Commode

1783

Jean-Henri Riesener French, 1734-1806

On View

Fashionable Living: Kanzler Room, Level 3, South Wing

Image Only Image + Details All Images High Resolution TIFF Metadata

About the Artwork

Please note: This section is empty
Markings

Please note: This section is empty

This section contains information about signatures, inscriptions and/or markings an object may have.
Provenance

Please note: This section is empty

Provenance is a record of an object's ownership. We are continually researching and updating this information to show a more accurate record and to ensure that this object was ethically and legally obtained.

For more information on provenance and its important function in the museum, please visit:
Exhibition History

Please note: This section is empty

The exhibition history of a number of objects in our collection only begins after their acquisition by the museum, and may reflect an incomplete record.

We welcome your feedback for correction and/or improvement.
Published References

Please note: This section is empty

We regularly update our object record as new research and findings emerge, and we welcome your feedback for correction and/or improvement.
Catalogue Raisonné

Please note: This section is empty

A catalogue raisonné is an annotated listing of artworks created by an artist across different media.
Credit Line for Reproduction

Please note: This section is empty

The credit line includes information about the object, such as the artist, title, date, and medium. Also listed is its ownership, the manner in which it was acquired, and its accession number. This information must be cited alongside the object whenever it is shown or reproduced.

About the Artwork

This chest of drawers (commode) is one of four that were in the apartment of Madame Elisabeth, the younger sister of King Louis XVI at Fontainebleau. As the official cabinetmaker to Louis XVI from 1774 to 1785, Jean-Henri Riesener supplied the French crown with hundreds of pieces of case furniture—commodes, roll-top desks, secretaries, gaming tables, and other types—ranging from the plain and utilitarian to objects of extreme richness, and all in a refined neoclassical style.

Title Commode

Artwork Date 1783

Artist Jean-Henri Riesener

Life Dates 1734-1806

Nationality Please note: Definitions for nationality may vary significantly, depending on chronology and world events. Some definitions include: Belonging to a people having a common origin based on a geography and/or descent and/or tradition and/or culture and/or religion and/or language, or sharing membership in a legally defined nation. French

Culture Please note: Cultures may be defined by the language, customs, religious beliefs, social norms, and material traits of a group. Unknown

Medium Mahogany with parquetry inlay and ormolu fittings

Dimensions Overall: 36 5/8 × 57 × 23 7/8 inches (93 × 144.8 × 60.6 cm) Overall (commode): 35 1/4 × 57 × 23 1/2 inches (89.5 × 144.8 × 59.7 cm) Overall (marble top): 1 1/4 × 57 × 23 7/8 inches (3.2 × 144.8 × 60.6 cm)

Classification Furniture

Department European Sculpture and Dec Arts

Credit Bequest of Mrs. Horace E. Dodge in memory of her husband

Accession Number This unique number is assigned to an individual artwork as part of the cataloguing process at the time of entry into the permanent collection. Most frequently, accession numbers begin with the year in which the artwork entered the museum’s holdings. For example, 2008.3 refers to the year of acquisition and notes that it was the 3rd of that year. The DIA has a few additional systems—no longer assigned—that identify specific donors or museum patronage groups. 71.194

Markings

Inscriptions ------

Marks Stamps, under marble and on front stiles: J. H. Riesener Stenciled in black paint on the back: the letter F surmounted by a crown; and No 35 over the number 3. On the top of the carcass appear the following: the letter E stenciled in black paint near the right edge; a nearby painted letter E; the number 191 or 161 in a black wax crayon; the letter L in red wax crayon; a faint No 3 near the front; and the incised mark 3 1 X. Inside the central frieze drawer are two Duveen Brothers labels, one inscribed in ink: 27569, a Duveen inventory number; the other inscribed in pencil at the top: Ex Garde Meuble Fontainebleau; and typed below this in blue the following: 27569/An Old French 18th century ormolu mounted commode of the Louis XVI period inlaid with parqueterie. Stamped on the top "J. H. Riesener". From the Garde Meuble, Fontainebleau, and the Collection of Edward Arnold, The Grove, Dorking, England. The modern gilt-bronze apron mount is engraved on its back: Copy from Frick 19.5.76 Paris, 1993 Peyruseigt.

Provenance

1783-1786,Madame Elisabeth de France (Château de Fontainebleau, Fontainebleau, France)

1786-1792, Louis XVI (Château de Fontainebleau, Fontainebleau, France)

1792, Garde-Meuble National (Paris, France)

Edward Arnold (The Grove, Dorking, Surrey, England)

June 8, 1920, sold by (Christie's, London, England) Edward Arnold sale, lot 90

(Duveen Brothers, New York New York, USA)

1932, acquired by Anna Thomson Dodge (Grosse Pointe, Michigan, USA)

1971-present, bequest to the Detroit Institute of Arts (Detroit, Michigan, USA)

For more information on provenance and its important function in the museum, please visit:

Provenance page

Exhibition History

Please note: This section is empty

The exhibition history of a number of objects in our collection only begins after their acquisition by the museum, and may reflect an incomplete record.

We welcome your feedback for correction and/or improvement.

Suggest Feedback

Published References

Edward Arnold Collection. Sales cat. London, June 8, 1920, lot 20.

Clouzot, Henri. Des Tuileries à Saint-Cloud: L'art décoratif du second empire. Paris, 1925,DES TUILERIES A` SAINT-CLOUD: L'ART DÉCORATIF DU SECOND EMPIRE, Paris 1925, pl. XX.

A Catalogue of Works of Art in the Collection of Anna Thomson Dodge. Detroit, 1933, not paginated.

A Catalogue of Works of Art in the Collection of Anna Thomson Dodge, 2 vols. Detroit, 1939, not paginated.

Verlet, Pierre. Le mobilier royal français, vol. 2, Paris 1955, pp. 87-90, no. 15, pl. XV.

Jours de France, June 30, 1970, p. 104.

Winokur, Ronald L. "The Mr. and Mrs. Horace E. Dodge Memorial Collection." Bulletin of the DIA 50, no. 3 (1971): pp. 43-51.

"La chronique des arts." Gazette des Beaux-Arts 79 (January 1972): supplement, p. 93 (fig. 327).

Verlet, Pierre. Le mobilier royal français, vol. 4. Paris 1990, p. 100.

Dell, Theodore. The Frick Collection: An Illustrated catalogue. Vol. 6, Furniture and Gilt Bronzes, French. New York, 1992, p. 75.

Dell, T., et al. The Dodge Collection of Eighteenth-Century French and English Art at the Detroit Institute of Arts. New York and Detroit, 1996, no. 15,

pp. 78-82, (color ill.) p. 79.

Kindly share your feedback or any additional information, as this record is still a work in progress and may need further refinement.

Suggest Feedback

Catalogue Raisoneé

Please note: This section is empty

Credit Line for Reproduction

Jean-Henri Riesener, Commode, 1783, mahogany with parquetry inlay and ormolu fittings. Detroit Institute of Arts, Bequest of Mrs. Horace E. Dodge in memory of her husband, 71.194.