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Lot Essay
This popular form of marble-topped commode, intended to support vases and candelabra and accompany a pier-glass, was known in France as an 'armoire basse' or 'meuble a hauteur d'appui'. This mirror-fronted pair, enriched with ormolu bas-reliefs and filigreed inlay in the boulle manner, was executed in London in the early 19th Century Louis Quatorze style fostered by dealers such as Edward Holmes Baldock (d. 1845) of Hanway Street. The latter noted 'Cabinets' on his 1826 bill-head recording that he specialised in 'buying, selling, exchanging and valuing China, Cabinets, Screens, bronzes etc.'.
His stamp appears on a related Louis Quatorze 'boulle' cabinet, which may have been executed by a specialist 'cabinet inlayer and buhl manufacturer' such as Robert Blake, whose Stephen Street establishment openend in 1826 (C. Gilbert, Marked London Furniture, Leeds, 1996, fig 39).
His stamp appears on a related Louis Quatorze 'boulle' cabinet, which may have been executed by a specialist 'cabinet inlayer and buhl manufacturer' such as Robert Blake, whose Stephen Street establishment openend in 1826 (C. Gilbert, Marked London Furniture, Leeds, 1996, fig 39).