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Lot Essay
With its distinctive and finely executed parquetry trellis-work framed by lyre-shaped pattern on a tulipwood ground, this commode can be placed in group of Dutch furniture from the 1760s and early 1770s made in the French Louis XV fashion. Indeed, French furniture was imported into Holland in such large quantities that in the early 1770s cabinet-makers in Amsterdam and The Hague demanded a ban on this threat to their livelihood. As a result, numerous Dutch cabinet-makers emulated the fashionable French style. Although marquetry furniture of this type was undoubtedly made in several Dutch towns, it was probably most admired in The Hague where, as the base of the Stadholder's court and foreign embassies, the french court style had been dominent throughout the 18th Century. (R. Baarsen, op. cit, p. 163).
This particular commode though not attributable fits into the tradition of fellow cabinet-makers of this time like Mathijs Horrix and Andries Bongen. Although it shares certain similarities in form and ornament to the work of afore-mentioned cabinetmakers it has its own distinctive style. It is quite likely that the maker of this particular commode was also a German artisan - as the majority of cabinet-makers and other artisans populating teh Hague and Amsterdam at this time were German. A comparable commode also with a wooden top was with Stodel in 1936 and is illustrated dr. R.J. Baarsen/J. Estié, The Splendour of the Dutch interior 1600-1800 Salomon Stodel Antiquités Zwolle 2000, p. 6.
The distinctive ornamental gilt-bronze mounts which embellish Dutch furniture in the French style were, however, rarely produced in Holland. Remarkably the mounts of this period can be traced to Britain and appear in sales catalogues of a Birmingham metalwork firm, which was almost certainly manufacturing mounts for export.
R.J. Baarsen, Aspecten van de Nederlandse meubelkunst in de tweede helft van de 18de eeuw, Alphen aan de Rijn, 1993, p. 24.
This particular commode though not attributable fits into the tradition of fellow cabinet-makers of this time like Mathijs Horrix and Andries Bongen. Although it shares certain similarities in form and ornament to the work of afore-mentioned cabinetmakers it has its own distinctive style. It is quite likely that the maker of this particular commode was also a German artisan - as the majority of cabinet-makers and other artisans populating teh Hague and Amsterdam at this time were German. A comparable commode also with a wooden top was with Stodel in 1936 and is illustrated dr. R.J. Baarsen/J. Estié, The Splendour of the Dutch interior 1600-1800 Salomon Stodel Antiquités Zwolle 2000, p. 6.
The distinctive ornamental gilt-bronze mounts which embellish Dutch furniture in the French style were, however, rarely produced in Holland. Remarkably the mounts of this period can be traced to Britain and appear in sales catalogues of a Birmingham metalwork firm, which was almost certainly manufacturing mounts for export.
R.J. Baarsen, Aspecten van de Nederlandse meubelkunst in de tweede helft van de 18de eeuw, Alphen aan de Rijn, 1993, p. 24.