Details
A GEORGE III SABICU, EBONY AND EBONIZED COMMODE
CIRCA 1765, ATTRIBUTED TO MAYHEW AND INCE
The serpentine crossbanded top with leaf-carved edge and fluted frieze above a frieze drawer and four central concave drawers flanked by pendant fruit and a pair of cupboard doors with interlaced trailing vines, the angles carved with acanthus volutes, the sides with gilt- brass handles within flowerhead and ribbon-carved oval panels with acanthus clasps, on plinth base with bracket feet, crossbanded with ebony --35in.(89cm.), 56in. (142cm.) wide, 28in. (71cm.) deep
CIRCA 1765, ATTRIBUTED TO MAYHEW AND INCE
The serpentine crossbanded top with leaf-carved edge and fluted frieze above a frieze drawer and four central concave drawers flanked by pendant fruit and a pair of cupboard doors with interlaced trailing vines, the angles carved with acanthus volutes, the sides with gilt- brass handles within flowerhead and ribbon-carved oval panels with acanthus clasps, on plinth base with bracket feet, crossbanded with ebony --35in.(89cm.), 56in. (142cm.) wide, 28in. (71cm.) deep
Provenance
Probably supplied to the 2nd Marquess of Rockingham (1730-1782) for Wentworth Woodhouse, Yorkshire
By descent to the Earl Fitzwilliam, Wentworth Woodhouse, sold Christie's London, 15 July 1948, lot 111
Charles Watson-Wentworth, 2nd Marquess of Rockingham, was Lord of the Bedchamber to George II and later served as First Lord of the Treasury to George III. In 1780, he inherited Wentworth Woodhouse which had been started by his father and remained unfinished on the latter's death. The house was reconstructed incorporating parts of an earlier one from 1735 onward by Henry Flitcroft. It eventually became one of the largest private houses in the country with the east front measuring over 600 feet in length. The 2nd Marquess continued the work on the interiors, including the decoration of the great Hall by James "Athenian" Stuart, circa 1765 ("Wentworth Woodhouse , Yorkshire", Country Life, 10 May 1946, pp. 854-857).
The usual combination of palladian and neoclassical elements on this commode probably reflects the fact that it was made in the late 1760s for a house started twenty years earlier and which was predominantly palladian in style. However, the mix of styles makes it difficult to attribute the piece to any specific cabinet-maker. A bookcase for Wentworth Woodhouse (lot 135 in the 1948 Christie's sale) has the same handles, carved buttresses and drawer arrangement as this lot indicating that it was probably part of a larger commission.
The design of the commode reflects the fashionable George III 'antique' style incorporating medallion patera on the pilasters, and festive vine-wreathed enrichments to the doors which derive from Robert Woods' engravings of Apollo's temple in Ruins of Palmyra, 1757.
The overall form relates to Thomas Chippendale designs for 'Buroe Dressing Tables' published in The Gentleman & Cabinet-Maker's Director, 3rd edition, 1754, pl. LXII. The serpentine and canted brackets are also found in plate LXVI and LXVIII.
Alternatively, the overall design of the piece is close to one published by John Mayhew and William Ince in The Universal System of Household Furniture, 1759-1762, plate XLI. The extensive use of ebonising against a pale ground is a feature of Mayhew and Ince's later documented work and has parallels with the Wentworth commode. A pair of chiffoniers from circa 1775 also from Wentworth Woodhouse (lot 114 from the 1948 sale) are attributed to Mayhew and Ince and use the same combination of contrasting ebony on a sabicu ground. These chiffoniers were sold from Godmersham Park, Kent, Christie's , 6-9 June 1983, lot 31. A related secretaire also attributed to Mayhew and Ince has comparable ebonised relief-carved neoclassical decoration as well as crossbanded bracket feet. It was sold from the Arthur Leidsdorf Collection, Sotheby's London, 27-28 June 1974, lot 108.
However, the oval panels and brass carry handles on the sides are nearly identical to those on the commode in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, which is attributed to William Vile and John Cobb (illustrated in A. Coleridge, Chippendale Furniture, 1968, fig. 32).
By descent to the Earl Fitzwilliam, Wentworth Woodhouse, sold Christie's London, 15 July 1948, lot 111
Charles Watson-Wentworth, 2nd Marquess of Rockingham, was Lord of the Bedchamber to George II and later served as First Lord of the Treasury to George III. In 1780, he inherited Wentworth Woodhouse which had been started by his father and remained unfinished on the latter's death. The house was reconstructed incorporating parts of an earlier one from 1735 onward by Henry Flitcroft. It eventually became one of the largest private houses in the country with the east front measuring over 600 feet in length. The 2nd Marquess continued the work on the interiors, including the decoration of the great Hall by James "Athenian" Stuart, circa 1765 ("Wentworth Woodhouse , Yorkshire", Country Life, 10 May 1946, pp. 854-857).
The usual combination of palladian and neoclassical elements on this commode probably reflects the fact that it was made in the late 1760s for a house started twenty years earlier and which was predominantly palladian in style. However, the mix of styles makes it difficult to attribute the piece to any specific cabinet-maker. A bookcase for Wentworth Woodhouse (lot 135 in the 1948 Christie's sale) has the same handles, carved buttresses and drawer arrangement as this lot indicating that it was probably part of a larger commission.
The design of the commode reflects the fashionable George III 'antique' style incorporating medallion patera on the pilasters, and festive vine-wreathed enrichments to the doors which derive from Robert Woods' engravings of Apollo's temple in Ruins of Palmyra, 1757.
The overall form relates to Thomas Chippendale designs for 'Buroe Dressing Tables' published in The Gentleman & Cabinet-Maker's Director, 3rd edition, 1754, pl. LXII. The serpentine and canted brackets are also found in plate LXVI and LXVIII.
Alternatively, the overall design of the piece is close to one published by John Mayhew and William Ince in The Universal System of Household Furniture, 1759-1762, plate XLI. The extensive use of ebonising against a pale ground is a feature of Mayhew and Ince's later documented work and has parallels with the Wentworth commode. A pair of chiffoniers from circa 1775 also from Wentworth Woodhouse (lot 114 from the 1948 sale) are attributed to Mayhew and Ince and use the same combination of contrasting ebony on a sabicu ground. These chiffoniers were sold from Godmersham Park, Kent, Christie's , 6-9 June 1983, lot 31. A related secretaire also attributed to Mayhew and Ince has comparable ebonised relief-carved neoclassical decoration as well as crossbanded bracket feet. It was sold from the Arthur Leidsdorf Collection, Sotheby's London, 27-28 June 1974, lot 108.
However, the oval panels and brass carry handles on the sides are nearly identical to those on the commode in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, which is attributed to William Vile and John Cobb (illustrated in A. Coleridge, Chippendale Furniture, 1968, fig. 32).