This French chest of drawers of the master Pierre Harry Mewesen radiates a reserved, solid elegance. A typical and high quality example of the "époche transition", the stylistic transition from Rococo to Neo-Classicism, it combines Late Baroque and Rococo elements with those, which already point to Neo-Classicism. The corpus in its stable, block-like form excellently complements the rounded and curved elements, notably those of the legs, which unite fast straightness and a graceful swing.

The cover plate is made of "Brèche d`Alep", a kind of marble known since antiquity and, in the 18^th Century, was especially popular for furniture, also because it was quarried in France from 1712 onwards.

This piece of furniture comes from the Penzing Palais (aka Cumberland Palais) in Vienna (14. Penzinger Strasse 11-13), which George V., King of Hanover and 3^rd Duke of Cumberland and Teviotdale, bought in 1868 after having fled to Austria two years earlier. Today the palais houses an Embassy. The Cumberland Dukedom has been established several times and was reserved for the younger members of the Royal Family. George V. of Hanover sided with Austria in the Austro-Prussian war, which led to the defeat of Hanover on June 29^th, 1866. The king had to flee. This chest of drawers he either took with him or had it sent after him.

So this appealing piece of furniture has quite an eventful historical background.