English: Pierre Victor, Baron de Besenval's (1721–1791) commode à vantaux from 1778 by Martin Carlin (1730–1785) which was once placed in the baron’s bedroom at his home in Paris, the Hôtel de Besenval. The commode is a rectangular breakfronted cabinet veneered with ebony, mounted with plaques of pietra dura fruit and decorated with chased gilt-bronze mounts. It has a black marble top. The central vertical door with segmental apron, is flanked by two doors and drawers above. The central door has pietra dura vase of flowers and fruit with insects. The commode stands on tapered, square baluster legs which were once altered in the 19th century probably to gain height for the piece of furniture. However, the alterations to the legs were reversed during subsequent restorations in the second half of the 20th century (the photograph of the 1920s still shows the alterations to the upper part of the legs).

Above all else this commode is a vehicle for the display of the pietra dura panels that adorn the front and sides. The ostentatious massing of these panels, seven carved in relief with fruit on the front and six inlaid panels at either end, consciously evokes the luxury and splendour of the grand siècle, as do the unusually densely modelled gilt bronze mounts. The panels themselves almost certainly come from one of the great cabinets made for King Louis XIV of France (1638–1715) in the royal workshops at the Gobelins Manufactory. During conservation, two of the relief panels were found to be signed on the back Gachetti [sic], for Gian Ambrogio Giachetti, a Florentine lapidary working at the Gobelins Manufactory between 1670 and 1675.

Most of these royal cabinets were broken up in the 18th century as they went out of fashion, but the pietra dura panels were preserved as precious objects in their own right. With the revival of interest in the Louis XIV period during the 1760s and 1770s, these panels began to be recycled on neo-classical furniture. Among the marchands-merciers (dealer-decorators) who specialised in this field were P.-F. Julliot and Dominique Daguerre. It was almost certainly the latter who commissioned this ambitious piece from Martin Carlin, one of a group of cabinet-makers who worked more or less exclusively for Daguerre. Pieces of furniture like this commode à vantaux were the ultimate luxury furniture back then.

The first owner of this commode à vantaux was the Parisian opera singer Marie-Joséphine Laguerre (1754–1782). It appeared in the sale of her collection, among other furniture by Carlin and Weisweiler. Subsequently it belonged to the Baron de Besenval, a Swiss military officer in French service and close friend of Qeen Marie-Antoinette of France (1755–1793), at whose sale on 10 August 1795 Daguerre's connection with its manufacture was first noted.

King George IV (1762–1830) acquired the commode in Paris in 1828 through his confectioner François Benois for GBP375. It may first have been placed in the king's temporary apartments in St James's Palace, but was intended eventually for the rebuilt Buckingham Palace. It is now on display in the Green Drawing Room.

Provenance of the commode à vantaux: Probably made for Marie-Josephine Laguerre, c.1778; her sale Paris; Pierre Victor, Baron de Besenval, placed in his bedroom at the Hôtel de Besenval in Paris, the sale of his collection on 10 August 1795; J.-J.-P.-A. Lapeyrière sale, Paris, 1825; bought in Paris for George IV, May 1828 by François Benois (Jutsham II, p.251). Repaired by J. Taylor in April 1839.

The commode is stamped four times with M. CARLIN JME

Reference: Jane Roberts: Royal Treasures: A Golden Jubilee Celebration, catalogue entry commode à vantaux 1778, Royal Collection, London, 2022