Lot Essay
Designed in the George III 'antique' style of the late-1770's the top of this elegant 'pier commode-table' with its hollowed sides and 'cut' or canted corners is inlaid with filigree 'arabesque' marquetry.
The attribution of this commode to Chippendale rests on its similarity to a group of commodes identified as being supplied by the firm by Lucy Wood in 'Lord Walsingham and the Younger Chippendale', Antique Collecting, February 1987, pp.38-41. The article suggested that an identifiable group of commodes were supplied by the firm in the late 1770's at the time when the elder Chippendale was giving way to his son but his stylistic influence was still very strongly felt.
The three key elements in the group are a commode supplied to the Thomas de Grey, 2nd Lord Walsingham (d.1818) and two supplied to Sir Richard Colt Hoare, 1st Bt. (d.1787), of Barn Elms. The Walsingham commode was sold by John de Grey, Esq., in these Rooms, 20 November 1917, and is now in the Lady Lever Art Gallery, Port Sunlight. The two Hoare commodes were sold anonymously, in these Rooms, 26 June 1986, lots 112 and 113. Although several members of the Hoare family had been identified before as patrons of Chippendale it was the Walsingham commode that was first ascribed to the firm in the 1987 article. The commodes share an idiosyncratic serpentine profile, particularly of the centre of the apron. This curious apron is used both on chests-of-drawers, as on the present lot, and on commodes with doors, as on the Walsingham commode. The rosewood cross-banding on the top is also common throughout the group, and on this commode it is confidently run along the edge as well. There is extensive use of quarter-veneering which is here used on the concave sides, also common throughout the group.
The documentary evidence for the Walsingham and Hoare commodes suggests a date in the late 1770's. Both clients are known to have dealt with Chippendale the Younger after his father's death and there are small details in all the commodes that are unparalleled in the elder's work. However what is most surprising about the group is not how different they are from the elder's work but how similar, particularly to his work in the early 1770's. This is particularly true of the present commode where the marquetry can all be related to table-tops of the early 1770's. The Apollo sunflower medallion, derived from the Sun-God's temple ceiling, engraved in R.Wood, Palmyra, 1753, is encircled by husk-festooned libation-paterae. This inlay is extremely close to a pair of tables supplied to the Breakfast Room at Harewood House in 1771-2. On these tables the marquetry is simply reversed with light inlay on a black rosewood ground (see: C.Gilbert, The Life and Work of Thomas Chippendale, London, 1978, vol.II, p.264, fig.482). Furthermore the feet on the present lot are a development of those on a pair of night-tables supplied for the Yellow Chintz bedroom at Harewood circa 1770 (ibid., vol.II, p.249, fig.456). The same feet appear on a commode of very similar form which was attributed to Chippendale and advertised by Jeremy Ltd. in Connoisseur, February 1979. That commode was of plum pudding mahogany and had angles carved with husks and paterae in the manner seen on the dining-chairs supplied by Chippendale to Brocket Hall circa 1773 (ibid., vol.II, p.88, fig.142). The drawers on this commode have concave quarter-fillets of exactly the type on the magnificent commode almost certainly supplied by Chippendale to Sir Rowland Winn for his London house and which was subsequently in the collection of the late Samuel Messer, Esq., sold in these Rooms, 5 December 1991, lot 130.
The combination of new ideas with standard early 1770's motifs is the characteristic of this group of commodes. The present commode fits the pattern extremely well; the shape is more neo-classical in inspiration than the Hoare and Luscombe commodes which are still fairly firmly fixed in the serpentine tradition. The dating and attribution are further supported by the realationship between its oranament and the book of arabesque ornament produced by Thomas Chippendale the Younger in 1779, Sketches of Ornament (see: I.Hall, 'The Engravings of Thomas Chippendale Junior', Furniture History, 1975, pp.56-58). The type was to be an important prototype for the Hepplewhite style launched a decade later with The Cabinet-Maker and Upholsterer's Guide, 1788.
The attribution of this commode to Chippendale rests on its similarity to a group of commodes identified as being supplied by the firm by Lucy Wood in 'Lord Walsingham and the Younger Chippendale', Antique Collecting, February 1987, pp.38-41. The article suggested that an identifiable group of commodes were supplied by the firm in the late 1770's at the time when the elder Chippendale was giving way to his son but his stylistic influence was still very strongly felt.
The three key elements in the group are a commode supplied to the Thomas de Grey, 2nd Lord Walsingham (d.1818) and two supplied to Sir Richard Colt Hoare, 1st Bt. (d.1787), of Barn Elms. The Walsingham commode was sold by John de Grey, Esq., in these Rooms, 20 November 1917, and is now in the Lady Lever Art Gallery, Port Sunlight. The two Hoare commodes were sold anonymously, in these Rooms, 26 June 1986, lots 112 and 113. Although several members of the Hoare family had been identified before as patrons of Chippendale it was the Walsingham commode that was first ascribed to the firm in the 1987 article. The commodes share an idiosyncratic serpentine profile, particularly of the centre of the apron. This curious apron is used both on chests-of-drawers, as on the present lot, and on commodes with doors, as on the Walsingham commode. The rosewood cross-banding on the top is also common throughout the group, and on this commode it is confidently run along the edge as well. There is extensive use of quarter-veneering which is here used on the concave sides, also common throughout the group.
The documentary evidence for the Walsingham and Hoare commodes suggests a date in the late 1770's. Both clients are known to have dealt with Chippendale the Younger after his father's death and there are small details in all the commodes that are unparalleled in the elder's work. However what is most surprising about the group is not how different they are from the elder's work but how similar, particularly to his work in the early 1770's. This is particularly true of the present commode where the marquetry can all be related to table-tops of the early 1770's. The Apollo sunflower medallion, derived from the Sun-God's temple ceiling, engraved in R.Wood, Palmyra, 1753, is encircled by husk-festooned libation-paterae. This inlay is extremely close to a pair of tables supplied to the Breakfast Room at Harewood House in 1771-2. On these tables the marquetry is simply reversed with light inlay on a black rosewood ground (see: C.Gilbert, The Life and Work of Thomas Chippendale, London, 1978, vol.II, p.264, fig.482). Furthermore the feet on the present lot are a development of those on a pair of night-tables supplied for the Yellow Chintz bedroom at Harewood circa 1770 (ibid., vol.II, p.249, fig.456). The same feet appear on a commode of very similar form which was attributed to Chippendale and advertised by Jeremy Ltd. in Connoisseur, February 1979. That commode was of plum pudding mahogany and had angles carved with husks and paterae in the manner seen on the dining-chairs supplied by Chippendale to Brocket Hall circa 1773 (ibid., vol.II, p.88, fig.142). The drawers on this commode have concave quarter-fillets of exactly the type on the magnificent commode almost certainly supplied by Chippendale to Sir Rowland Winn for his London house and which was subsequently in the collection of the late Samuel Messer, Esq., sold in these Rooms, 5 December 1991, lot 130.
The combination of new ideas with standard early 1770's motifs is the characteristic of this group of commodes. The present commode fits the pattern extremely well; the shape is more neo-classical in inspiration than the Hoare and Luscombe commodes which are still fairly firmly fixed in the serpentine tradition. The dating and attribution are further supported by the realationship between its oranament and the book of arabesque ornament produced by Thomas Chippendale the Younger in 1779, Sketches of Ornament (see: I.Hall, 'The Engravings of Thomas Chippendale Junior', Furniture History, 1975, pp.56-58). The type was to be an important prototype for the Hepplewhite style launched a decade later with The Cabinet-Maker and Upholsterer's Guide, 1788.