‘Tis an extraordinary armoire indeed. I have never seen such an armoire without a plinth or standing on legs. It is a rare example for sure. Thank you for your knowledgeable presentation and scholarship. Cheers!
It has bun feet which peg into the bottom (due to shrinkage the feet could be removed easily to prevent damaging the joint while moving the dismantled piece). I stood the armoire up without the feet so people can walk inside of it - current configuration allows floorboards of armoire to rest on ground.
If this Armoire could talk l am sure will tell many stories...some fun and perhaps others not so fun. But it is always a pleasure listening to you describing the furniture and some of the characteristics of the style, period, etc., As l always say not one will know about my existence on earth...but perhaps from my videos someone will say l like what she presented in her videos. Yes a trace of us and what we love and believe deserves our attention and dedication.
Fellow, you express yourself so fluently,and put us at our ease BUT what a jolt we receive on hearing the keystone piece being perceived as a "shell".Pray look at the key piece at 12:54,and let us concur that here we have a shell.On refering to the foliage beneath the key ,you enjoin us to consider it as oak. I had assumed before being shown the key closely that it was a heart,but just ponder what shape we could be contemplating,and the only reasonable conclusion is that of a giant acorn.
Wow - it may indeed be an acorn! You have cracked it....Shell seemed like a good word to ascribe meaning to this mysterious emblem - as we often see shells there, and sometimes the shells become so stylized with rocaille that they are no longer really shells...Bravo for the giant acorn... I think we have a herald in the form of an acorn there.
Thank you for your prompt reply. Are you aware of the etymology of the terms "armoire"and"buffet", for they are not actually interchangeable? By the way of the telling of the tale, I once came across an armoire at the marché St Ouin,,as I recall oaken,and about the hight of the one you show us,though much deeper and containg two shelves to each side intended to be used as seats. Never have I come across something similar.The period was Louis xv,and the price unbeleiveably low as there were no buyers for such a dinosaure.Too ,I wonder if you have any "commode de chasse " you could might intrduce us to? I'm very partial to them.
