.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
These commodes, conceived in the Louis XV picturesque manner, are embellished with trompe l'oeil marquetry vignettes of battle and rural scenes signifying War and Peace. They are inlaid, tryptich-fashion, in lozenged compartments whith frames of trellis-enriched ribbon scrolls are surmounted by baldaquin-canopies and hunch-backed figures. Hunchbacks with a stick or sword accompany the vignette of mounted soldiers fighting with swords while, on its pair, hunchbacks with pipe and flageolot accompany a scene of festive rustics.
The grotesque figures depicted to the top of the top drawers are inspired by Jacques Callot's (d. 1635) celebrated series of engravings Varie figure Gobbi di Iacopo Callot Fatto in firenza l'anno 1616. First depicted on pietra dura panels executed by Bacino del Bianco in the Opificio delle Petre Dure, Florence (for instance the panel illustrated in A.-M. Giusti, Pietre Dure, London, 1992, fig. 106, which mirrors Callot's engraving 'Le Joueur de flageolet'). Callot's engravings enjoyed a huge revival in the 18th Century with the publication of such volumes as W. Koning's Il Callotto Resuscitato oder Neu-eingerichtetes Zwerchen Cabinett, Amsterdam, 1716.
This pair of commodes belong to a group that has in the past been called German. However this seems unlikely given that a pair of closely related commodes in the Palace of Queluz, Lisbon, in the Queen's dressing room, Robillion Pavilion, are likely to have been acquired at the time of Prince D. Pedro III's marriage in 1760 to Princess Donna Maria Francisca (d. 1816), later Queen Donna Maria I (d. 1816) see M.I. Ferro, Queluz, The Palace and Gardens, London, 1997, p. 88. Also part of the group are a pair sold anonymously in these rooms, 19 May 1993, lot 185.
The grotesque figures depicted to the top of the top drawers are inspired by Jacques Callot's (d. 1635) celebrated series of engravings Varie figure Gobbi di Iacopo Callot Fatto in firenza l'anno 1616. First depicted on pietra dura panels executed by Bacino del Bianco in the Opificio delle Petre Dure, Florence (for instance the panel illustrated in A.-M. Giusti, Pietre Dure, London, 1992, fig. 106, which mirrors Callot's engraving 'Le Joueur de flageolet'). Callot's engravings enjoyed a huge revival in the 18th Century with the publication of such volumes as W. Koning's Il Callotto Resuscitato oder Neu-eingerichtetes Zwerchen Cabinett, Amsterdam, 1716.
This pair of commodes belong to a group that has in the past been called German. However this seems unlikely given that a pair of closely related commodes in the Palace of Queluz, Lisbon, in the Queen's dressing room, Robillion Pavilion, are likely to have been acquired at the time of Prince D. Pedro III's marriage in 1760 to Princess Donna Maria Francisca (d. 1816), later Queen Donna Maria I (d. 1816) see M.I. Ferro, Queluz, The Palace and Gardens, London, 1997, p. 88. Also part of the group are a pair sold anonymously in these rooms, 19 May 1993, lot 185.