Lot Essay
This colourful 'Louis Quatorze' commode, decorated with bird-inhabited floral veneer from a late 17th Century cabinet, epitomises the exotic and antiquarian taste of George IV's court, encouraged by the Parisian and London marchand-merciers such as Edward Holmes Baldock (d.1845). Applied on to a Louis XV commode-frame that may well have been lacquer-veneered, its original marble top is inscribed both with 'Milord Drummond' and 'chez Portal'. It is likely, therefore to have been executed in Paris for George Drummond, 6th Duke of Melfort and Perth (d.1902) around the time of his marriage in 1831 to Baroness Albertine von Rotberg Rheinweiler (d.1842). Certainly an ébéniste called Portail is recorded in the rue Saint-Lazare in 1840. On the Duke's death in 1902, he was succeded by his kinsman, William Huntly, Viscount Stathallan and Earl of Perth, who inherited this commode with Strathallan Castle, Perthshire.
The commode's 'boulle' or 'buhl' tortoiseshell veneer shares much in common with the oeuvre of the 17th Century inlayer Leonardo van der Vinne (Th.H. Lunsingh Scheurleer, 'The Philippe d'Orléans ivory cabinet by Pierre Gole', Burlington Magazine, June 1984, pp.333-337 and figs.19-20). Its flower-strewn tortoiseshell facade symbolising Peace and Plenty, has veneer adapted from a 17th Century cabinet-on-stand.As well as birds, and butterflies, it is further embellished witha menagerie of animals in ivory and exotic woods including a lion, hound, frogs, lizards, crickets, dragon-flies, snails etc. Its whimsical ornament, featuring topsy-turvy figures, corresponds to the lacquer-veneered furniture discussed in Stalker and Parker's Treatise of Japanning, 1688. Accompanying the laurel-wreathed patterae handles are corner-mounts designed in the French picturesque manner, which also feature on the commode by Jean Deforge (maître before 1730) in the J. Paul Getty Museum (C.Bremer-David, Decorative Arts, Malibu, 1993, no.25, p.25).
The commode's 'boulle' or 'buhl' tortoiseshell veneer shares much in common with the oeuvre of the 17th Century inlayer Leonardo van der Vinne (Th.H. Lunsingh Scheurleer, 'The Philippe d'Orléans ivory cabinet by Pierre Gole', Burlington Magazine, June 1984, pp.333-337 and figs.19-20). Its flower-strewn tortoiseshell facade symbolising Peace and Plenty, has veneer adapted from a 17th Century cabinet-on-stand.As well as birds, and butterflies, it is further embellished witha menagerie of animals in ivory and exotic woods including a lion, hound, frogs, lizards, crickets, dragon-flies, snails etc. Its whimsical ornament, featuring topsy-turvy figures, corresponds to the lacquer-veneered furniture discussed in Stalker and Parker's Treatise of Japanning, 1688. Accompanying the laurel-wreathed patterae handles are corner-mounts designed in the French picturesque manner, which also feature on the commode by Jean Deforge (maître before 1730) in the J. Paul Getty Museum (C.Bremer-David, Decorative Arts, Malibu, 1993, no.25, p.25).