This elebantly serpentined commode, with its rich ormolu mounts displayed against finely figured veneers, in the Louis XV picturesque manner, may have been manufactured in the late 1760's by John Cobb (d. 1778), cabinet-maker and upholsterer of St. Martin's Lane. Cobb, who was appointed cabinet-maker to King George III in 1761, adopted a restrained version of the French commode form introduced in the late 1750's by Pierre Langlois (d. 1767) of Tottenham Court Road. This commode relates, for instance, to the Extra fine wood Commode, chest of drawers with large Handsome wrought Furniture, good brass locks etc.. ¨16, which he invoiced to James West of Alscot Park, Warwickshire in 1766 (see Country Life, 15 May 1958, fig. 5). The laurel-wreathed escutcheon, however, introduces the French antique style and relates to cartouches illustrated by Jean Francois Neufforge (d. 1791) in his Receuil elementaire d'Architecture, vol. VIII (1768). The distinctive escutcheon also features on a japanned commode which Cobb is likely to have supplied to King George III around 1770 (see G.F. Laking, The Furniture at Windsor Castle, London 1905, pl. 33).

The foliate handles correspond to those on a pair of two drawer floral marquetry commodes at The Vyne, Hampsire, which are attributed to Langlois Senior, by Peter Thornton ad William Rieder, 'Pierre Langlois, Ebéniste, Connoisseur, March 1972, pt. III, p. 183, fig. 16. The angle-mounts correspond to those on a pair of commodes sold anonymously, Sotheby's London, 6 October 1967, lot 27. A commode with identical angle and foot-mounts of this type and with ribbon-tied floral marquetry panels in the doors was sold from the collection of the late Thomas Imnan, Esq., in these Rooms, 29 November 1979, lot 99