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Lot Essay
These richly flowered pier-commodes are designed in the George III French or 'antique' manner. 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).
The commodes have been identified by Lucy Wood as part of a group of similarly 'self-conscious French inspiration' although of varying forms (Catalogue of Commodes, 1994, group nos. 11 and 12). 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 closely to a single large commode also from the Leverhulme collection and sold in these Rooms, 'A Collection from a New York Townhouse', 15 April 2005, lot 230. 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 its jasmine-sprigged borders (no. 12, p. 140, figs. 140-41). The inlaid border features 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 on the last example rather than crossbanded on the rest of the group.
THE PROVENANCE
The commode once formed part of the collection at Bidston Court, a Tudor-style mansion built in 1891 in Birkenhead for the soap manufacturer Robert Hudson. The house, inspired by the sixteenth century Little Moreton Hall, was designed by Edward Oult, who also designed houses in Lord Leverhulme's Port Sunlight Village. Between 1921-1931, it was moved brick-by-brick and beam-by-beam and re-built at Royden Park for then owner Sir Ernest Royden. It is now named Hill Bark House. Bidston Court was so admired by the German Crown Prince that he had an exact replica built in 1911 in Potsdam and called it 'Cecilianfhof' in honour of his wife Cecilia.
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 commodes have been identified by Lucy Wood as part of a group of similarly 'self-conscious French inspiration' although of varying forms (Catalogue of Commodes, 1994, group nos. 11 and 12). 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 closely to a single large commode also from the Leverhulme collection and sold in these Rooms, 'A Collection from a New York Townhouse', 15 April 2005, lot 230. 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 its jasmine-sprigged borders (no. 12, p. 140, figs. 140-41). The inlaid border features 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 on the last example rather than crossbanded on the rest of the group.
THE PROVENANCE
The commode once formed part of the collection at Bidston Court, a Tudor-style mansion built in 1891 in Birkenhead for the soap manufacturer Robert Hudson. The house, inspired by the sixteenth century Little Moreton Hall, was designed by Edward Oult, who also designed houses in Lord Leverhulme's Port Sunlight Village. Between 1921-1931, it was moved brick-by-brick and beam-by-beam and re-built at Royden Park for then owner Sir Ernest Royden. It is now named Hill Bark House. Bidston Court was so admired by the German Crown Prince that he had an exact replica built in 1911 in Potsdam and called it 'Cecilianfhof' in honour of his wife Cecilia.
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.