From the workshop of the Spindler brothers (Johann Friederich, 1726- around 1799 and Heinrich Wilhelm, 1738-1788). The artistic carpenters who came from Bayreuth to Potsdam in 1765 upon request of the King, significantly conveyed the furniture art of Frederick the Great at the transition of the late rococo to the early classicism with their pompous works. The numerous orders for different apartments of the new Palais, the brothers obtained in just a few years, is unique and complied with the personal preferences of Frederick the Great for costly material and a pompous courtly representation. “Old Fritz” wanted to demonstrate the unbroken strength of the Prussians after the Seven Year War with the new Palais and its splendid interior.
A regularly appearing motive on these Potsdam commodes is – as also shown here – the separation of the front in three large cartridges that are formed by scrollwork of coloured maple. The decoration of the commode top corresponds to that. On the naturalistic, extraordinarily fine inlaid flower bundles, the originally preserved brand shading, engraving and colorization of the used woods is shown. Exotic veneers as rose wood and palisander and local fruit wood and hardwoods were artistically processed for this commode. On the bronze applications, rests of the original gilding have remained.
Height 81 cm, width 125 cm, depth 66 cm.
Kreisel/Himmelheber: “Die Kunst des deutschen Möbels“, Munich 1970, vol. 2, image 722-726. Schick: “Johann Friedrich und Heinrich Wilhelm Spindler. Die Möbelaufträge Friedrichs des Großen für das Neue Palais“ in: Friedrich300, 2008 (online publication of the foundation for Prussian castles and gardens of Berlin Brandenburg). Graf: “Das Neue Palais König Friedrichs des Großen – Funktion, Nutzung, Raumdisposition und Möblierung, 1763-1784“ in: Friedrich300, 2008 (online publication of the foundation for Prussian castles and gardens of Berlin Brandenburg).