Important Friedericianian rococo chest of drawers Berlin/Potsdam,... Lot 400

Important Friedericianian rococo chest of drawers Berlin/Potsdam, circa 1765-70, Johann Friedrich - (1726-1799) and Heinrich Wilhelm Spindler (1738-1788) A gift from Frederick the Great to the Counts of Stillfried and Rattonitz. Cedar wood, hornbeam, sycamore maple, fruit and exotic woods, veneered, richly and finely marquetry, dyed and engraved, silver-plated fittings. Longitudinal corpus on slightly curved legs. Profiled and protruding leaf on three sides over a two-panel, strongly cambered body with wavy cut ribs. The front sans traverse worked. The front sides with splendid rococo cartouches of intricate ribbon and vine work. The leaf with a large central cartouche containing a finely inlaid picture of flowers, roses and tendrils, finely engraved and coloured. The central image is flanked by two attached vignettes, which in turn show fine floral arrangements. The front of the chest of drawers is divided into three cartouche fields, which unfold over both drawer fronts. Virtuoso vines, partly filled and intertwined in C-volumes, frame the central field with a large bouquet of flowers of the finest workmanship. The cambered narrow sides are designed in the same manner. Silver-plated fittings with garland and satyr mask for the chutes, floral fittings for the handles and ornaments. On the reverse with red inventory seal for Glatz Castle in Silesia, seat of the barons of Stillfried. (Old restorations) Provenance: According to family tradition as a gift from Frederick the Great to his friend and comrade-in-arms Baron von Stillfried at Glatz and Neurode; Glatz Castle, seat of the Barons von Stillfried in Silesia (reverse of the chest of drawers with Glatz Castle inventory seal); in uninterrupted possession of the von Stillfried and Rattonitz family, until Dr. Christoph Graf von Stillfried and Rattonitz, Tutzing; via the art trade Peter Mühlbauer in a Swiss private collection. Exhibited: The European Fine Art Fair Maastricht, 2007; cf. Kreisel/Himmelheber, Die