Designed in the Louis XV picturesque manner, the commode's airily entwined tendrils, springing from a fruiting pomegranate and clasped in a tripartite-cartouche frame of scrolled-ribbon bands, feature on a writing-table supplied to the duc d'Orléans by Denis Genty and the widow of the ébéniste Jean-Pierre Latz (sold anonymously, Christie's Monaco, 2 September 1993, lot 173). Recalling the fruit and flowers portrayed in the Chinoiserie furniture patterns published by Johann Michael Hoppenhaupt in 1753, the design of the marquetry is in turn related to the oeuvre of the Spindler family workshops in Bayreuth and Potsdam circa 1760 (S. Sangl, 'Spindler', Furniture History, 1991, pp. 22-34).
Part of a group of related commodes with characteristic marquetry, it is possible that they all have an Iberian rather than a Franco-German origin. Of this group, a closely related pair of commodes were sold anonymously, in these Rooms, 19 May 1993, lot 185. Another similar commode was sold by Captain D.O. Fairlie of Myres, in these Rooms, 9 December 1993, lot 66