Chiffonnière (ladenkast) met zeven laden en blad van wit marmer c. 1790 - 1795

This is the "Chiffonnière," or chest of drawers, crafted by Bernard Molitor, a master ebeniste, boasting seven drawers and a slab of white marble on top. Consider the number seven. Throughout history, it appears in myth and religion – the seven heavens, seven deadly sins, the seven days of creation. Here, it organizes the intimate belongings of its owner. Such ordering is a deeply human impulse, echoing through time. Think of the Kabbalistic Tree of Life, or even a simple family tree; we have a profound need to make sense of our world through structure. But this order is also a secret. Each drawer conceals its contents, locked away. The domestic space thus becomes a theatre of hidden desires, where objects accumulate psychological weight. Molitor’s Chiffonnière, therefore, is not just a repository for physical objects, but a silent witness to the human drama of concealing and revealing.