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Lot Essay
The richly flowered pier-commode is designed in the George III French or 'antique' manner. The top and facade of the commode are veneered with silken striated panels with sacred urns crowned by Venus's roses. While evoking lyric poetry and sacrifices at love's altar in antiquity, the vase decoration reflects the Roman 'columbarium' fashion and the 'Etruscan' style promoted by The Works in Architecture, 1773-1777 by George III's court architect Robert Adam (d.1792). The antique ornament had been introduced as early as the 1750s for fashionable dressing-room apartments by the Rome-trained architect James Stuart (d. 1788).
This commode has been identified by Lucy Wood with other examples of similar construction and decoration, although of varying forms (Catalogue of Commodes, 1994, group nos. 11 and 12). Distinct in their 'self-conscious French inspiration', the commodes are also distinguished by certain constructional features that relate to European cabinet-making techniques, such as the integral top beneath the overhanging top, which reflects carcase construction to support a marble top as one would find on the continent. While John Cobb's name has frequently been used in conjunction with this type of floral decoration, other emigrant cabinet-makers are also under consideration such as Pierre Langlois, and members of the Swedish circle including George Haupt and Christopher Fuhrlohg. Three of the commodes in the 'No. 11' group traced back to Stamner Park allows one to consult documentation for Lord Pelham who was fitting up the house between 1765 and 1774. The records do little to narrow the possibilities of authorship as it would appear that Lord Pelham had dealings with many of the above cabinet-makers. Interesting is a relatively unknown name of Martin that is mentioned in association with a 1767 payment to Cobb. Lucy Wood speculates this may be the Swede, Carl Gustav Martin, nephew of George Haupt, who must be considered among the candidates for this group.
Among the other pieces in the group, stylistically the commode relates most closely to a pair sold in 1916 from the Bidstone Court collection of John Lever Tillotson and later at Lady Lever (no. 11, p. 131, fig. 129). Krater urns also figure on the Lord Ashburton commode from Bath House, Piccadilly, which may have been commissioned for the Curzon Street house built by Adam (d. 1792) for the Hon. Henry Frederick Thynne in the early 1770s (no. 12). The serpentine chest sold Christie's, New York, 12 March 1981 (and later with Partridge, London) is certainly by the same hand given the virtually identical design of the top and its jasmine-sprigged borders (no. 12, p. 140, figs. 140-41). The inlaid border and ribbon-tied rose sprays also feature on a commode top at Nostell Priory (E. T. Joy and B. Somerset Kern, 'An English Neo-Classic Commode', The Antique Collector, June/July 1971, p. 126-127, figs. 1-2) as well as a pair of ormolu-mounted side tables from Lord Wrottesley, later sold from the Arthur Leidesdorf collection, Sotheby & Co., London, 27 June 1974, lot 44. Interestingly, the outer edges beyond the inlaid border are quarter-veneered rather than crossbanded on the above two comparisons.
THE PROVENANCE
William Lever, later 1st Viscount Leverhulme (1851-1925), the Sunlight Soap magnate, began by collecting English oak followed by 18th century French furniture. By the 1890s he committed himself to forming a collection representative of the best of British art - an endeavor that lasted for the last thirty years of his life. His pursuit of neoclassical English furniture of the late 18th century was virtually unparalleled at the time, but fully evident by the turn-of-the-century at his homes at Thornton Manor, Merseyside and The Hill in Hampstead. His exceptional collection of furniture is only one manifestation of his passion for the English arts that are now largely housed in the Lady Lever Art Gallery, a house museum that he established in Port Sunlight in 1922. The Gallery to this day displays the most exceptional examples of English furniture, needlework, and ceramics among other disciplines.
The commode was purchased by Lord Leverhulme from the renowned London firm of Moss Harris but records do not inform where the the firm may have acquired it. Harris purchased from a variety of sources, both privately and at public auction. The commode was included in the celebrated five-day sale of Leverhulme's vast collections at the Hill following his death, as conducted by Anderson Galleries in February 1926. The commode, lot 391 in the fourth day of the sale, was purchased by Barnet J. Klar of New York. Klar purchased other inlaid commodes in the sale, which were sold by him the following year at Anderson Galleries (15-19 March 1927). This commode does not appear in the catalogue and there are no other recorded auction sales by Klar, so its subsequent history cannot be traced.
