A GEORGE III LACQUERED BRASS-MOUNTED ROSEWOOD AND MARQUETRY COMMODE

CIRCA 1765

Details

A GEORGE III LACQUERED BRASS-MOUNTED ROSEWOOD AND MARQUETRY COMMODE
Circa 1765
In the manner of Pierre Langlois, the serpentine-banded top centered by a stylized palmette and flower sprays incorporating birds above three long drawers mounted with pierced foliate loop handles and similarly inlaid with floral sprays over an arched apron, the angles mounted with foliate chutes and cabochon sabots, the sides with cornucopia issuing flowers and floral sprays
32in. (83cm.) high, 44in. (112cm.) wide, 21in. (55.5cm.) deep

Provenance

Arthur Leidesdorf Collection, New York, sold Sotheby & Co., London, 28-29 June 1974, lot 136
Christie's London, 17 November 1980, lot 62
The Property of a Gentleman, sold Christie's London, 16 November 1989, lot 79

Lot Essay

The present commode, inlaid in a delicate painterly manner with scrolling floral vines, a palmette and birds and with rocaille-cast mounts, was designed in the French taste practiced by several workshops in London in the 1760s. The most prominent cabinetmaker to work in this style was Pierre Langlois, a French immigrant cabinetmaker working at Tottenham Court Road from 1759, who produced a wide range of furniture in the French manner in the 1760s and 1770s. The elongated fluted urn and fine foliate rinceaux as well as a classically-inspired palmette can be compared to a similar design that appears on the side of a pair of commodes attributed to Langlois and dated to the late 1760s from the John W. Kluge Collection, sold in these Rooms New York, 11 October 1990, lot 124 and illustrated in P. Thornton and W. Rieder, 'Pierre Langlois, Ebniste', in Connoisseur, Apr. 1972, p. 262.
A firm attribution to Langlois can not be proven as alternative workshops, particularly those of other immigrant craftsmen produced related examples. Lucy Wood discusses a group of commodes in the Continental manner with attenuated bomb form, floral marquetry and ormolu mounts that can stylistically be compared to the present piece (see L. Wood, Catalogue Commodes, London, 1994, pp. 168-170). A pair of commodes from this group with similar restrained serpentine front and floral vine inlay was offered Christie's New York, 12 October 1996, lot 155.