A Magnificent Rococo Style Commode After Johann Melchoir Kambli

A Magnificent Rococo Style Gilt-Bronze, Bois Satiné and Mahogany Commode.
By Rosel, Brussels, After The Celebrated Model By Johann Melchoir Kambli.

Of curvaceous bombé form surmounted by a green and pink veined Campan Pyrénées marble within a gilt-bronze undulating surround cast with entrelac bands and centred by a bearded Bacchic mask. The front with a central cartouche flanked to each side by a frieze drawer with a branch form handle. The large base drawer centred by relief cast putti modelled ‘au repos’ atop a bed of acanthus and holding laurel branches and floral garlands. All within a frame of C-scrolls and trelliswork. The sides exuberantly mounted with gilt-bronze en suite. The front corner angles are mounted with massive gilt-bronze clasps sculpted with ribbon-tied rocaille and flowers and supported on palm frond cast feet.

Signed to plaque to the interior 'ROSEL. Fabricant. BRUXELLES'

Belgium, Circa 1900.

This magnificent commode is a celebration of the fullest flourishing of the German ‘Rokoko’ as as writ large at Frederick the Great’s summer palace of Sanssouci, Potsdam. It is inspired by the famous 18th century model from the palace for which the bronze mounts were designed and cast by the Swiss sculptor Johann Melchior Kambli (d. 1783) with construction attributed to Johann Friedrich (d. 1812) and Heinrich Wilhelm Spindler (d. 1788). The commode at Sanssouci is veneered in red tortoiseshell and has a lapis lazuli top. It was commissioned by Frederick II of Prussia (d. 1786) around 1760 who admired the opulent bronzes which exemplified the fashionable French Rococo style that he favoured.

Of lasting historical importance, the Sanssouci chest was almost certainly exhibited in the German pavilion at the 1900 Paris Exposition, presented amongst a selection of 18th century works of art from the collection of Frederick the Great. Its exhibition in Paris in 1900 was likely the impetus for the revival of the model and, in additional to the present example by Rosel of Brussels, another example is recorded by the Franco-German Zwiener dynasty of cabinetmakers (see Sotheby's, New York, 14 avril 2008, lot 207).

Zwiener himself exhibited furniture for Kaiser Wilhelm II at the German pavilion in 1900, and Rosel is also recorded to have shown his furniture for Belgium at the exhibition. That the two makers independently observed the Sanssouci chest at the exhibition explains subtle differences in interpretation and construction between the present example by Rosel and the other example by Zwiener. At 156 cm. wide this chest by Rosel is larger than the example by Zwiener which measures approximately 145 cm. wide. Accordingly, there are differences in the positioning of the frieze drawer handles and the gilt-bronze encadrements fronting the base drawer are elongated. Rosel’s interpretation is arguably superior, as the larger proportions of this commode are more becoming of such as abundance of gilt-bronze ornament.

Literature
H.D. Molesworth and J. Kenworthy-Brown, Three Centuries of Furniture, New-York, 1969, p. 72 for the illustration of the 18th century model.
J. Meiner, Berliner Belle Epoque, Petersberg, 2014, pp. 108-109 for a photograph of the commode stamped Zwiener (Abb. 138) and the commode at Sanssouci (Abb. 139).

François Rosel

François Rosel is recorded at 85, Rue Neuve, Brussels. At the Chicago Worlds Fair of 1893 he exhibited in the Belgian section a ‘Bedroom set Louis XV, walnut and gold, painted panels. Chairs of different styles. Art furniture, ancient style’. It is recorded that Rosel was awarded Gold medals at exhibitions in London in 1884 and 1885; Liverpool in 1886; Edinburgh in 1891 and a diploma in Brussels in 1888 (Exposition Universelle: Catalogue général de la Section Belge, Commission Belge de l'Exposition Universelle de Chicago, p. 180/181). François Rosel ‘fabricant de meubles, à Bruxelles’ is also recorded to have exhibited furniture at the Belgian pavilion of the 1900 Paris Exposition Universelle.

Condition report:

Good. Wear consistent with age and use.