Napoleon III style liquor box. France, ca. 1915.

Napoleon III style liquor box. France, ca. 1915.
Ebonized wood with metal marquetry.
Removable interior with three bottles and five crystal glasses.
With key.
Exhibits wear consistent with age and use.
Measurements: 26 x 35 x 26 cm (closed); 46 x 64 x 30 cm (open).

French liquor box made of ebonized wood, following Napoleon III style decorative models. The exterior has wavy profiles and gilded metal marquetry decoration, with vegetal motifs, scrolls and a floral composition on the upper front, on a black background. The combination of the dark surface with the gilded details responds to the French decorative taste of historicist inspiration, much appreciated in tableware and auxiliary furniture of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

The interior opens with a top lid and hinged side doors, revealing a liquor cabinet with a removable structure. It preserves three cut glass bottles with faceted stoppers and five glasses, arranged on a gilded metal support decorated with scrolls and plant motifs. This type of liquor boxes, also known as caves à liqueur, were common objects in bourgeois salons, designed both for serving drinks and for display.