Significant Bellifontaine Renaissance cabinet

Total height: 242.5 cm.
Lower section: 104 x 136.5 x 58.5 cm.
Upper part: 98.5 x 126 x 52 cm.
Bears the coat of arms of the Dodieu family.
Île-de-France, School of Fontainebleau, around 1560 - 1580.

Light walnut, eggshell pastiglia and ebony inlays. Everything about this piece of furniture is reminiscent of the austerity and elegance of the reign of Henri II. This Renaissance cabinet is directly inspired by the Bellifontaines works of the second half of the 16th century. Its powerful structure is designed as a replica of the architecture, with its beautiful Corinthian columns and its elegant pediment, all executed with great refinement. All the studs, drawers, the entablature and the sides are decorated with inlays of blackened wood and a fine decoration of tendrils and arabesques in pastiglia technique. This technique, rarely used in France, comes directly from Italian artists and is inspired by Italian moresques. The lower section, which opens through two hinged doors and two drawers, rests on a profiled plinth supported by four flattened ball feet.
Under Henri II, a style of furniture was created that was completely architectural in character.
The balance was found and laid the foundations for French art. The cabinet, as a replica of a building façade, arranges consoles with feather ornaments, columns, cornices and curved pediments. This interplay of architectural forms also applies to the decorative elements: Within this strictly designed architecture, the focus is on the decorative effect.
The studs of the lower section are patterned using veneers of blackened wood, the thoughtful arrangement of which defines the carved surfaces. These are also a reminder that the first Italian artists to come to France produced inlaid floors, an art in which they were masters and whose influence lingered for a long time. In profiled frames, the doors of both cabinet sections are decorated with bas-reliefs divided into three registers. At the center of each panel is a female figure, whose modesty is only slightly covered by a wind-blown cloth, facing each other in the middle of a rural landscape. The first figure, on the left, holds a small bouquet of flowers and a cornucopia of wildflowers. It is Flora, the allegory of spring.
The second figure, on the right, carries a cornucopia overflowing with fruit and sheaves of grain. This is Ceres, the goddess of agriculture, harvest and fertility, who symbolizes summer and prosperity.
In the upper register, two reclining female figures face each other.
The dominant theme is that of the seasons. Here, summer and spring embody the traditional code that was later defined by Cesare Ripa in the Iconologia published in 1603: Female figures for spring and summer, each with their attributes: The bouquets of flowers emphasize the youth of spring, summer harvests the fields full of wheat. Rest. Rep. add.

Annotation:
The first mention of the name Dodieu dates from 1269, when Thomas and Guillaume Dodieu signed the truce concluded between the Church of Lyon and the burghers of the city.

Literature:
Cf. Claude Le Laboureur, Les Mazures de l'abbaye royale de l'Isle-Barbe les Lyon..., J. Couterot, Paris, 1681 (1410972) (1) (13)



Important Renaissance cabinet of Bellifontaine

Total height: 242.5 cm.
Lower part: 104 x 136.5 x 58.5 cm.
Upper part: 98.5 x 126 x 52 cm.
With the coat of arms of the Dodieu family.
Île-de-France, School of Fontainebleau, ca. 1560 - 1580.

Light walnut, eggshell pastiglia and ebony inlays. The style of this piece of furniture recalls the austerity and elegance of the reign of Henri II. This Renaissance cabinet is directly inspired by the Bellifontaines' works of the second half of the 16th century. The cabinet, a replica of a building façade, arranges consoles with feather ornaments, columns, cornices, and curved pediments. This play of interlocking architectural shapes also applies to the decorative elements. Restored, supplemented.

Literature:
cf. Claude Le Laboureur, Les Mazures de l'abbaye royale de l'Isle-Barbe, J. Couterot, Paris, 1681.