拍品專文
This serpentined and exotically veneered commode, embellished in the French/antique fashion of the 1770's, may possibly be by Chippendale & Co. of St. Martin's Lane. Its brass-framed top displays an elliptical 'Etruscan' black and pearl-ringed medallion with a golden patera recalling the sunflowered mosaic of Apollo's temple at Palmyra (R. Woods, Ruins of Palmyra, 1753). This flute-rayed patera corresponds to those accompanying sunflowers on the celebrated Harewood desk, and also appears on a pair of closely related commodes also supplied by Chippendale & Co. (discussed in L. Wood, Catalogue of Commodes, London, 1994, no. 20). In addition, this commode's brass-enrichments, such as the palm-husks and palm-flower emerging from Roman acanthus, also relate to the desk ornament, while the feets' acanthus-wrapped volutes correspond to a brass-pattern adopted by the Chippendale firm for a group of inlaid commodes, such as that supplied to Sir Lawrence Dundas, Bt. (d.1781) (Wood, op.cit., fig.175).
This 'petite' commode or night-table, is likely to have been one of a pair, and was designed en suite with a larger commode (now in a private collection), which would have occupied the window-pier of a bedroom apartment. One such commode appears in a contemporary window-elevation preserved amongst the album of designs by John Linnell of Berkeley Square (H. Hayward and P. Kirkham, William and John Linnell, London, 1980, vol. II, fig. 103). In 1768 the fashion for such commodes had been discussed in a letter written to Lord Linlithgow by James Cullen (ceased trading 1777), and amongst his accompanying designs was one for a serpentined commode, whose panels also had acanthus-enriched corners. The exotic commodes and night-tables that were supplied for Hopetoun House, near Edinburgh, have varied veneers framed by multi-coloured ribbon-bands, including the black-and-gold chequer inlay that appears on the top and drawers of this commode. However it is unclear whether Cullen had the Hopetoun commodes manufactured at his Soho Square workshops or elsewhere (A. Coleridge, 'James Cullen, cabinet-maker, at Hopetoun House - I', The Connoisseur, November 1966, pp.154-159, figs. 10 and 11 and C. Gilbert, The Pictorial Dictionary of Marked London Furniture 1700-1840, Leeds, 1996, p.24).
This 'petite' commode or night-table, is likely to have been one of a pair, and was designed en suite with a larger commode (now in a private collection), which would have occupied the window-pier of a bedroom apartment. One such commode appears in a contemporary window-elevation preserved amongst the album of designs by John Linnell of Berkeley Square (H. Hayward and P. Kirkham, William and John Linnell, London, 1980, vol. II, fig. 103). In 1768 the fashion for such commodes had been discussed in a letter written to Lord Linlithgow by James Cullen (ceased trading 1777), and amongst his accompanying designs was one for a serpentined commode, whose panels also had acanthus-enriched corners. The exotic commodes and night-tables that were supplied for Hopetoun House, near Edinburgh, have varied veneers framed by multi-coloured ribbon-bands, including the black-and-gold chequer inlay that appears on the top and drawers of this commode. However it is unclear whether Cullen had the Hopetoun commodes manufactured at his Soho Square workshops or elsewhere (A. Coleridge, 'James Cullen, cabinet-maker, at Hopetoun House - I', The Connoisseur, November 1966, pp.154-159, figs. 10 and 11 and C. Gilbert, The Pictorial Dictionary of Marked London Furniture 1700-1840, Leeds, 1996, p.24).