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Cabinet

Designer Designed by Jean Brandely French
Woodwork by Charles-Guillaume Diehl French
Mounts and large central plaque by Emmanuel Frémiet French
1867
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 556
When the prototype for this compelling cabinet, now in the collection of the Musée d'Orsay, Paris, was exhibited at the Exposition Universelle in 1867, it received mixed criticism. The cabinetmaker must have been pleased with the controversial piece because he commissioned this second, nearly identical one for himself. The central plaque by the sculptor Emmanuel Frémiet commemorates the military triumph of Merovech (d. 458), leader of the Salian Franks, over Attila and his marauding Huns at the Battle of the Catalaunian Field in 451. In a vivid and unsettling representation, Merovech stands before his troops at the front of the chariot as it passes over the dead body of an opponent.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Cabinet
  • Designer: Designed by Jean Brandely (French, active 1855–67)
  • Maker: Woodwork by Charles-Guillaume Diehl (French, 1811–ca. 1885)
  • Artist: Mounts and large central plaque by Emmanuel Frémiet (French, Paris 1824–1910 Paris)
  • Date: 1867
  • Culture: French, Paris
  • Medium: Oak veneered with cedar, walnut, ebony and ivory; silvered-bronze mounts
  • Dimensions: 93 3/4 x 59 1/2 x 23 5/8 in. (238.1 x 151.1 x 60 cm)
  • Classification: Woodwork-Furniture
  • Credit Line: Purchase, Mr. and Mrs. Frank E. Richardson Gift, 1989
  • Object Number: 1989.197
  • Curatorial Department: European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

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