CIRCA 1785

This commode l'anglaise relates to the oeuvre of the celebrated marchand-mercier Dominique Daguerre. Heir to Simon-Philippe Poirier's (d.1785) atelier, Daguerre specialised in supplying objets de luxe to the French Court and, after the Revolution, to the English nobility. Based in the rue St. Honor, in 1787 Daguerre was commissioned to supply furnishings for George, Prince of Wales at Carlton House under the direction of Henry Holland, and he established premises in Piccadilly, London shortly afterwards. Amongst Daguerre's principal clients was John, 3rd Earl Spencer, to whom he supplied on 31 May 1791 'Deux consoles en Bois d'acajou avec tablettes de marbre entre les Pieds, garni de frieze mouleur et autres Bronzes dor d'or moulu, les Dessus en marbre Blanc a 960 - 1920 livres'. Although the Spencer commodes were executed by Claude-Charles Saunier (matre in 1752), this form is by no means exclusive to Saunier, and can be seen, for instance in the oeuvre of his confrre Adam Weisweiler (illustrated in P. Lemonnier, Weisweiler, Paris, 1983, p.80).