Lot Essay
The commode's elegantly serpentined faade and satinwood veneer enhanced with Etruscan-black ribbons and golden laurel-wreathed patterae feature on furniture at Broadlands, Hampshire attributed to John Mayhew and William Ince of Golden Square, who are listed in Lord Palmerston's account book in the 1780s. The Broadlands furniture includes a commode listed in the 1786 inventory as a 'Commode Chist Drawers Satton Wood' and it accompanying 'Secretary' noted in the 1797 inventory as having been 'made by Ince [17]82' (H. Roberts, 'Towards an English Louis Seize - Furniture at Broadlands, Hampshire-II', Country Life, 5 February 1981, p. 346, figs. 1 and 2).
A related commode, with almost identical handles, was sold anonymously, Sotheby's London, 6 July 1956, lot 141.
A related commode, with almost identical handles, was sold anonymously, Sotheby's London, 6 July 1956, lot 141.