Anonymous, Chest, wood, nineteenth-century construction // Buisson (18..–….), Marguerite de Valois, drawing, nineteenth century, gift of Mr and Mrs Foucart

Chimeras are composite mythical creatures associated with the animal and fantastical worlds. Fantastic animals have extraordinary physiognomies that reflect their supernatural powers. They embody the boundary between the world of the living and that of the dead, between order and disorder. They give form to our fears and aspirations. Their appearance offered artists considerable freedom, and they were frequently incorporated into decorative schemes.

This is the significance of the abbreviation INV, which appears on this fine drawing. It refers to the Latin term inventit, designating the inventor, or creator, of the motif. The abbreviation is found principally in the field of printmaking. It is therefore quite likely that Th. Buisson, whose identity remains to be established with greater precision, was a medal and coin engraver.

Ornament has since become a field of study in its own right within art history. It responds to specific representational intentions, in accordance with the context in which it appears; in the case of the bahut, a domestic object.