies. Paris, 1925, p. 8. Plate 65 shows a design for a writing desk ("secrétaire en tables pour Ecrire") of 1745–55 with a lean-to hinged fall front that could easily be mistaken for a rolltop mechanism. Roentgen must have seen this illustration, for he started about 1760 to produce similar desks, first with fall fronts and then with the fashionable rolltop variant. On rolltop desks, see Fabian 1996, pp. 100-102, nos. 214-19; for the hinged fall-front type, see pp. 95-99, nos. 202-12.

[6] File note of 24 October 1994 by Afra Schick in the archives of the Department of European Sculpture and Decorative Arts; see also Jean Laran. François de Cuvilliés: Dessinateur et architecte. Les grands ornemanistes. Oeuvres choisies. Paris, 1925, p. 8, pls. 32-35 (commode designs).

[7] Jean Laran. François de Cuvilliés: Dessinateur et architecte. Les grands ornemanistes. Oeuvres choisies. Paris, 1925, pp. 9, 77.

[8] Adolf Feulner and Preston Remington. "Examples of South German Woodwork in the Metropolitan Museum." In Metropolitan Museum Studies 2, pt. 2 (1930), pp. 152–70; Adolf Feulner. "Eine Kommode nach Entwurf von Cuvilliés." In Festschrift zum sechzigsten Geburtstage von E.W. Braun, pp. 167–69. Anzeiger des Landesmuseums in Troppau 2. Augsburg, 1931; Afra Schick. "Möbel nach Entwürfen von François de Cuvilliés D.Ä." Münchner Jahrbuch der bildenden Kunst, 3rd ser., 49 (1998), pp. 123–62; and Jean Laran. François de Cuvilliés: Dessinateur et architecte. Les grands ornemanistes. Oeuvres choisies. Paris, 1925, pl. 22 (left), for a related motif.

[9] File note of 24 October 1994 by Afra Schick in the archives of the Department of European Sculpture and Decorative Arts; see also Brigitte Langer. Die Möbel der Schlösser Nymphenburg and Schleissheim. Munich, London, and New York, 2000, pp. 130-36.

[10] Hasso von Poser. Johann Joachim Dietrich und der Hochaltar zu Diessen. Munich, 1975, pp. 123-24.

[11] Heinrich Kreisel. Die Kunst des deutschen Möbels: Möbel und Vertäfelungen des deutschn Sprachraums von den Anfängen bis zum Jugendstil. Vol. 2, Spätbarock und Rokoko. 2nd ed. Rev. by Georg Himmelheber. Munich, 1983, p. 178; and catalogue of a sale at Sotheby's, London, 13 December 2000, p. 34, lot 36.

[12] Adolf Feulner. "Eine Kommode nach Entwurf von Cuvilliés." In Festschrift zum sechzigsten Geburtstage von E.W. Braun, pp. 167–69. Anzeiger des Landesmuseums in Troppau 2. Augsburg, 1931, figs. 2, 3. For Schloss Kefering, see Bezirksamt Regensburg. Kunstdenkmäler von Oberpfalz & Regensburg 21. Munich, 1910, pp. 95-96, fig. 59.

[13] Lerchenfeld Palace takes its name not from one of the thirteen different owners this stately home has had during its history but, strangely enough, from a Lerchenfeld family member who merely lived nearby in the early nineteenth century; Erich Scheibmayr. Wer? Wann? Wo? Persönlichkeiten in Münchner Friedhöfen. Munich, 1989, p. 577.

[14] Pantheon 2 (1928), copy of an advertisement in the archives of the Department of European Sculpture and Decorative Arts. It was acquired by the Museum from Adolph Loewi (1888–1977), a Bernheimer relative resident in Venice; on this collector and dealer, see Olga Raggio. The Gubbio Studiolo and Its Conservation. Vol. I, Federico da Montefeltro's Palace at Gubbio and Its Studiolo. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1999, pp. 4-7, 180, n. 13.

[15] The purchase price was 23,000 reichmarks, according to an annotated copy of the auction catalogue, now in a private New York collection. They were offered again at auction in 2000 and in 2005; catalogues of sales at Sotheby's, London, 13 December 2000, lot 36, and 8 June 2005, lot 33 (the present commode is illustrated in both catalogues). In 1927 the Museum acquired from the Hirth Collection a pair of Rococo doors that may have come from the Munich Residenz (acc. nos. 27.184.2-11).

[16] These four commodes are discussed at length in Afra Schick. "Möbel nach Entwürfen von François de Cuvilliés D.Ä." Münchner Jahrbuch der bildenden Kunst, 3rd ser., 49 (1998), pp. 123–62. The pair in the Archbishop's Palace is in an exceptionally good state of preservation; see n. 4 above.

[17] On different color schemes for Munich Rococo furniture, see Brigitte Langer. Die Möbel der Schlösser Nymphenburg and Schleissheim. Munich, London, and New York, 2000, pp. 130-36, 166, no. 52.

[18] Wolf-Dieter Grimm. Bildatlas wichtiger Denkmalgesteine der Bundesrepublik Deutschland. With contributions by Ninon Ballerstädt et al. Arbeitsheft (Bayerisches Landesamt für Denkmalpflege) 50. Munich, 1990, no. 177.