French Kingwood Bedside Commode with Marble Top

A vintage French antique style kingwood bedside commode, grey…
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A vintage French antique style kingwood bedside commode, grey variegated marble top, cross banded and angled book matched veneers. Two bow front drawers, concave sides, raised on cabriole legs. 66.5 x 38 x 74.5 cm.

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  • Veneers - Veneers are thin sheets of well-figured timber that are glued under pressure to the surface of a cheaper timber for decorative effect, and then used in the making of carcase furniture.

    Early veneers were saw-cut so were relatively thick, (up to 2 mm) but is was realised that saw cutting was wasteful, as timber to the equivilent of the thickness of the saw was lot on each cut.

    A more efficient method was devised to slice the timber, either horizontally with a knife, or in a rotary lathe.

    Flame veneer, commonly found in mahogany or cedar furniture, is cut from the junction of the branches and main trunk. So-called fiddleback veneers, where the grain is crossed by a series of pronounced darker lines, is usually cut from the outer sections of the tree trunk.

    During the 17th and 18th centuries, and in much of the walnut marquetry furniture made during the latter part of the 19th century, the veneer was laid in quarters, each of the same grain, so that one half of the surface was the mirror image of the other.

    The use of veneer allows many other decorative effects to be employed, including stringing, feather banding, cross banding, and inlaid decorative panels in the piece. The carcase over which veneer is laid is usually of cheaper timber such as pine, oak or, sometimes in Australia during the first half of the 19th century, red cedar.

    The important thing to remember about veneers is that prior to about 1850 they were cut by hand, and were consequently quite thick - ranging up to about 2mm deep.

    From the mid-19th century veneers were cut by machines and were almost wafer-thin. This is a critical point when trying to judge the approximate age of veneered furniture.
  • Bow Front - The front is shaped in a gentle curve or bow. Introduced during the 18th century, the bow-front is associated with furniture of the Hepplewhite and Sheraton period, though of course the form continued to be used throughout the 19th century. Bow-fronted pieces are usually veneered, although some were cut from the solid wood. Where veneer is used, the carcase is cut either from pine or deal, or sometimes the front was built up and shaped with small timber 'bricks'. Commonly used on various types of furniture including chairs, settees, chests, side tables, sideboards and display cabinets.
  • Cabriole Leg - The cabriole leg evolved from an elongated scroll, curving out at the knee which may or may not be carved, and forming a serpentine shape as it descends to the foot.

    First introduced into English furniture in the late 17th century, cabriole legs were widely used during the Queen Anne and early Georgian periods, where they frequently terminated in a pad foot or ball and claw foot. The style has had many imitators since then. The cabriole leg was re-introduced in the mid-19th century, and is commonly associated with the balloon-back dining or drawing-room chairs made in walnut, mahogany or, in Australia, cedar. The Victorian cabriole leg, on the whole, was rather more slender than the earlier form, following the French style, which emphasized the delicacy and daintiness of the chairs they were designed to support. Cabriole legs are sometimes found on windsor chairs, especially those made during the 18th century.
  • Commode - The word "commode" when used to describe an item of furniture, has three usuages:

    1. As used to describe an item of English furniture, it refers to what is euphemistically called a 'night table', that is a small cabinet concealing a chamber pot.

    2. In its 18th century French usuage it describes a low and highly decorated chest of drawers for salons and reception rooms. A bombe commode is a commode with rounded sides and front, giving the chest a somewhat swollen look.

    3. It is also used to denote a half round or serpentine shaped cabinet, with panelled doors, standing on legs. They were pieces on which the cabinetmaker lavished his most accomplished art, with rich veneers, marquetry inlays, gilt mounts and other ornamentation.

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