Bombé is a French term, meaning swollen or blown out, used to describe furniture with an outward-bulging curved front and often sides. It is most closely associated with commodes, chests of drawers, bureaux and cabinets of the Rococo period in the eighteenth century.
The form was developed in France during the Régence and Louis XV periods, when ébénistes produced commodes with swelling fronts and sides decorated with marquetry, lacquer and elaborate gilt-bronze mounts. Making a bombé carcass was technically demanding, since drawer fronts and sides had to be shaped and the veneers laid over compound curves. Dutch cabinetmakers adopted the shape with great enthusiasm, producing bombé chests, cabinets and bureaux in walnut and floral marquetry, while the form also appeared in Germany, Italy, Scandinavia and, more rarely, in England, where serpentine fronts were usually preferred. In America, Boston makers produced a distinctive group of bombé case pieces. Collectors look for well-made curved drawers, good veneers, original mounts and handles and a sound carcass, and a fine bombé commode makes a confident focal point in a drawing room or hall.
