The kind of piece that feels pulled out of another century. Found in Avignon, this oak cupboard in the Louis XIII taste rises tall and narrow on bun feet, under a dentil cornice and closed with a long iron lock and ring. Its single door carries three panels carved in pointes de diamant, the raised diamond-point motif of the style. The Louis XIII look was one of the great 19th-century revivals, bringing the geometry of early French furniture, the deep-cut panels and the diamond points, back into country houses, and one tall locking door like this kept a household’s linen and valuables safe. Sylvie would tuck it into a narrow spot where it earns its keep, towels and linens behind the one locking door, in an entry, a bathroom, or at the end of a hall.