This commode has been identified by Lucy Wood with other examples of similar construction and decoration, although of varying forms (Catalogue of Commodes, 1994, group nos. 11 and 12). Distinct in their 'self-conscious French inspiration', the commodes are also distinguished by certain constructional features that relate to European cabinet-making techniques, such as the integral top beneath the overhanging top, which reflects carcase construction to support a marble top as one would find on the continent. While John Cobb's name has frequently been used in conjunction with this type of floral decoration, other emigrant cabinet-makers are also under consideration such as Pierre Langlois, and members of the Swedish circle including George Haupt and Christopher Fuhrlohg. Three of the commodes in the 'No. 11' group traced back to Stamner Park allows one to consult documentation for Lord Pelham who was fitting up the house between 1765 and 1774. The records do little to narrow the possibilities of authorship as it would appear that Lord Pelham had dealings with many of the above cabinet-makers. Interesting is a relatively unknown name of Martin that is mentioned in association with a 1767 payment to Cobb. Lucy Wood speculates this may be the Swede, Carl Gustav Martin, nephew of George Haupt, who must be considered among the candidates for this group.
Among the other pieces in the group, stylistically the commode relates most closely to a pair sold in 1916 from the Bidstone Court collection of John Lever Tillotson and later at Lady Lever (no. 11, p. 131, fig. 129). Krater urns also figure on the Lord Ashburton commode from Bath House, Piccadilly, which may have been commissioned for the Curzon Street house built by Adam (d. 1792) for the Hon. Henry Frederick Thynne in the early 1770s (no. 12). The serpentine chest sold Christie's, New York, 12 March 1981 (and later with Partridge, London) is certainly by the same hand given the virtually identical design of the top and its jasmine-sprigged borders (no. 12, p. 140, figs. 140-41). The inlaid border and ribbon-tied rose sprays also feature on a commode top at Nostell Priory (E. T. Joy and B. Somerset Kern, 'An English Neo-Classic Commode', The Antique Collector, June/July 1971, p. 126-127, figs. 1-2) as well as a pair of ormolu-mounted side tables from Lord Wrottesley, later sold from the Arthur Leidesdorf collection, Sotheby & Co., London, 27 June 1974, lot 44. Interestingly, the outer edges beyond the inlaid border are quarter-veneered rather than crossbanded on the above two comparisons.
THE PROVENANCE
William Lever, later 1st Viscount Leverhulme (1851-1925), the Sunlight Soap magnate, began by collecting English oak followed by 18th century French furniture. By the 1890s he committed himself to forming a collection representative of the best of British art - an endeavor that lasted for the last thirty years of his life. His pursuit of neoclassical English furniture of the late 18th century was virtually unparalleled at the time, but fully evident by the turn-of-the-century at his homes at Thornton Manor, Merseyside and The Hill in Hampstead. His exceptional collection of furniture is only one manifestation of his passion for the English arts that are now largely housed in the Lady Lever Art Gallery, a house museum that he established in Port Sunlight in 1922. The Gallery to this day displays the most exceptional examples of English furniture, needlework, and ceramics among other disciplines.
The commode was purchased by Lord Leverhulme from the renowned London firm of Moss Harris but records do not inform where the the firm may have acquired it. Harris purchased from a variety of sources, both privately and at public auction. The commode was included in the celebrated five-day sale of Leverhulme's vast collections at the Hill following his death, as conducted by Anderson Galleries in February 1926. The commode, lot 391 in the fourth day of the sale, was purchased by Barnet J. Klar of New York. Klar purchased other inlaid commodes in the sale, which were sold by him the following year at Anderson Galleries (15-19 March 1927). This commode does not appear in the catalogue and there are no other recorded auction sales by Klar, so its subsequent history cannot be traced.