Original text : (Automatic translation)
An Important Sycamore and Fruitwood Veneered Commode with a Carrara Marble Top After the Model by Riesener, by Grohé Frères. Having a veined Carrara marble top above three frieze drawers with fruitwood veneer and fine gilt bronze foliate mounts above a central cupboard door with a marquetry still life panel against a sycamore background, the cupboard flabked by curved panels of flower-head trelis-parquetry in amarante, platane, fruitwood and satine; the concave sides similarily decorated and the corners embellished with fine gilt bronze Capra headed trophies, the whole raised on four vigorous gilt bronze hairy paw feet with scrolling acanthus fronds.

Stamped twice 'GROHE / A PARIS' to the top of the carcass. ‘HUBY A PARIS' stamped on the inside of the lock.

Guillaume & Jean Michel Grohé worked together from 1829 until Jean Michel retired in 1861, the younger brother Guillaume continuing until 1884. They exhibited at the French Industrial Exhibition in 1834 and in 1847 became 'Grohé Frères' with Guillaume the principle partner.

Guillaume supplied many royal houses, including Queen Victoria, from 1862 onwards. He also was said to have made a great impression on, and supplied furniture to King Louis Philippe, the emperor Napoleon III and the Empress Eugenie. Guillaume favoured the Louis XVI style but made pieces in many different styles, exhibiting almost continually from 1834 to 1878. Guillaume was awarded the Legion d'Honneur' in 1849.

The work of Grohé was praised in the 1867 Paris Exposition Universelle 'supérieurs à ceux de Riesener et Gouthière'.

French, Circa 1870.