This astonishing 16th-century dressoir (or sideboard) was created in Lyon during the height of the French Renaissance, and is the only one of three known examples of its type created that is not held within a museum collection. Today, the pair to this dressoir is a prized possession of the famed Frick Collection in New York, and the third, similar yet smaller cabinet was found in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. The most skilled artisans crafted the dressoir during the very first period of decorative furniture. The exterior is made entirely of walnut, with a sturdy oak interior. Comparable yet less sizeable examples of great French Renaissance pieces have been in the collections of The British Museum and The Louvre, and are featured in the important treatise on 16th-century furniture Le Meuble en France au XVI Siecle (The Furniture in France in the 16th Century). However, to the best of our knowledge, there has not been a cabinet of even remote similarity come up for sale anywhere in the world within the past fifty years. In terms of craftsmanship and condition, it is virtually impossible to comprehend that this dressoir was created over 425 years ago.
