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Lot Essay
This elegant serpentine and bronze-enriched 'commode' chest-of-drawers was executed for a bedroom apartment and is conceived in the 'Picturesque' French antique manner that became fashionable in the 1760s. This commode is one of a small and distinguished group (see lot 89 in the Weinstock Collection) attributed to the London cabinet-maker John Cobb, and discussed in depth by Lucy Wood in her Catalogue of Commodes, London, 1994, pp. 43-53. The commodes are characterised by their serpentine form, high quality timbers and rich ormolu embellishments which copy French Régence patterns produced some thirty years earlier. As discussed in the footnote to lot 89, the group is attributed to Cobb based on the commode supplied by him to James West at Alscot Park in 1766. The sub-group to which this commode is more closely related features Régence-style ormolu female bust angle mounts, with either a waved apron on slightly splayed legs and cloven hoof feet, as in the case of the Weinstock commode, whilst others have straight or lambrequin-carved low aprons on short feet embellished with inscrolling foliate mounts, including the pair in the Lady Lever Gallery (ibid., no. 1). The link between these two sub-groups of female bust-mounted commodes is best demonstrated by the commodes at Blickling: the two commodes in the State Bedroom (and two sold in circa 1933), which closely resemble the Lady Lever commodes, and a further commode at Blickling of slightly more bombé outline, with waved apron and hoof feet (ibid., p. 50, fig. 34), which is of a form much more closely relatable to the Alscot commode.
A further link exists between the nymph-mounted commodes and the group of carved commodes that includes lot 89 in this collection, which feature elaborately carved aprons and angles, in the form of a further sub-group: this includes the commode from the H. Percy Dean Collection illustrated in P. Macquoid, A History of English Furniture, The Age of Mahogany, London, 1908, col. pl. X; and a further commode of the same form that was sold by Sir Archibald Edmonstone, Bt., Christie's, London, 27 March 1958, lot 82.
A further link exists between the nymph-mounted commodes and the group of carved commodes that includes lot 89 in this collection, which feature elaborately carved aprons and angles, in the form of a further sub-group: this includes the commode from the H. Percy Dean Collection illustrated in P. Macquoid, A History of English Furniture, The Age of Mahogany, London, 1908, col. pl. X; and a further commode of the same form that was sold by Sir Archibald Edmonstone, Bt., Christie's, London, 27 March 1958, lot 82.