CLASSIC FRENCH FURNITURE DRESSER AND MIRROR

Where did the dresser come from?The chest is pretty young as a piece of furniture. The direct descendant of the trunk began its history in the middle of the 17th century in France, when the chest-parent acquired a pair of boxes. The word "commode" comes from the French commode - "convenient". And indeed, the chest of drawers is much more convenient than a chest. To be fair, it's worth mentioning that the Japanese, much earlier than the Europeans, used a kind of chest of drawers made of light wood with "randomly arranged drawers". However, in those days, Japan remained closed to the gaijin country, so we leave the Japanese chest of drawers for study to the descendants of the samurai. Initially, the chest of drawers was made by furniture masters on high legs and with two drawers. The width of the chest was much larger than in height. Then, in the Regency period, the chests of the chest became shorter, and the boxes became larger. Sometimes the chests of drawers were combined with a suitable pair of corner buffets, known as encoignures. Chests on long bent legs, exaggeratedly convex on the sides, with a curving front, were called bombe.The chest of drawers, which is familiar to us, appeared in France during the era of Louis XIV. At the same time, fashionable Parisian furniture, begins to have a significant influence on the furniture of neighboring countries. And this handy piece of furniture quickly became established in other European countries. The impetus for the production of decorative chests of drawers and desks was mainly the projects of Beren, which appeared around 1700.The stylish chest of Rococo era Louis XV had a marble countertop, which echoed in the interior of the marble fireplace. Another element of the interior of the Rococo was a mirror above the fireplace, and opposite put a chest of drawers, in the space between the windows of the living room. Chests in the style of Louis XV usually had a less curved shape and shorter legs, the end of which resembled the top of a spindle, three large boxes, but the upper one was sometimes divided into two, half the width. The borders between the boxes in French furniture were often masked by the ornamentation on the surface of the object. Chests are usually made of oak or walnut, and veneer from exotic breeds, which in vulnerable places were protected with gilded bronze plates. Forms and decor of body furniture have the same character as in the furniture for sitting: wavy contours, bent legs, whimsical ornaments in the form of a curly vine, flower garlands, a diamond-shaped net and an abundance of gilded bronze.