The Age Of Rococo - Sweden

Some Anglo-Dutch influence is seen in Swedish handmade furniture, particularly chairs, made in the first half of the 18th century but a Franco-German flavour gradually gained in strength. From the confluence a national style emerged, best seen in cupboards with panelled doors on bombe bases, which were the test pieces that had to be made by all cabinet-makers aspiring to membership of the Stockholm guild.
Without this passport to freedom, the craftsman could not become self-employed unless he chose to isolate himself well away from the centres where the guilds operated.

The cupboards varied in details of design over the years according to the current fashions. In the Rococo period, the base had a vase-shaped projection at the centre, forming a 'break-front'. The panels of the doors were framed with carved and gilded tendrils, the imposing cornice had two opposed curves of the kind called 'swan neck', and between them there is often an elaborate finial in the form of an asymmetrical ornament, also carved and gilded.

A formative influence on the Swedish Rococo style was Christian Precht (1706 - 1779), the son of a German cabinet-maker from Bremen. By trade he was a silversmith but he also designed fitted and non fitted furniture.
Another influential designer, Carl Harleman (1700 - 1753), studied in Paris and became architect to the Swedish court. A master of the Rococo style, his console tables employed opposing C-scrolls, not only to create surface decoration (such was the carving to the panelled door) but also to form organic shapes.

These curving shapes were immediately liked in Sweden, the bombe commode reaching the height of its popularity after 1760 (by which time it was already outmoded in France). The Swedish version was always three drawers deep like the French Regence prototype from the early years of the century.
A peculiarity of the commode was a channel cut into the wood on the rails between the drawers, which was usually guilded or sometimes lined with sheet brass. The gilt metal handles were delicate, and the walnut veneers were carefully matched.
Swedish commodes are often mistakenly thought to be Dutch, but the swell of the curve on Swedish examples is usually higher, and the top is usually of marble, not wood.