A Louis XVI Style Gilt Bronze-Mounted Tulipwood and Bois Satine Commode by Gervais Durand After the Model by Jean-François Leleu, Late 19th Century

Gervais-Maximilien-Eugène Durand (1839-1920) was born in Paris and began work in 1870 at 12 rue de La Cerisaie. He later moved to the rue Saint-Antoine where most of the prestigious cabinet makers of the t.mes had established their workshops. He was the first of three generations of highly successful cabinetmakers, exhibiting widely at the International Exhibitions. At the 1889 Exhibition in Paris, he was commended as, un ébéniste aussi habile que modeste, qui expose pour la premième fois des meubles de premier ordre, dont il est à la fois le dessinateur et l'exécutant; il marche sur la voie tracée par les maîtres tels que Beurdeley et Dasson.

The original commode by Leleu, now at Versailles, was exhibited at the Petit Trianon in 1867 as part of the Marie-Antoinette exhibition organized by the Empress Eugénie to coincide with opening of that year's Exposition Universelle. It was also part of the retrospective Exposition de l'Union centrale des arts décoratifs in Paris in 1882.