LATE 18TH CENTURY, PROBABLY LOMBARDY

Details

A PAIR OF ITALIAN ROSEWOOD, TULIPWOOD AND MARQUETRY COMMODES
Late 18th Century, probably Lombardy
Each with later white and red-veined marble top, above a walnut-lined frieze drawer inlaid with baskets of fruit and flanked by garlanded satyr masks each holding a pear in the mouth, above two walnut-lined drawers inlaid sans traverse with arabesque panels, the central one with cartouche depicting mercury delivering a child to a kneeling women and the flanking panels with a laurel-wreathed bust of an emperor, the pilasters to the corners inlaid with love trophies and inscribed in the marquetry 'Amo' and 'Amore', the sides with further panels with scrolling foliage depicting a bust of a maiden, on square tapering legs with ribon inlaid panels, headed by foliate scrolled brackets, the top of one commode with depository label for 'Harrods, Barnes' 'Maj. P.F. Harrison received 17.6.40', the reverse with further depository label for 'Barn Bendall & Co, Cheltenham', some minor losses to the marquetry, one marble top broken, the frieze drawer with later compartments
34¾ in. (88 cm.) high; 48¼ in. (122.5 cm.) wide; 22 in. (56 cm.) deep (2)

Provenance

Major P.F. Harrison and by descent.

Special notice

No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 17.5% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis.

Lot Essay

The central medallion of these richly inlaid commodes is inspired by Ovid's Metamorphoses and celebrates the birth of Bacchus, depicting Mercury carrying out the wishes of Jupiter by placing his son in the care of an Arcadian nymph. The distinctive uprights of military and festive trophies relate to a design by the celebrated Milanese cabinet-maker Giuseppe Maggiolini, illlustrated in G. Morazzoni, Il Mobile del Maggiolini, Milan, 1957, fig. CV.

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