French Kingwood Marquetry Chest with Bronze Ormolu Handles

A French kingwood, bombe shape, two drawer chest of drawers, with marble top, late 19th century, the internal carcass constructed with oak timber. the drawer fronts decorated with marquetry veneer floral work, bronze ormolu handles and similar bronze decoration to upper front legs and feet. Height 33.86 in. Width 43.31 in. Depth 22.05 in.

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Ormolu - Ormolu was popular with French craftsmen in the 18th and 19th century for ornamental fittings for furniture, clocks and other decorative items. True ormolu is gilt bronze, that is bronze that has been coated with gold using a mercury amalgam. Due to the health risks associated with using mercury, this method of creating ormolu was discontinued in France in the 1830s. A substitute was developed consisting of about 75% copper and 25% zinc, however it was inferior to the bronze version. It was often lacquered to prevent it tarnishing.
Oak - Native to Europe and England, oak has been used for joinery, furniture and building since the beginning of the medieval civilisation. It is a pale yellow in colour when freshly cut and darkens with age to a mid brown colour.

Oak as a furniture timber was superceded by walnut in the 17th century, and in the 18th century by mahogany,

Semi-fossilised bog oak is black in colour, and is found in peat bogs where the trees have fallen and been preserved from decay by the bog. It is used for jewellery and small carved trinkets.

Pollard oak is taken from an oak that has been regularly pollarded, that is the upper branches have been removed at the top of the trunk, result that new branches would appear, and over time the top would become ball-like. . When harvested and sawn, the timber displays a continuous surface of knotty circles. The timber was scarce and expensive and was used in more expensive pieces of furniture in the Regency and Victorian periods.
Bronze - An alloy of copper and tin, traditionally in the proportions of about 9 parts of copper to 1 part of tin.

The discovery of bronze in Western Asia in the 4th century enabled people to create metal objects which were superior to those previoulsy possible because of its strength and hardness, and it has been used throughout the world for weapons, coins, tools, statuary and other decorative items.

It is very fluid in a molten state, and its hardness, strength when set, and non-corrosive properties makes it most suitable for casting sculpture.
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.
Marquetry - In marquetry inlay, contrasting woods, and other materials such as ivory, shell and metal are inlaid either as panels or in a single continuous sheet over the surface of the piece. The design may be straightforward, such as a shell pattern or a basket of flowers, or it may be infinitely complex, with swirling tendrils of leaves, flowers and foliage, such as one finds, for example, in the "seaweed" patterns on longcase clocks of the William and Mary and Queen Anne periods.
Carcase in Furniture - In furniture making, the carcase (or carcass) refers to the main structural components of a piece of furniture, such as the sides, top, bottom, and back, that form the basic frame or skeleton of the piece. In antique furniture, the carcase is usually made from solid wood and is the foundation upon which the decorative elements, such as the drawers, doors, and veneers, are added. In furniture making,is important to have a good and strong carcase to ensure that the furniture is durable and can withstand regular use.
Bombe Front - More commonly associated with a dome shaped dessert, "bombe" in furniture parlance means "puffed out". In profile the piece is serpentine shaped, narrow at the top, swelling out towards the middle and continuing to the floor, though sometimes it narrowed again at the foot. Drawer fronts are curved in section. Bombe pieces are often highly decorated with marquetry inlay, or veneered and set with brass or ormolu mounts. The most common use of the word, is in the description of the 'bombe commode'.

The bombe design was particularly popular in the 18th century, during the reign of Louis XIV, when it was used to create furniture pieces with a curved, rounded bulging shape. This design was used on furniture in many styles, including Baroque, Louis XIV, Louis XV and Louis XVI. The bombe chest is one of the most iconic furniture piece featuring this design. They were usually made of precious woods like mahogany, rosewood, and walnut, and feature elaborate inlay, gilded ornaments and ormolu. Other items of furniture where the bombe design can be seen include cabinets, commodes, and desks.

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