The serpentine commode's canted angles are embellished with Palladian trusses derived from William Kent's chimney-piece designs, such as the 'Walpole' pattern illustrated in F. Hoppus, The Gentleman and Builder's Repostitory, 1737, pl. LV. The commode also relates to a design of the early 1760's by William Gomm (d. 1794) and some 'exceeding fine commode dressing-tables' that he supplied at that period for Stoneleigh Abbey, Warwichshire (see: L. Boynton, 'Richard and William Gomm', Burlington Magazine, June 1980, fig. 33). One commode from Stoneleigh was sold anonymously, in these Rooms, 5 July 1990, lot 149. With its acanthus-wrapped trusses it serves as a forerunner to the brass-mounted commodes supplied for Queen Charlotte's Buckingham House and attributed to Pierre Langlois, cabinet-maker of Tottenham Court Road (see: P. Thornton and W. Rieder, 'Pierre Langlois, Ebéniste', pt. III, Connoisseur, March 1972, p. 185, fig. 19).

Francis P. Garvan was a distinguished American collector of the 1920s. Part of his collection of American decorative art and English pottery was sold at the American Art Association, New York, 8-10 January 1931