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Lot Essay
The marquetry of floral tendrils airily entwined in a charringly irregular manner corresponds to Parisian damask patterns of the mid-18th Century. The multi-coloured marquetry, broad ribbon-scrolled cartouches' borders and small cartouches of flowered trellis also feature in the later work of the Parisian ébéniste Jean-Pierre Latz (d. 1754).
However, the construction in walnut, poplar and chestnut, yellow lumacchella marble tops and the very characteristic sparse floral marquetry, indicate that these commodes were not executed in Paris. They have previously been called German and linked to commodes from the Bayreuth and Berlin workshops run by the Spindler family, of whom Heinrich Wilhelm (b. 1738) had trained under the Migeon dynasty of ébénistes in Paris (S. Sangl, 'Spindler', Furniture History, Leeds, 1991, pp. 22-34). This too seems highly unlikely bearing in mind both the typical construction and individual marquetry decoration of the Spindler's celebrated series of commodes and the work subsequently produced by their followers.
A more plausible link is that with rococo furniture in Portugal, such as the pair of closely related commodes in the Queen's dressing room in the Palace of Queluz, Lisbon, which were probably acquired at the time of Prince Don Pedro's marriage 1760 to Princess Donna Maria Francesca (d. 1816), see M.I. Ferro, Queluz, The Palace and Gardens, London, 1997, p. 88. Further related commodes include a pair sold, Christie's, London, 2 December 1998, lot 50. In addition to similarities in the construction and the marquetry cartouches with striped kingwood surrounds, the commodes have the same lumacchella marble tops.
However, the construction in walnut, poplar and chestnut, yellow lumacchella marble tops and the very characteristic sparse floral marquetry, indicate that these commodes were not executed in Paris. They have previously been called German and linked to commodes from the Bayreuth and Berlin workshops run by the Spindler family, of whom Heinrich Wilhelm (b. 1738) had trained under the Migeon dynasty of ébénistes in Paris (S. Sangl, 'Spindler', Furniture History, Leeds, 1991, pp. 22-34). This too seems highly unlikely bearing in mind both the typical construction and individual marquetry decoration of the Spindler's celebrated series of commodes and the work subsequently produced by their followers.
A more plausible link is that with rococo furniture in Portugal, such as the pair of closely related commodes in the Queen's dressing room in the Palace of Queluz, Lisbon, which were probably acquired at the time of Prince Don Pedro's marriage 1760 to Princess Donna Maria Francesca (d. 1816), see M.I. Ferro, Queluz, The Palace and Gardens, London, 1997, p. 88. Further related commodes include a pair sold, Christie's, London, 2 December 1998, lot 50. In addition to similarities in the construction and the marquetry cartouches with striped kingwood surrounds, the commodes have the same lumacchella marble tops.