French Style Marble Top Commode After Guillaume Beneman (1750-1811) . Beautiful wood with gold-hued ornamentation and figural shapes throughout, with clawed feet and opening drawers. Based on a classic design by Beneman, likely made in the early to mid 20th Century. 

CAUTION: Green marble top is unattached. 

Size: 61 1/2 x 20 1/2 x 38 In. 

Guillaume Beneman (or Benneman) was born in 1750 in Germany. Little is known of his early life, but by the time he was in his twenties he had relocated to Paris, where he quickly gained esteem as an accomplished cabinetmaker. The early neoclassical Louis XVI style was already in vogue by the time he had arrived, but his work attracted royal attention and he was soon working under the direction of the sculptor-entrepreneur Jean Hauré, the official Designer to the Court. Beneman was appointed master craftsman by the crown in 1785, becoming the last royal cabinetmaker prior to the French Revolution. By 1788 he had sixteen other craftsmen working under him, and his furniture was in every royal household in France. He collaborated with countless others, including bronzers, gilders, and sculptors, to create both original works and refurbish older pieces, and his fair dealings with fellow workers resulted in him remaining mostly secure in the turbulent early days of the Revolution. He continued to produce massive works in mahogany in the Directoire style, but in 1792 he was officially employed by the First Republic to remove royal cyphers, marquetry, and any other “emblems of feudality” from all confiscated pieces of furniture. For much of the Reign of Terror he was in hiding, and although he enjoyed a brief resurgence in popularity after the fall of the Directory when Napoleon sought to commission new works in the Empire Style his mental and physical health was never the same, and he passed away some time after 1811, with his final resting place unknown. Today his pieces are frequently emulated by Revival artisans as some of the prime examples of the French Royal style, with surviving original works very rare and extremely valuable.