"Trumeau" drop-front chest of drawers with riser

The drop-front chest of drawers with riser, of Lombard origin and dating from the second half of the 18th century, has a sinuous front supported by uprights inclined at 45° with wooden end panels ending in shaped supports. The lower section consists of three drawers plus a smaller one with a flap door. Inside the door is a nest of overlapping and aligned leaf spring drawers. The riser features a pair of moulded doors with glass panes covered with a mercury film. It has walnut-root reserves, ebonised frames and a moulded cornice. This flap chest of drawers with riser can be compared to the trumeau signed by Giuseppe Colombo in 1774, currently in a private collection. Thanks to the technical and stylistic similarities, it is possible to attribute the making of this piece of furniture with certainty to Mortarino (probably nicknamed so because he was originally from Mortara). We have little biographical information about him, but it is sufficient to place him in the appropriate historical context: his name appears for the first time in the Books of the Universities of the Supreme Council (Milan archives), where he is mentioned among the Legnamari; he is later mentioned in the deed of demolition of the University of Legnamari, dated 11 January 1773, a crucial document that informs us of the location of his workshop in Porta Ticinese in Milan.