Vintage bronze and marble chest of drawers

Empire-style lacquer and bronze chest of drawers with detached columns and white-veined Ardennes gray marble. It opens with two large drawers in the front and a drawer in the waist, decorated in cartouches with a seascape in the center and a water feature on the sides, depicting koi carp among marine - or aquatic - plants and reeds, on a celadon-green background. The waist drawer is decorated in gilded bronze with bunches of grapes and fine vine leaves on a celadon-green background, but in a slightly different style. The bronzes on the detached columns at the top are decorated with a gadroon, a pearled frieze and acanthus leaf drops. The tapering base features an acanthus leaf frieze at the top and inverted acanthus leaves at the bottom. The handles of the two circular drawers at the front are decorated with concentric circles and laurel wreaths, the medallion-shaped key escutcheons in the Louis XVI style are beaded and decorated with a ribbon, and the cartouche frames are decorated with a fine, regular acanthus leaf frieze. The lock is signed "E. SCHMIDT À PARIS". Reference : 306178