Commode. Culture: German, Munich. Designer: Design attributed to Jean François Cuvilliés the Elder (German (born Belgian), Soignies 1695-1768 Munich). Dimensions: 33 1/4 × 51 1/2 × 24 1/2 in. (84.5 × 130.8 × 62.2 cm). Maker: Construction attributed to Johann Michael Schmidt (German); Carving attributed to Joachim Dietrich. Date: ca. 1735-40.When in the eighteenth century "a French aristocrat or nouveau riche had a stately home built for him, in Paris or in the provinces, he was well advised to listen to his architect's warning that the cost of construction amounted to no more than a mere quarter of total expenditure, and that the rest would have to be spent on interior decoration in order to make the edifice conform to the accepted patterns of living in the grand manner."1 This wry observation in Louis-Sébastien Mercier's Tableau de Paris (1780) held true not only in France but in other countries as well, since the European upper classes looked to Paris for everything à la mode. But