The Louis XV style commode was created by an unknown master, presumably in the 18th century. The furniture maker assembled the base from rosewood. The valuable wood of this tropical tree was brought to France from abroad. On top, the author glued on an ornament of wood plates and attached bronze onlays.

He created the geometric pattern using the marquetry technique. It is a special kind of mosaic application that uses unpainted wood. It can be of different textures and colours. The master took thinly sliced ​​wooden plates — veneer — and glued them figuratively on the furniture. It was easier to finish convex surfaces of commodes with flexible mosaics. This technique gained popularity when Chinese varnishes appeared in France, as well as local varnishes of the Martin brothers that imitated Chinese ones.

The word ‘commode’ comes from the French ‘commode’, and means ‘convenient’. It was considered convenient compared to the chest, its bulky ancestor. The first furniture with drawers — chests of drawers and bureaux — appeared under Louis XIV. Images of it appeared on engravings around 1700: the court painter Jean Bérain drew commode designs for furniture makers. Around the same time, curved surfaces began to appear in furniture.

During the time of Louis XIV, who ruled France from 1643 to 1715, furnishings at home were to emphasise authority and inspire respect. They were simple in form and massive at the same time. Furniture was decorated with ornaments of tortoiseshell, tin, metals. Often the decor occupied most of its surface.

At this time, they began to executed commodes more often in the bombé shape, ‘convex’ in French, their lower wave-like line was repeated on the front and sides.

This commode decorated with bronze entered the collection of the Yaroslavl Museum of Fine Arts from the collection of Count Vasily Kochubey. Vasily Petrovich continued the work of his father, who collected paintings, graphics, furniture, minerals and rare books. Antique furniture adorned Kochubey’s mansion in Tsarskoye Selo, built in 1911 – 1914. His property was nationalised after the 1917 revolution.