Réné Lexcellent fl. 1867-1923 A Louis XVI style gilt-bronze mounted mahogany and ebony commode after the celebrated model by Adam Wieswieler Paris, circa 1880

surmounted by a portor marble top, three frieze drawers, two cupboard doors opening to three mahogany and satinwood veneered sliding shelves, one cupboard door opening to three drawers, one lock signed Lexcellent Fab^t Paris, the top of one drawer and one door stamped LEXCELLENT / PARIS.

Patrick Lemmonier, Weisweiler, Paris, 1983.
Alexandre Pradère, French Furniture Makers, Tours, 1989, p. 396.
Seymour de Ricci, Louis XVI Furniture, Stuttgart, p. 165.
Pierre Verlet, Le Mobilier Royal Français, Volume I, Picard, 1990, plate XXIII, no.18.
Pierre Verlet, Collection des Connaissance des Arts, les ébénistes du XVIIIe siècle français, Hachette, 1963, p. 288, fig.1.

Overall very good original condition; The marble top with some surface scratches; The veneers dry; vertical age crack to left and right side panels; infilled vertical age crack to the central door; age crack to right door; the gilt-bronze mounts dirty and with tarnishing and dust. Bronze encadrement of central door slightly loose
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Weisweiler had a wide repertoire of commodes which were all based on a similar form: those fitted with drawers and those with hinged panels (vantaux). Although Weisweiler did not appear to be the inventor of these commodes à vantaux, with three panels, of which only two opened, the central panel moving across the right hand panel by means of a flying hinge, they formed a major part of his production. According to Lemmonier, op. cit., of the fifty commodes listed, forty-three have panels and only seven are fitted with drawers.
In an inventory drawn up at Versailles in 1787, one finds such a commode in the bedroom of Madame de Pompadour, `une commode en bois d'acajou demi-régence, ouvrante à trois vantaux dont deux à brisure, orné de pieds à gaine cannelés à godrons, les pieds à gaine isolés et cannelés, idem chapiteaux à moulures unies. Le tout bronze or moulu avec dessus de marbre griotte d'Italie veiné'.
Weisweiler was particularly fond of this form of commode and utilised all the materials he had at his disposition: they were in mahogany as well as thuya wood and a number were also decorated in pietre dure and lacquer. For a related commode in pietre dure stamped Weisweiler, now in the British Royal Collection, see Pradère, op. cit., p. 402, fig. 498. This commode was also sometimes called a `commode à brisure'. Without changing the initial construction of the commode, Weisweiler made certain changes in style from 1789-90 and during the Empire period, although he kept its basic form.

The present commode is a faithfull copy of the original supplied in 1788 by Daguerre for the Cabinet intérieur of Louis XVI at the Château de Saint-Cloud for 3,000 L.

Réné Lexcellent worked at rue Breguet from 1867 to 1923, exhibiting at the Paris Exhibitions of 1867 and 1900. His furniture is highlighted in the Art Journal Paris Exhibition supplement number for 1900, which notes, " the works of Réné Lexcellent form an extremely interesting display. It is to M.Lexcellent that the credit is to be given for such complete and careful work in the chiselled bronzes and other details which in no sense interfere with delicacy of the whole".