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Lot Essay
This 'commode' form, elegantly serpentined in the Roman 'sarcophagus' manner and ormolu-enriched with flowers and foliage, was introduced to London in the 1750s by the Paris trained ébéniste, Pierre Langlois (d. 1767) of Tottenham Court Road, and featured on his trade sheet advertising 'Commodes made and inlaid in the Politest manner' (P. Thornton and W. Rieder, 'Pierre Langlois, Ebéniste', Connoisseur, December 1971, p. 284).
Its mosaic-parquetried top is inset with a golden tablet, framed by a ribbon band with hollowed corners. Its quarter-cut veneer creates a lozenge-rayed compartment as featured in the ceiling of Rome's Temple of Venus. The execution of Langlois' 'picturesque' ormolu at this period has been attributed to the bronze-founder Dominique Jean. Its drawer-handle pattern also features on a similarly parquetried commode, but with two drawers, supplied by Langlois in the early 1760s to Sherborne Castle, Dorset (P. Thornton and W. Reider, ibid., April 1972, fig. 17). Another commode of the present pattern, featuring most of the same pattern of ormolu, was sold anonymously, Phillips London, 22 April 1986, lot 104.
Its mosaic-parquetried top is inset with a golden tablet, framed by a ribbon band with hollowed corners. Its quarter-cut veneer creates a lozenge-rayed compartment as featured in the ceiling of Rome's Temple of Venus. The execution of Langlois' 'picturesque' ormolu at this period has been attributed to the bronze-founder Dominique Jean. Its drawer-handle pattern also features on a similarly parquetried commode, but with two drawers, supplied by Langlois in the early 1760s to Sherborne Castle, Dorset (P. Thornton and W. Reider, ibid., April 1972, fig. 17). Another commode of the present pattern, featuring most of the same pattern of ormolu, was sold anonymously, Phillips London, 22 April 1986, lot 104.