Commode ca. 1735–40 Design attributed to Jean François Cuvilliés the Elder German, born Belgian When in the eighteenth century "a French aristocrat or nouveau riche had a stately home built for him, in Paris or in the provinces, he was well advised to listen to his architect's warning that the cost of construction amounted to no more than a mere quarter of total expenditure, and that the rest would have to be spent on interior decoration in order to make the edifice conform to the accepted patterns of living in the grand manner."[1] This wry observation in Louis-Sébastien Mercier's Tableau de

Commode ca. 1735–40 Design attributed to Jean François Cuvilliés the Elder German, born Belgian When in the eighteenth century "a French aristocrat or nouveau riche had a stately home built for him, in Paris or in the provinces, he was well advised to listen to his architect's warning that the cost of construction amounted to no more than a mere quarter of total expenditure, and that the rest would have to be spent on interior decoration in order to make the edifice conform to the accepted patterns of living in the grand manner."[1] This wry observation in Louis-Sébastien Mercier's Tableau de Paris (1780) held true not only in France but in other countries as well, since the European upper classes looked to Paris for everything à la mode. But the princes of the often small, scattered territories of the Holy Roman Empire lacked the financial resources to build and decorate on a grand scale. Thus, economy and thrifty inventiveness reigned in the workshops of most south German courts. Appearance counted for everything, trumping inconspicuous quality. In cabinetmaking, cheap pine or spruce was used as a secondary wood instead of oak or other hardwood for carcase construction, and paint was chosen instead of veneer to bedeck it. A handsome design in combination with an imaginative execution compensated for skimping on the fabric of show pieces that emulated much more expensive Parisian works. This kind of furniture, known as Bildhauermöbel ("sculptor's furniture"; see also acc. no. ),[2] reflected the mutual efforts of a designer, a cabinetmaker for the body, an artisan carver (called in German a Schneidkistler, or "cut-cabinetmaker"), and a skillful gilder and painter (Fassmaler).[3]The exuberant gilded decoration on this commode-in particular, the corner terms with satyrs' heads emerging from scroll feet-alludes to the works of celebrated Parisian masters of veneer and ormolu, such as André-Charles Boulle (1642–1732) and, in the next generation, Charle

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