18th Century EUROPEAN CABINETS AND CUPBOARDS About 1775-1800
Right, ormolu mount on neo-classical cabinet.
Transition from rococo to neo-classicism (see GUIDE TO PERIODS AND STYLES, p.194) complete in Paris by accession of Louis XVI, 1774, and further encouraged by Marie Antoinette.
Other royal families patronize Parisian cabinet-makers (many of them German) and style soon becomes international, with increasing use of straight legs, flat fronts and tops to cupboards, cabinets, glass-fronted
Louis XVI mahogany jewel cabinet.
vitrines for porcelain and free-standing bookcases (still mainly built-in fitments).
Leading makers in Paris include Oeben, Riesener, Leleu, Weisweiler, Beneman, Stckel, Carlin. In Turin, Bonzanigo, sculptor Above, Dutch marquetry corner cupboards, dating from about 1790.
and cabinet-maker, produces finely carved and painted cabinets, some mounted with busts of Bourbons. Haupt returns to Stockholm from Paris, 1769, versed in neo-classical trends.
Copenhagen requires cabinet-makers to submit designs for test-pieces to the antique roll top pigeon hole desk design Academy, and in 1777 established Kongelige Meubel Maagazin as retail outlet for Danish cabinet-makers buffet, about 1775.
Louis XVI provincial mnoh: about 1780.
Cupboards: Local timbers, e.g. oak, pine, walnut, cherry.
Cabinets: Exotic veneers e.g. kingwood, tulipwood, satinwood, amboyna. Mahogany used in Paris after 1780. Porcelain, bronze, shell, used for plaques and inlay.
Flush surfaces simpler to construct by existing methods because fewer complex curves to contend with when bombe carcase and cabriole leg got out of fashion. Low, rectilinear meuble d’appui (pier cabinet placed against narrow wall between pair of windows)
is outwardly similar to a type of commode with drawers enclosed by doors (see CHESTS AND CHESTS OF DRAWERS, p. 241); larger type has rounded ends or breakfront (middle section projects slightly). A Dutch type has a hinged, lift-up top and a sunken basin for washing drinking-glasses in living-room.
Cupboards: Carved rococo scrolls and flowers abandoned in favour of plainer style in some areas but retained in others (e.g. Normandy) regardless of city fashions.
Cabinets: Until 1780, extravagant use of marquetry, lacquer, boullework (revived by Leleu and others), caryatid figures in ormolu. Doors inset with plaques of Sevres porcelain or bronze. Marie Antoinette fond of inlay in mother-of-pearl. After 1780, fashion for plain mahogany – supposedly prompted by need for economy but huge sums still spent on furniture. Marquetry on Dutch and Spanish examples usually fine.
In France, more restrained use of vernis Martin. In Italy, painting of mythological figures, medallions, urns and wreaths.
Decorated Louis XVI cabinets expensive, especially those with Sevres plaques; plainer ones much less so. Severe Louis XVI provincial armoires cheaper than showier, florally carved Louis XV types.
DUTCH MARQUETRY
Dutch marquetry cabinets in neo-classical style seem to have been reproduced far less often than those with traditional floral marquetry; pale veneers used for ground make refreshing change.
Essential break-front shape.

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