Pair of lacquered wood corner cabinets in Chinoiserie style, Piedmont, mid-18th century

Pair of lacquered wood corner cabinets in Chinoiserie style, Piedmont, mid-18th century Measurements: cm H 208 x W 46 x W 46 x D 46 Price: private negotiation Object accompanied by a certificate of authenticity This pair of corner cabinets was made in Piedmont around the mid-18th century in the Rococo style. The structure is made of poplar wood, lacquered and decorated on the front side. The central body consists of a door that, when opened, reveals a compartment with two shelves. Above, a mixtilinear crest crowns the cabinet and consists of two small shelves bordered with gold leaf on red bole. Similarly finely gold-finished are reserves and frames that decorate the cabinet, highlighting its various parts. Below the door, an open compartment is presented with a quatrefoil profile. The cabinet is decorated with floral ornaments and polychrome Chinoiserie designs, partly in relief thanks to the application of cast plaster. Within the side frames are depicted figures dressed in oriental style with floral decorations typical of Chinoiserie fashion. The two central doors feature different designs, animated by figures of Orientals dressed in Chinese clothes in an outdoor setting with flowering plants, trees, butterflies, and a small bird. Particularly noteworthy is the attention to detail with which the clothes, headdresses, plates full of fruits and corals, the parasol, and other small objects that accompany the figures are described. The cabinets rest on three moved and arched legs, also finely decorated. These two corner cabinets, certainly created to embellish large and important noble halls, can still complement the furnishing of complex parts of the house, such as corners, thus providing decorativeness and elegance connected to their functionality. Thanks also to their contained dimensions, they can be displayed individually or in pairs in any environment, such as an entrance or corridor, a living room, a study, and are suitable to be combined with both antique and modern furniture. The term Chinoiserie derives from the French "Chinoiserie" and refers to a period of European art, starting from the 18th century and widespread until the 19th century, in which there was a significant influence of Chinese art, also in the wake of a growing interest that Europe had developed for everything exotic, in general. This period was characterized by the use of imaginative images of an imaginary China, and palaces and salons of the nobility and the wealthy bourgeoisie were furnished with objects from the Far East or made in Europe with evident derivation and inspiration from Chinese ornaments. In Italy, as in the rest of Europe, the vogue for China and Chinoiserie was very fashionable in the eighteenth century. Despite the fact that Piedmont had almost no contacts with China, the taste and fashion for Chinoiserie spread widely in the capital and throughout the country. Piedmontese taste was greatly influenced by the French. Given the spread of Chinese taste and fashion, several painters specialized in grotesque and Chinoiserie decorations, both for the court and its palaces and then for private commissions from nobles and wealthy bourgeois, also applied to furniture.