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Lot Essay
The inlay of the elliptical commode is a testament to the decorative language of the archaeological neo-classical spirit of the late 18th century. The commode's figurative medallion and palm-flowered cornice and feet, is conceived in the George III 'Roman' or 'Etruscan' fashion promoted by the 1774 Derby commode pattern, in the architects Robert and James Adams', Works in Architecture, 1779 (vol. II no. 1, pl. 8). The latter commode was executed by the Golden Square cabinet-makers, Messrs Ince and Mayhew, to Adam's design. The Adams' pattern features festive figures derived from T. Martyn and J. Lettice's, Antiquities of Herculaneum, 1773, as does the present veil-draped and oak-festooned medallion with its vestal bearing a fruit-tazza and ewer. A related tablet with this vestal, together with a tablet featuring a vestal together with the wine-deity Bacchus, derives from Sir William Hamilton and Baron d'Hancarville's, Collection of Etruscan, Greek and Roman Antiquities, Naples, 1766-67, and features on a closely related drawer-fitted commode at Badminton House, Gloucestershire (L. Wood, Catalogue of Commodes, London, 1994, p. 232, figs. 221-222).
Furthermore, the present commode's frieze of beribboned laurel baguettes, as well as its 'tablet' frames with flowered ribbon-guilloches suspended from bowed ribbon florettes in the spandrels, appear on a commode that was sold anonymously, Sotheby's London, 5 July 1991, lot 135. Another commode closely related to the latter and attributed to Mayhew and Ince was in the possession of Partridges in 1963, and subsequently sold anonymously, Bonham's, London, 21 November 2006, lot 70.
Furthermore, the present commode's frieze of beribboned laurel baguettes, as well as its 'tablet' frames with flowered ribbon-guilloches suspended from bowed ribbon florettes in the spandrels, appear on a commode that was sold anonymously, Sotheby's London, 5 July 1991, lot 135. Another commode closely related to the latter and attributed to Mayhew and Ince was in the possession of Partridges in 1963, and subsequently sold anonymously, Bonham's, London, 21 November 2006, lot 70.
